#and this. maybe doesn't help with that considering how many games and categories there are XD

[descendant-of-truth]

For anyone confused about the canon status of any given Sonic game, I've put together what's hopefully a helpful chart breaking it down! Worth noting is that every single TV and comic series exists in its own canon as well, so they would be in the "AU Territory" section.

Detailed descriptions of the games in each section and how they fit into canon are beneath the cut - but they do contain spoilers if you're concerned about that at all.

Universally Agreed Canon: Sonic 1, CD, 2, 3 & Knuckles, Adventure, Adventure 2, Heroes, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic and the Black Knight, Unleashed, Colors, Generations, Lost World, and Sonic Forces

Pretty straightforward; these are most of the main console releases, and so people treat them as more definitively canon than anything else. I feel like I remember there being a bit of debate about Secret Rings and Black Knight, but with the former being clearly referenced in Generations, it's safe to assume the latter happened as well.

This post is being written before Sonic Frontiers releases, but it's safe to say that'll be in this section, too.

Canon but in a confusing way due to storytelling: Sonic Rush, Rush Adventure, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 06, Rivals, Rivals 2, and Sonic Mania

So, this is where it gets weird. Nothing about the Rush games is weird on their own, but them being the origin story for Blaze and Eggman Nega creates major complications for Sonic 06 and the Rivals games. Those two characters are cited as being from an alternate dimension, but in 06, Blaze is simply there in the future with no indication given as to whether this is the same Blaze from Rush or not. And in the Rivals games, Eggman Nega is explicitly said to be from the future instead, now.

However, you can't write the Rivals games off as being non-canon because they're the only instance of Silver being reintroduced to the rest of the cast. And why did he need to be reintroduced? Because of Sonic 06, whose entire plot gets undone at the end of the game.

But you also can't say that 06 isn't canon because it gets undone, because Crisis City - a stage that is dependent on 06 events to exist - is in Sonic Generations, a game all about exploring Sonic's past.

Shadow the Hedgehog is a game with multiple branching paths, but it does have a True Ending that... is basically just the ending and shows none of the steps any of the characters took to get there. So technically, we have no idea what truly happened between the start and end of that game, and so information that was true in one route and not another is made even more ambiguous.

Sonic Mania has to be canon because in the true ending, Sonic is whisked away to be "Classic Sonic" in Forces. However, Tails recognizes Classic Sonic as being "that Sonic from another dimension," which can only refer to his appearance in Generations, but... they were very clearly dealing with time travel in that game, not dimension hopping.

Does this mean all Sonic games pre-Adventure are now retconned into another dimension? Possibly, but fans collectively don't like that which is why I put all those games in the "Universally Agreed Canon" section.

Spinoff, but doesn't contradict canon much: Knuckles' Chaotix, Sonic Blast, 3D Blast, Sonic R, Tails Adventure, Tails' Sky Patrol, Shuffle, Riders, Riders: Zero Gravity, Free Riders, Team Sonic Racing, Spinball, SegaSonic the Hedgehog, Triple Trouble, Labyrinth, Sonic Chaos, and Sonic the Fighters

These are basically "take it or leave it" when it comes to canon. Sometimes the setting seems more obviously different from the mainline games, but not so much that you couldn't justify them being in the same world.

Handheld adaptation that changes the script so we assume the console version is the true canon: Sonic Colors, Generations, and the Mega Drive games

I couldn't actually find the icons for all the Mega Drive games, but this category is pretty much what it sounds like. The handheld versions of Sonic 1, 2, etc. didn't have scripts though, so what changes is more on-screen events and level design.

People still use these titles as reference for characterization, though; especially Colors, which had a much wider cast of characters than its console counterpart.

Wanted to be canon but got rejected: Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood, Sonic 4 episodes 1 and 2

Chronicles pulls from a lot of pre-established lore in order to tell its story, so I believe it was written with the intention of being canon. It even ended on a sequel hook, but the game was so poorly received that no mention of its lore additions have come up ever since, and without a conclusion, it's safe to say it's non-canon now.

Sonic 4 was more obviously marketed as a follow-up to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and its events do work under that premise from what I can tell. It was originally meant to have more episodes, but like Chronicles, its reception led to the project being scrapped and we have no particular reason to assume it's canon anymore.

AU Territory: Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Sonic's Schoolhouse, and the three Sonic Boom games (Rise of Lyric, Shattered Crystal, and Fire & Ice)

You could make the argument that there's nothing saying Sonic didn't run a schoolhouse at some point, but I think it's safe to say they weren't too concerned about this being canon at all.

Mean Bean is a glorified recolor of Puyo Puyo, and it has more in common with the cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog than anything else.

Sonic Boom is its own thing entirely, but oddly enough the games seem to be AUs of each other as well? Fire & Ice could reasonably be a sequel to either one (Shattered Crystal more likely due to being on the same console), but there's no way the other two can coexist in the same universe together. It's also unclear which, if any, of these games are canon to the TV show.

Genuinely don't know what the consensus on these is: The three Sonic Advance games, and Sonic Battle

I'm personally unfamiliar with the plot of Advance 3 especially, but I do know that it introduces a new(?) character that's related to events in Battle, and they haven't appeared in a game since. No other game references the events of Battle, either.

But it's also the series of games that formally introduced Cream to the other characters, so that means it has to be canon, right? I don't know, but I think 4 out of 53+ games is an alright number to not know how to place.

This ended up being a lot to write, but hopefully it makes sense! I didn't want to go too deep into the stories themselves or the lore details because that would take way too long, and the goal here was to show more how they fit together rather than what specifically happens in them.

[undeadcourier]

@lynettethemadscientist replied to your post “me: narratively, it's much more interesting to...”:

I’m willing to hear a humanized view of Raiders. Though I doubt it will convince me

Sure, I'll expand on this. Point of note, this is pretty West Coast/FNV-centric since that's my primary area of interest.

Let's start with defining terms since this is the piss-on-the-poor website. A raider is a bandit, someone who survives by plunder, often roaming in search of things to steal or people to attack. Many raider gangs in the Wasteland are relatively loose allegiances of a few like-minded individuals, but some are established social groups with distinct cultures. The 80s, the Vipers, and the Khans are examples of raider groups that expanded to fit the definition of a tribe—that is, a social division consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect.

The 80s, first outlined in Joshua Sawyer's rpg, are a gang of bandits that operate along the Northern California 80 Freeway and have long contested territory with the White Legs; The Vipers are organized around their shared religion, which is only vaguely described as ancient, but there are what appear to be ritualistic elements to their organization and raiding practices.

The Khans, inspired by Genghis Khan and the Mongols Motorcycle Club, value strength and martial prowess. Founded around 2141, the Khans raided and traded around Shady Sands and Junktown before they were wiped out by the Vault Dweller. Darion, the lone survivor of the original gang, rebuilt it into the New Khans, who in turn were largely destroyed by the Chosen One. Finally, Papa Khan united the fragmented bands and led them to the Mojave in 2267, where they settled. The massacre at Bitter Springs establishes that at this point, the Khans include non-combatants in their group such as children and elders, and until the NCR occupation, Bitter Springs was their home.

I'm going to proceed on the assumption that we all agree that genocide is wrong and set aside the Khans for now, especially because they are a faction that is not immediately hostile to the player, in contrast to the Vipers, Jackals, and Fiends.

Despite their lore, the Vipers don't get anywhere near the development the Khans have and end up in the category of fodder for the player to indiscriminately kill, an act for which you can even gain karma. And this is what brings me to the point of the original post, which is... hey, what the fuck?

I understand from a game mechanics perspective that it's useful to have an unlimited supply of enemies that the player can slaughter for experience points. But, that necessarily dehumanizes the members of that group, which is extra fucked up when you consider that some of them, like the Vipers, are a distinct tribal group.

And even in the case of, say, the Fiends, who we are told are fueled only by bloodlust/dependence on chems and presumably lack any sort of identifiable cultural allegiance, I don't like that it's considered morally good to just kill them all. They're still people.

I would like, especially from a role-playing game, to have more options to talk them down, to get them help for their addictions, and attempt to reintegrate them into society. Maybe that doesn't work on every character, maybe some of them really do just revel in violence and bloodshed and don't want a way out, but I'd like more recognition that raiders aren't a monolith and don't exist in a vacuum, that these are individuals who were driven to where they are by myriad circumstances and an underlying need to survive. It's more realistic and more interesting.

The way the Khans are developed has plenty of problems, certainly, but I appreciate that there was at least some development of who these people are and how they got to be where they are, and I think that's something that's lacking with a lot of the others.

[ouroborosorder]

Arknights VFX question: Any highlights or personal favourites as far as the "Stick a whole background/huge jpeg in there behind the character" category of skills goes?

Oh I like this question. This made me consider things I've never looked at before, so thank you for that. I had to do research.

So, there's not a lot of ops like this, and shockingly, I don't have many positive things to say about them. BUT I did find a few interesting highlights I think are worth discussing.

First off, I will leave Eine Variation out of this, as I have made my thoughts on that Thing very clear.

But, my favorite skin in the game actually does indeed have the Background.Jpeg - Specter's As One!

Aaaand it's easily the worst part of my favorite skin. Don't get me wrong, i think it's probably one of the better executions of the idea, since it's like, a skybox, it matches the pallette, matches the artstyle of the skin, it's almost perfect. I wish it was a LITTLE less static, maybe have some distortion ripples across it like waves to keep the stars moving, or maybe have them twinkle a bit or something. But it's fine. But a good effect isn't everything.

Effects relies heavily on the principles of animation, too. Appeal, weight, color, and most importantly of all - timing. Having a proper lead in can make a bad effect good, and having a bad lead-in can make a good effect fucking terrible. And having no lead-in at all will absolutely fuck your effect and make it super clear that you took a jpeg from the skin art and superimposed it behind your operator.

Here. Look at the picture above. Now, I am going to tab back literally just one single frame in the animation and...

oh ...there's no fade in at all. It just literally appears in a single frame. It draws way more attention to itself than it needs to just by virtue of literally popping in. It's SUPER obvious that it's just Skybox.jpeg. If it faded in with some sort of noise mask (which takes literally less than 2 minutes to make,) it would be so so so much better. Again, this is my favorite skin in the game, and I already think S3 is quite beautiful, so this is nitpicking, but this skybox always bugged me a lot.

Now to say a sentence no one has ever said - going up a step in quality from Specter to Hoederer!

I can't fully get this one in a still image and I'm too tired to record a video / gif so just go with this, alright?

This one is ALMOST GOOD. ALMOST. IT'S SO FUCKING CLOSE. The texture is being distorted by a wavelike noise that is giving it the rippling effect of fire, which is the standard thing to do for making a stylized fire. The problem is that... The texture itself doesn't fucking move? It's just being UV distorted, just a bit of offset to the material and I just AUGH.

It's so so so obvious that it's just a static jpeg of fire that's being waved around like a flag to get it to contort into being fire. This wouldn't bother me if the actual fire texture didn't have implications of movement in the little waves and fades and stuff. I hate it it's so irritating it's so CLOSE. But also, animating an entire fire flipbook would have taken a lot more time, and I can 100% guarantee you the VFX artist is also unhappy with this one. Their A team was probably on Arturia or something. Speak of the devil -

I've had a few people ask how I feel about Arturia's S3 after I expressed my hatred for Eine Variation, and I am here to say - this unambiguously fucking rules, for a few reasons.

First and least importantly, THE MONSTER MOVES. The monster itself has slight movement, you can notice its arms wiggle a little and mouth open and close. This is a small thing that goes a LONG way to make it feel way more dynamic and alive. It's also being distorted by a noise like Hoederer is, which is quite nice as a touch, really helps to make that limited movement feel way more significant than it is.

Second, is that the texture is monochromatic, but in a different way than Arturia is. The grays are colder, harsh blue-grays to contrast Arturia herself, who is a very warm gray. This makes it so that it adds a really nice background that looks like part of her, while also standing out and allowing her to stand out against it. It's a really smart use of monochrome to create visual interest using just different subtle shades of gray.

But that bluish hue also serves to compliment the only color in the effect - the blue light from the cello. Your eyes are naturally drawn to brighter glowing things, which is also the only colored spot on the effect - the cello from which her Arts emerge. As a result, the Beastie.jpg fades out of your attention, becoming monochromatic noise, which, due to being just kinda chaotic and aesthetically dissonant, you interpret more as abstract Shape than anything else. That abstract shape then makes a cone which leads you down into Arturia's center, which is her cello, which is where her Arts are coming from.

This is basically to say - These are very emblematic of what I think makes good effects textures in general. They work best when they're not alone. When these backgrounds are part of a larger whole that's all coming together to make an effect, rather than being the centerpiece of the whole thing. When I notice the background, it's a problem, in my eyes. Maybe people disagree. They keep putting them in skins, and a lot of people thought the Eine Variation goat was cool as hell, so clearly I'm in the wrong here, but hey. Who gives a shit.

I'm sure there's way more examples of this, (actually I know there are,) but I'm extremely tired and need to go the fuck to sleep. If there's any particular backgrounds ya'll want me to take a look at, lemme know and I'll get back to you when I've woken from my dread slumber.

[hollowfaith]

✧･ﾟ:* PERMANENT RELATIONSHIP/PLOTTER CALL

hi have you ever been touched by an angel anyways you know the drill please like this post to give me permission to:

hop into DMs for plotting (short or long term)

send you starters/minis (with permission)

@ you or drop into your inbox

throw memes + headcanons about our muses

[insert stuff between us here]

as for relationships here's how aurelius would classify potential candidates:

𖤍 FRIENDS (derogatory 💔) - it's easy to be his friend even if you're just a lowly mortal, as long as you're interesting or different in some way. are you motivated by a goal or crippled by expectations? is something about you fundamentally wrong or broken? talk to him, he's a good listener and he loves to ramble, especially if it's philosophical discussions or chats over tea or advising someone after hearing their sob story (humans get emotional over the funniest things). he can't help the holier than thou attitude, but he's great at keeping his condescending thoughts to himself and treating you almost like a real friend! so there's that. most of his "human friends" fit here because of his superiority complex >w>

𖤍 FRIEND (affectionate 💖)* - unlike fake friends you get to be real friends if he sees you as an equal. the easiest way to get there is to be as cool and strong as klaus. or you beat aurelius himself somehow (but you need to convince him to accept the results first). please be okay with murder and cannibalism before you apply. he doesn't have any real friends (not even klaus) so you'd be one of a kind, which makes you special. but do you really want to shoulder the pressure of someone who knows too much for the rest of your days...

*(limited to 1 slot only for now, everyone else is just friends [derogatory] to some extent, alas)

𖤍 ENEMIES 😡 - be a demon (sorry angel prejudice here). ruin his suit one too many times (he believes in 3rd chances but no more). it doesn't matter if you're nasty or mean or sinful (those are interesting), the issue is trying to drag him in with you when he says no (those are annoying). trying to control him in anyway. trying to control or take klaus in anyway. generally getting in his way. not all enemies are kill on sight, most just get demoted to the friends (derogatory) category if they're a waste of time or get more of his time in return, because you can't stand him either and misery loves company.

𖤍 SERVANTS/SUPPLICANTS...? 🙏- do you like to take care of people. do you enjoy the freedom of following orders. are you okay with prostrating yourself at random intervals to offer prayers and praise to some self-entitled stranger. have you given up on life and just want guidance. OK, then submit your hand for the standard brainwashing procedure (a formality for now until it's actually unlocked) and let him look after you, you poor lost lamb.

PROS: he will come to your events in support (like a soccer mom) and protect you while looking great doing it too;

CONS: you're more of a possession than a person so your rights don't really exist (but that doesn't matter too much in normal life anyways)!

YMMV: no insurance package included but you do get complimentary healing/blessings against demons* for life? *this and all other perks pending unlock of abilities

𖤍 DEPENDENTS 🙇 - you don't actually worship him but you sure do rely on him a lot (mentally/physically/emotionally/whatever), and for some reason he humors you because he thinks it's fun. maybe you consider him your mentor or savior, maybe he considers you his pawn or toy. less expectations and responsibilities from both sides but you can still call on him in a pinch, you just won't be his first priority if he's busy. also, he's nice to you. always. because you're just that pathetic worth it. : )

𖤍 TRUE NEUTRAL 🤝 - you're not weak-willed enough to be used but not strong enough to overpower him, you're just there. maybe both of you have something useful (intel. chess games. recipes?) to offer the other and that's why you get along. you might help each other one day and stab each other in the back the next, but that's fine because you weren't friends (or enemies) to begin with, yes? good for...business associates/drinking buddies. less manipulation and minimum disdain (if any) here, there's polite indifference on both sides.

𖤍 "LOVE" RIVAL....? ?? 💀 - for the love of god if you like klaus or have close relations with klaus you are automatically on this list and need to get off it or get a lover so he can ignore you permanently. a better category than enemies because he doesn't try to destroy you on sight, but the guy sure knows how to smile and glower at the same time. danger level expected to increase after he actually starts developing the right feelings towards his "partner." perhaps you want him to remain oblivious indefinitely instead.

𖤍 ROMANCE 😂 - there's only one person he's obsessed with at the moment but if you one-sided crush him obviously enough he will take pity on you and give you token chocolates on valentine's and etc. so that you don't die of a broken heart (or embarrassment). it's only natural for him to have adoration from multiple sources even if he never returns those feelings, so if you're fine with treating him as some otome game boyfriend come to life with no real results he doesn't mind playing along. it's kind of a mercy for you to be loved this way, don't you think?

𖤍 OTHER 🤔- make up your own category lol

[self-loving-vampire]

Multi-axis kink game, assuming that they mean Eros as in "pleasantness of the physical sensation regardless of context" and agape as "how enticing it feels as an idea regardless of how it would feel sensorily", despite those not correlating to traditional definitions of those terms at all, it's just me guessing the OP's intent:

Doing stuff with cum more complex than shooting it into orifices from the source. Like cumswapping or drinking from a glass or that cumwalk exhibitionism thing or incorporating into recipes or papier-mâché

Hm... I think those definitions kind of make general sense but in my case I kind of detach how something would realistically feel from the fantasy to begin with.

I like a few things that I know would be pretty unpleasant to actually experience and which realistically include many side effects I'm not into (like anything involving pregnancy) and my solution to that is to just use the more fantastical version of the event rather than the realistic one and basically invent new sensory expectations about this alternative version.

My imagination is potent enough that even these false expectations can produce pleasant physical sensations if I imagine myself experiencing them.

For example, consider the experience of being bitten. I personally don't have any feelings towards it in mundane contexts. It would not really accomplish anything if someone was to physically bite me. I would just feel nothing about it.

But if I was in the mindset that the bite was the kiss of a vampire, I could make myself physically experience pleasure from it simply because my concept of a vampire bite feels extremely good.

So "eros" and "agape" are just intertwined in that way for me. The right fantasy can alter my physical sensations. It's why sometimes when I'm having a chronic pain flare I like to imagine that I just participated in a dramatic fantasy battle to help transform the pain into pleasure by eroticizing it.

It's probably not a surprising piece of information given that I use mental replacement as a loophole to circumvent my otherwise extremely strong disinterest in actually doing anything sexual.

With all of that in mind, let's rate cum.

Simplicity: 7

The one thing in this category that seems all that desirable to me is the concept of "cum marking". That is, cumming inside someone and treating the scent or sight of the cum as a mark of ownership (works better with species that have powerful noses, like wolf girls).

This doesn't really require anything beyond what normal sex would, but still works far better in some settings than in others. I'd say that it doesn't really work in a non-magical modern setting at all.

I'm not really into the other possibilities myself, though. I have a breeding kink, so stuff like cum drinking just feels like it's taking the situation to a less appealing place.

Of course, this is also complicated by the idea of fantasy cum with unusual properties (such as if it doubles as an aphrodisiac). I think that still works best when it is used in a way that can get someone pregnant.

Eros: 2

I don't think the taste or texture are very good to begin with, and as mentioned above breeding just ends up being strongly favored on a basic level.

Agape: 2

While in theory there are many non-breeding uses for cum, none of them really feel that interesting to me specifically.

Narrative Possibility: 8

The idea is broad enough that it covers many possibilities, I suppose.

Problematicity: 2

Maybe if you leaned into some kind of dominance/submission thing with it but otherwise it's probably going to be considered weird rather than morally offensive. It feels like one of those "safe" kinks that people could joke about on this site without worrying too much about controversy, like they used to do with vore and piss.

Standard Score (How much I like it): Too general for me to say. It covers a lot of very different things that I have different feelings about. I think in general it's easier to answer questions about slightly more specific kinks rather than whole categories.

[dwarvenhobble]

Why Google ads is making me consider ad blocking now.

Dear hypothetical google developer or executive reading this possibly because a developer or some-one else on break found it and it went up to the chain to you, I really have tried to be good and help support creators somewhat by keeping ads on and not blocking them with ad block. I don't mind some ads if it keeps the service free and gets people paid. What I do have issue with is what finally happened today. I had the 50th advert this week for one of those crappy mobile games and it was the normal crappy mobile game style of advert (the one where the hero has to fight enemies of the right level to level up, you know the ones). Now earlier this month I started getting these and it was fine for a bit, ok not had any of these for a while so I'll endure a few. Then it was more and more apparent they were AB tested adverts. For those who don't know AB testing is when companies put out a number of different adverts with minor changes then keep iterating to get the advert that gets most engagement (E.G. does having the character in red trousers Vs blue make a person more likely to click the advert). So after a few days I started blocking the adverts using google system to tell google I didn't want to see those ads anymore. But because they're AB tested ads I blocked the A ad so then got the B ad then got the iteration of the ad so got the C and D version. So I blocked them too. Then I got the E and F versions. This carried on until today. I got another ad, pressed to block it as not being interested and Google ads options wouldn't let me block the ad. That's right I've apparently blocked so many of these shitty mobile game AB testing ads Google won't let me block anymore so I can't escape them. Google you're meant to be one of the most advanced tech companies out there, how can you still not get what ads I actually want to see with all the data you've collected? I've even literally gone through the selector system to choose ad categories I'm most interested in and you still get it wrong. Why the hell should I be good and keep ad block off when even telling you what ads I want doesn't work and when I block ads using your own system it don't just results in more of the almost exact same ad for the same product but it results in you then stopping me blocking ads because I've blocked too many according to your system or some such crap. Sort your shit out.

Maybe ask people what ads they want, hell I'd love a selection of film trailers for movies big and small coming out but no I have to get 50+ crappy mobile game ads that are literally misrepresentative of the games themselves to begin with.

Yours sincerely, A person you've literally made consider turning his ad block back on for youtube.

[jaybug-jabbers]

Top 3 Lists - Pokemon Scarlet

Hey, all. I figured it's about time to post another one of these! I really enjoyed Pokemon Scarlet, so I thought it would be fun to list off some of my favorites in a Top 3 post-- both pokemon and characters. The game certainly has plenty of both!

Top 3 Ancient Paradox Pokemon

First up, my favorite ancient pokemon. I feel as though these choices are pretty basic/what most people probably choose, but oh well, I can't really help they happen to be my favorites too. I would die for Koraidon, he is the bestest boy in the world and my precious son.

I've never been a huge fan of Mismagius (especially now knowing we could have had the infinitely more creepy Kurstraw/Pangshi), but I think Flutter Mane reboots the design in a wonderful way, which is surprising and refreshing. I've grown very fond of her.

To my amusement, I have the same feelings about Roaring Moon; I have always disliked Salamence's design, but Roaring Moon is a massive improvement on the design, which is so exciting to see. The colors are great, the feathers are an excellent addition, the long talons remind me of a bird of prey, and the whole thing has such a foreboding presence that normal Salamence's ugly shapes always lacked. The choice to lean into Mence's Mega design was smart, because they retained all the good of that design and discarded the rest. Plus, what a badass name.

I only just now noticed all my favorite choices here have feathers. Well, I suppose it makes sense, with our recent suspicion that many dinosaurs had feathers!

Top 3 Regional Form/New Evolutions/Convergent Species

I'm lumping all of these into the same category, since there isn't a huge number for any of those categories alone. When I first saw Toedscool out in the wild, I was deeply confused about what I was seeing, and when I poked it, it turned into a Ditto-- and somehow my brain concluded it must have been Ditto screwing up its attempt at imitating a Tentacool. 😂 But no, Toedscool is truly its own thing, as unsettling and strange as it is. I absolutely hated how it moved, it creeped me out. I've decided I like it for that reason. (Toedscruel is likewise unsettling and interesting, but it's not on my list because I hate TUBE MOUTHS argghh)

Farigiraf is definitely on my list. I have always loved Girafarig, and its evolution has been long, long overdue, so it's incredibly exciting to see it finally get the love it deserves. They did an excellent job with the evolution, too, it's fun and silly and cool all at once.

Finally, for my regional form choice, I'm definitely choosing Paldean Tauros. I know everyone is all excited about Wooper and Clodsire, but I was never a Wooper fan. (Sorry, Rika 💔) I'm just super excited that Tauros got such an awesome redesign, especially the Blaze breed. The changes are minor but so effective. Maybe I'm just a sucker for black-colored pokemon. This is like the shiny design Tauros always deserved and never had.

Top 3 New General Pokemon

This really is a tough choice to make, because Scar/Vio has a LOT of new pokemon to choose from. But I think I've finally narrowed it down to these lads. Klawf is the perfect example of a simple but elegant design. Sometimes "a big crab" is enough to be enjoyable because, well, I like crabs. What can I say, I know what I like.

Grafaiai is the very definition of "skrunkly," so there's no way I can resist putting him on the list. Aye-ayes are fascinating little freaks and it's great to have a pokemon based off them, put I enjoy the inspiration they also drew from lemurs. It's also great to have a poison pokemon taking up the traditional position of "early game normal-type rodent pokemon." Poison pokes are just cool. The association with spray paint and urban art is also really fun.

If any of you know me, you'll know I of course consider bug types to be my favorite pokemon type. But that doesn't automatically mean I'll put new bugs as my favorites. Rabsca really does deserve to be on the list, though; at least in terms of design. A dung-beetle pokemon has been long overdue, and the sacred associations with this species is lovingly referred to in this design. For those unaware, dung beetles are included in Egyptian mythology, and the beetle rolling a ball of dung was compared to their sun god rolling the sun along its path in the sky.

HMs

It's so tough to choose just three so I wanted to include a few Honorable Mentions here; I've loved Frigate birds since I was a wee lass so it's cool to see Kilowattrel; Charcadet's evolutions are badass (especially Ceruledge) and I am very fond of them despite the fact I typically don't like humanoid pokemon; and I'm very pleased that the very first Grass/Fire pokemon (finally!!) ended up really cool. (And that it ended up being a pepper, like so many of us guessed Grass/Fire would be)

Top Team Star Bosses

I'm not gonna to lie, I did not enjoy the Team Star storyline much in this game. I felt it was the weakest of the three main story threads. (I enjoyed the brief post-game storyline with Penny & Team Star more than the main part of their story, in fact) That said, these would be my favorites of the bunch. Ortega's design just looks delightful, such a snazzy dandy, and Atticus' devotion to The Bit is admirable (and tbh who doesn't love a D&D nerd?) Giacomo is forgettable and is there because I needed a third choice, lmao (sorry, didn't like the team star girls much)

Top 3 Gym Leaders

Grusha is definitely my top Gym Leader pick. His character is fascinating, especially the events the game only only hints at (it seems strongly implied he met with a nasty snowboarding accident and had to stop the sport, losing his dream and being stuck with just his gym leader job, which he seems rather bitter about). It's a shame they didn't pursue his character storyline further with one of the Academy side-stories (in the way they fleshed out Brassius more). I feel like he could have had a storyline with the nurse (Miriam), and that would have been much better then Miriam's actual side-story which felt rather randomly shoehorned in there (and fan pandering, to be entirely honest). Oh well. At any rate, I find Grusha the most interesting gym leader by far.

Larry is great. They had a clear idea in mind for his character and they executed it well. He apparently is a big hit with fans too. Good for him, he deserves it.

I chose Bassius as my third option because of his involvement in the side-storyline with him and Hassel. He's a rather forgettable character if you only know him from his gym, but his interactions with Hassel were great and fleshed him out a lot more-- made me actually care about him. Honestly I think it's great they let these two men have a strong bond with each other and Hassel even get choked up and cries about it. That's sending a very positive message about men letting themselves feel and express positive emotions! Yes, Hassel's crying is written slightly for comedy (haha look at this man cry), but I think it's also done with genuine affection (it's ok for guys to cry and love each other, even your professor does!). So that's really cool. (The exact nature of their relationship is something fans speculate on, but whether they are close friends or they're something romantic, I think it's cool regardless!)

Top 3 Elites/Champions

My bias here is going to be clear, but holy shit I love Rika and Nemona.

Rika, because . . . I mean, LOOK at her. She's hot, she's professional, but she's a total dork and a goober too. She's a sore loser but she's a total sweetheart to Poppy, and GAH, I love her so much. A lot of great details with her. She's by far my favorite Elite.

Nemona is literally my favorite rival charatcer of the entire franchise other than N. I could blather about her endlessly. Let's just say this bubbly, energetic, earnest, friendly, wonderful girl who hyperfixates on pokemon battling and sincerely wants to see you grow and thrive is perfect in every day. 🥺

Hassel is here too, lol. (In all seriousness he's great too, a wonderful mentor figure and a man of passion. Even if his haircut is a bit weird asfhjkl)

[enhypia]

SH ; first love

first loves answers questions with the choice of drinking instead of answering

pairings: park sunghoon x gn!reader

genre: slight angst and fluff

words: roughly 1.2k

masterlist ⸺ series masterlist

~guides and warnings~

italics - reader speaking

bold - sunghoon speaking

[enclosed] - interviewer speaking

italicized bold - both reader and sunghoon speaking

[enclosed bold or italics] - question (depends on who's speaking)

heavily inspired by: rec.create lie detector games, cut truth or drink

warning: contains and mentions of !!! drinking, swearing

i don't promote underage drinking, save your livers

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

hello i'm (y/n)

i'm sunghoon

and we're exes first loves

*both laugh

we're each others first loves and now we're exes

*sunghoon smiles

[so you guys were invited here today as first loves for a fun little drinking game, were you guys aware of that?]

they only wanted to do it because they said, and i quote "it's free alcohol, come on"

what? it's true, who would pass down free alcohol? not me

*sunghoon eye rolls

[okay, for this game, questions will be asked and if you refuse to answer, you drink, it's that simple. should we start?]

*both nod and were asked to face each other with cards that had questions written on them placed on the table, along with a bottle gin, a shot glass and some chaser

[who broke up with who?]

*both share eye contact smiling sheepishly

it was a mutual breakup but i think i was the one who kind of opened the topic of breaking up

yep, and that's when we talked about it

*interviewer gestures an okay for them to proceed, rock paper scissors for whoever asks first, (y/n) wins

okay so, *picks up card and chuckles,

["did you ever experience any type of jealousy after we broke up"]

i have

*(y/n)'s eyes go wide and looks at the camera with eyebrows raised

stop acting like you don't know about this

*(y/n) smiles

yeah but i only know some of it

*sunghoon quickly picks up the card to avoid the topic

[when we broke up, did you have a rebound?] i already know this though

i didn't they didn't

they're too considerate of people's feelings, they'd physically get sick if they made someone a rebound

don't get me wrong, i did think about it but i didn't want to date anyone just because i was lonely, that's cruel

*sunghoon makes a gesture as if saying 'see?'

*(y/n) winks at sunghoon and reads the card then bursts out laughing

i'm scared

you should be *(y/n) smiles widely

[have any of my friends hit on you after we broke up?]

*sunghoon doesn't say a word a just downs a shot

*(y/n) laughs harder than before

[have any of MY friends hit on you after we broke up?]

*(y/n) immediately downs a shot avoiding sunghoon's eyes

*cue sunghoon :O

you aren't friends with them anymore don't worry, but you were friends with them after we broke up so

*(y/n) shrugs

oh i think i know who it is then

*it sinks in

REALLY?? THEY DID? what a dick

moving on

*(y/n) motions the cards to sunghoon

[do you regret breaking up with me?]

you know what, i'm answering but i'll still take a shot because damn

*sunghoon laughs and looks at (y/n) expectantly

i...think i did at the beginning, given that i wasn't processing everything properly, so in my head i was always "why did i agree? why didn't i try harder to keep us together?" but eventually i came to understand why i agreed to split and why we had to split. so my answer would be no, i don't regret breaking up with you

wanna take a shot together?

you know me so well

*both drinks

[why did you guys break up?]

*(y/n) looks at sunghoon to answer

i felt like we weren't growing? because i think we were both considering each other too much for the future that it throws away so many opportunities for us individually

yeah it's like our label as couples were suffocating us and holding us back from different potentials

yes, that

our breakup is under the if you love them let them go category, i think we both saw that if we continued the relationship we wouldn't be really happy

yeah and for me i didn't want us to reach the point where we would hate each other because of it? that's why i opened the topic of breaking up because i treasure (y/n) , i couldn't stomach the thought of hating them.

that's the sweetest thing you've said to me all day

don't ruin the mood

*(y/n) blows a kiss to sunghoon

[did you think i'd be the one you'd marry?]

you see this is interesting because even though we lasted 4 years, we rarely talked about marriage

*sunghoon contemplates obviously whether to answer or to drink to tease (y/n)

i did think i was going to marry you

*(y/n) was not expecting sunghoon to answer and is internally screaming and trying hard to mask their shock

it was one of those moments where i thought "i don't think i could love anyone else other than (y/n)"

*(y/n) suddenly downs a shot blushing

*sunghoon laughs and drinks as well, he will forever deny the blush on his face

[are you mad about what happened to us?]

god *(y/n) chuckles right now no.

but before, i wanted to be so mad about it, i wanted something to blame, i wanted to blame you but i just couldn’t? because i loved you and known you for how long, so i understood why you did it and why it had to happen. i guess it was just hard to accept at that time because no one was really at fault.

*sunghoon drinks

*(y/n) laughs

at this point we're just drinking regardless if we answer or not

that's what makes it fun

[did you wish that it ended differently for us?]

i wished that it ended without hurting us so much, but like you always said before

*sunghoon looks at (y/n) “pain is inevitable”

*both laugh

[do you still love each other?]

yeah

yup

*both look at each other smiling

the break up didn’t take away the love we had for each other

*sunghoon nods

it’s hard to explain what it really feels but it’s not as the same as when we were together

yeah so in a way, while we do love each other, it’s not like the “i love you, let’s be partners” type of a thing. it’s more of like ….

*looks at sunghoon for help

like “you’re special to me, i love you” ??

*(y/n) claps and snaps

yes that! sunghoon is someone important to me so naturally i love him

*sunghoon smiles widely

what why?

so you love me? :D

you’re ugly, shut up

but you dated me 🤨

maybe i do regret that now 🤔

yah!

[do you tell each other " i love you" often right now?]

nope

we don't

*both grin

[is there a chance of you guys getting back together?]

*both look at each other and just takes a shot

next question!

*sunghoon shrugs and laughs

[we're ending at a cliffhanger huh? that makes it more exciting]

oh we're done? i thought for sure i was going to cry today

it's the alcohol preventing you from crying

[how about an i love you to one another for a proper ending?]

i love you

*both bursts into giggles

yah park sunghoon are you blushing?!

no! you're blushing!

*both drink a shot for the last time and blame the alcohol for the blush instead

»————-　♡　————-«

[fruitcoops]

Hi, Eve

Rose here from yesterday, thank you very much for the Birthday message, I wasn't expecting you to read it let alone reply but I was looking for Coops kids Birthday fluff specifically. It doesn't matter if you don't have time however as I don't want to be a bother.

Hello Rose, and happy (belated) 20th birthday! Sorry for the wait--I really wanted to get this one right to celebrate such an important number. I hope your day was absolutely fantastic! SW credit goes to @lumosinlove, but Stella is an OC

Combined with asks for Sirius lightly making fun of Remus' accent and Remus yelling at a game show (@nazar4114)

“Medusa!” Stella shouted with all the force in her thirteen-year-old lungs. Remus leaned forward on the couch. “Medusa!”

The front door opened with a creak. “I’m h—”

“Yes!” they cheered in unison as Nicole answered correctly. Remus turned and gave Stella a double high-five, feeling his heart squeeze at the vivid joy on her round face. “Good guess.”

“I knew she was gonna get it,” Stella said with a pump of her fist as she turned back to the show and folded her legs underneath her.

“Gonna,” a familiar deep voice mimicked from the doorway. Paper bags rustled before footsteps stopped behind the couch; Remus tilted his chin up without sparing a glance, and Sirius pressed a laugh-laced kiss to his cheek before dropping one on Stella’s head as well. “You sound too much like your dad.”

“Love you, too,” Remus said wryly.

“I’ll take ‘Myths and Moths’ for 400, please.” Nicole’s voice snapped his attention back to the screen, and Stella narrowed her eyes.

“Daily Double!” the automated voice announced. Stella gasped; Remus bit his lower lip. “This mythical shield was wielded by Athena, and is sometimes said to be made of goat skin.”

“Aegis,” Stella whispered, then raised her voice. “It’s the Aegis, Nicole. You know this.”

“We know you do,” Remus said, scooting forward. “You just guessed whose head is on it.”

Nicole’s buzzer went off with two seconds to spare. “What is the Aegis?”

“Hell yeah!” Stella whooped.

Remus turned to her and raised his eyebrows. “Excuse you.”

“Sorry.”

“Are you two going to do this the whole afternoon?” Sirius asked from the kitchen, obviously amused. “We might need to get the neighbors some noise-cancelling headphones.”

Stella blew a dark lock of hair out of her eyes as she flopped her head back. “It’s almost final Jeopardy, papa. We have, like, ten minutes.”

Sirius blinked at her, then shook his head. “I swear you two share genes.”

“Ope, you caught me,” Remus said over the noise of the commercial break. “When I was 20 and had literally never left Wisconsin, I went and had a secret kid in Maine who looks terribly like you just so that someone would watch Jeopardy reruns with me thirteen years later. Oops.”

“It’s the truth,” Stella said with great gravity. “I remember.”

“Mon dieu,” Sirius muttered, though he couldn’t keep a smile down. He had never been able to hide around Stella, not once in the three years since they had adopted her. It was one of the things Remus loved most about him. “By the way, nobody under the age of fourteen is allowed in the kitchen for the next…hour. Ish.”

Stella squirmed around until she could rest her arms on the back of the couch. “What if I get thirsty?”

“I’m sure you can invoke birthday privileges and ask your dad to get something for you.”

“Birthday privileges?” Remus scoffed. “Nobody in this house has a birthday today. Yours was last month, and mine’s in March.”

“It’s my birthday,” Stella said.

“What? No, it’s not.”

“Yeah-huh.”

“Your birthday is in June.”

“It’s today.”

“Or maybe July?”

“It’s today, in December, when there’s snow,” she insisted, throwing herself back against the pillows. “Come on, dad, that’s not funny anymore.”

Remus raised his eyebrows. “Is somebody too old to find their poor old dad amusing now? Can you go back to being twelve so somebody will laugh at my jokes again? I know, I know, we're super lame compared to all your friends’ parents—”

“So lame,” Sirius agreed from the kitchen.

“—but I like to think we get one more year of pre-teen cuteness before the teen angst takes over.”

Stella sat up again with a groan. Looking at her, Remus saw a mix of himself and Sirius that had always baffled him, considering they had adopted her comparatively late in her life; beneath it was something uniquely Stella. Maybe it was her double-jointed elbows, or the board-straightness of her hair next to their curls, but there was no mistaking that she was her own person through and through. He loved that about her. “I’m not going to be a terrible teenager.”

Sirius poked his head around the edge of the kitchen—his nose was adorned with a smudge of flour. “Can I record that for future use?”

“Non.”

“Ooo, using the French,” Remus hissed. “That transformation is already beginning.”

“It’s not like you were bad teenagers, right?” She settled upside-down on the couch with her flamingo-patterned socks high in the air.

“I almost convinced Grandma to let me dye my hair blue, but otherwise I was pretty good.”

“I was terrible,” Sirius laughed. “I didn’t talk to anybody for a solid three years.”

Stella frowned. “How? I think I’d die if I did that.”

“He’s stubborn,” Remus stage-whispered.

“I heard that.”

Stella suppressed her laughter as best she could, but she was about as good at hiding her emotions around them as Sirius was. She didn’t really giggle—the amount her voice had deepened over the past three years always gave Remus whiplash—but her laugh had the same cadence as it did the first day they heard it. While Stella had been quiet at first, it only took love and time to bring her out of her shell. Within a year she settled into their lives like she was always meant to be there.

A thoughtful look crossed her face. “This is my last year before high school.”

“Does it feel different?”

“Not really.” She paused, then shrugged. “And a little. I don’t feel older. It just feels like there’s stuff I won’t get to do anymore.”

“And a lot more you will get to do.” Sirius left his dishtowel on the counter before joining them on Stella’s other side. “You can drive soon, you’ll get a longer curfew, you get more freedom…”

“I guess.”

“What are you going to miss?” Remus asked as she toyed with the hem of her shirt. It was a basic Lions FAN jersey; he was fairly sure she bought it to be ironic. That, and she only wore one of theirs if she was upset with the other, or if one needed a boost at a game.

“I dunno.” A few beats of silence passed. “My classmates. My team. It feels like everything’s going to turn upside down.”

“You can still keep in touch with your friends, and I bet your team won’t be too different,” Sirius said quietly. “Even if it does, that doesn’t mean you have to give all of them up. People change in different ways. They come and go on their own time.”

“There’s going to be a lot of upside-downs over the next couple years, kid.” Remus offered her a smile. “But you’re going to be just fine.”

“You two sound like such dads right now.”

“This might shock you, but that’s because we are.”

The corner of her mouth tugged up and she lolled her head to the side to look at Sirius. “Is the cake done?”

“Fifteen more minutes.”

“Will you watch final Jeopardy with us?”

“What’s the category?”

“US Presidents.”

Sirius exhaled through his nose, but nodded. She grinned and turned herself upright to snuggle against his arm. “You just enjoy watching me lose.”

---------------------------

“Alright, is everyone ready?” Sirius called from the kitchen.

“On three,” Remus said, raising his phone camera. “One, two, three!”

“Happy birthday to you,” over a dozen voices sang. They were off-tempo and so out of key the composer was probably spinning in his grave, but Stella’s clear joy didn’t waver for a millisecond even as her cheeks reddened. “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Stella, happy birthday to you!”

Finn, of course, dragged out the last note. So did Leo, Logan, Kasey, James, Lily, and Talker in varying degrees of awful harmony attempts. It was terrible, and beautiful. “Make a wish,” Sirius said softly as he set the cake down and stepped back. His eyes were the brightest quicksilver Remus had seen in many moons.

Stella closed her eyes, took a breath, and blew as hard as she could—the entire room erupted into cheers when all the candles went out. She was laughing and blushing at the same time when Remus turned the lights back on, though the humor won out in the end and she helped pass plates of cake to her many aunts and uncles. Like every year prior, Regulus managed to smear a bit of frosting on her chin, only to immediately deny it with great offense when she noticed. It was becoming a bit of a tradition—one that Remus never grew tired of.

I know what I would wish for, Remus thought as he looked around the table at their patchwork family. Celeste, Dumo, and his own parents had no doubt spoiled their first grandchild with ‘cusp of adulthood’ gifts, and Natalie and Lily would certainly steal her away after cake for some girl time. Finn and Logan would remain the fun uncles while Leo and Regulus kept their thrones as the cool uncles; Stella would interrogate Jules on the intricacies of high school for at least an hour before they destroyed everyone in a snowball fight. The world they built together had a place for everyone.

I would wish for this. This, for us, forever. It wasn’t a bad eternity to imagine.

[justafoxhound]

I'm late but for the otp ask game: (omg going through these, I feel like I know the answers to a lot of them, so I chose some fun ones heehee 😈) 3. Do they wear the other’s clothes? (sweatshirt, bandana, necklace, etc.) 8. What happens if one of them gets sick? 14. How do their personalities compliment each other? How do they clash? 19. How do they feel about PDA? 26. What are their vices? 30. Your OTP gets to pick out each other's outfits; what is each wearing?

No worries! I don't find many I can rb so any q's whenever is fun. And curious to hear your ideas on some of them??? 👀

Ok I had to think quite hard about these!

3. Do they wear the other’s clothes? (sweatshirt, bandana, necklace, etc.)

I don't know a girl who doesn't steal her bf's clothes now and again, and Talia is no different. T shirts to sleep in, jacket to pop outside in the rain, or his shirt when she's trying to be enticing ��

Burke might borrow a scarf or something if it's lying around (which I imagine it always is), but he thinks about his image so it would have to match.

8. What happens if one of them gets sick?

If Burke got sick Tali would be a great nurse. She might surprise him really with how soft she becomes. And quite a lot of her dad's knowledge stuck (she was always smarter than the GOAT said) so an effective one too. Depending how sick he was, he'd just carry on as normal, not letting on, and probably get annoyed at her fussing over him. If it really knocked him out though, well, he'd appreciate her help so no one learned he was sick (sickness = weakness!!), but he would also be pretty arsey company.

If Tali got sick he'd expect her to just get on with it as well, though she isn't the type to whine. But would he offer up a lot of support? It hurts him a little to see her hurting, but I'm not sure he'd acknowledge that until she was already upset with him :( Boy is learning. Tali would be used to having to get on with things, considering how the vault was quite short on population to maintain it. But daddy was a doctor so she’d be missing that compassionate medical aid, it was a time when she got most attention from James and now probably the least from Burke. ☹

14. How do their personalities compliment each other? How do they clash?

Burke is thorough, careful, unbothered by fools, so things won’t get out of hand with Talia’s impulsivity and temper. He has to have everything under control and Tali can see it so it calms her down a lot.

Talia likes to joke around, is headstrong and outspoken, so maybe Burke doesn’t take himself so seriously so constantly. She’s also very sociable and likeable, and perhaps it rubs off on him so he can be a bit more normal. (Moriarty does call him a ‘class A weirdo’ or something in game haha, I think I toned him down a bit but he should have some oddball vibes hehe).

How they clash, hmm, I think they can both be stubborn, leading to fights. Neither wants to apologise after a fight. They both struggle to admit weakness, express their needs, stymying deeper intimacy... At least for now.

19. How do they feel about PDA?

If Burke wants to engage, to any level, he will. He doesn't care. What's going to happen, someone will see them and he'll feel embarrassed?? He doesn't know the meaning of the word. I feel like I wrote him more sombre from the middle-latter part of the fic, but he's quite unpredictable if he's feeling up for some antics (general antics, not just 👀 lol). However if he doesn’t want to or it would put out the wrong image at the time he will shut it down abruptly, even just holding hands. It's quite confusing to be dating him.

Talia doesn't mind doing it, seeing it, whatever. Except for ghouls. Seeing that probably topped seeing a ghoul for the first time as the Scariest Moment of her life (or maybe just new category, Grossest Sight).

26. What are their vices?

Haha, well Burke is almost all vice isn't he? Greed, arrogance, jealousy, wrath, deceit, and the boozing and smoking. I feel like they drink more around each other, when things are coasting along quite well anyway. 

Talia has always been struggling with anger and doubt, though she gains a lot of self confidence and pride in surviving Events, and being around Burke is only going to gas her up more hehe.

30. Your OTP gets to pick out each other's outfits; what is each wearing?

Burke is going to pick some evening gown or cocktail dress isn’t he? With sexy shoes completely impractical for walking anywhere, and underwear that he doesn’t realise can’t be worn with the dress because the straps show or something.

Talia would just try to dress him more casual, with a bit of attitude. She like the bad boys. I imagine she somehow got him wearing a chain or two...

[arizonaconservativegal]

First of all, thanks for replying. And thanks to the people in the notes who followed up, as well. In terms of interests, while I would love someone who shares a lot of them, I really only have one that's necessary. As an aspiring game developer, games are my art form, especially the world building and the mechanics and systems in place. I want someone who shares this love, who I can bond over with. Anything else would just be icing on the cake. In terms of appearance, I'd prefer if she were shorter than me by a good amount, ideally at or below 5' 6" but I'm fine as long as she's not above like 5' 10". I'm not the leanest person myself, I've got a little belly, but I'm working on it and slowly losing weight. I don't mind if she's a little chubby either, but if she's really fat I just can't go with that. I'm probably a little hypocritical here as I'd obviously prefer someone who's in shape, but I can find some heavier women attractive as long as they're short and feminine. I dislike body modifications, and would prefer someone without any, but I could deal with a few small tattoos and a few piercings, as long as they're not gauges or septum piercings. And obviously she needs to want kids (but not have any), needs to be not a full-on leftist (I'm fine with a centrist, conservative, or ideally a libertarian), and just have a nice personality that gels with mine. I tend to be a pretty low-key, somewhat boring person, and have trouble dealing with people who have "big" personalities. I find that at my age, it's hard to find someone who wants kids but doesn't have any, and who likes games but isn't butch or seriously fat or really punk or whatever. Those are pretty much my lines in the sand, appearance and personality-wise. Do I have too many of them? Are there things I should care less about? As I said, I've never been in a relationship, so I really don't know what's important and what's not. I'm just basing what I want on what I personally prefer.

And I know what I need to do to become more attractive, myself. Lose some weight, get a better job, move out. Is there anything else I need to do, and what should I prioritize? Right now I'm thinking about trying for a raise at work, but I'm also worried it'll put me over the pay limit for subsidized healthcare, and I've got a lot of health problems that are out of my control. I'd need to jump to a job with actual benefits to make it really worth it, so it'll be hard just moving up gradually.

And finally, just because I'm spilling everything out here anyway, there's a girl at work who recently broke up with her boyfriend of 5 years who I've been becoming quite friendly with. She's always enjoyable to talk to, and she seems to like me at least as a friend. However she's not got a lot in common with me. There's a guy who clearly likes her, and she has a friend that's probably into her, and I knew her ex and they all have a similar look that's very different to me. I think she also tends to go for "bad boys" and I'm definitely not one of them. She recently asked about my interests and stuff kind of probing more deeply, but since I basically haven't had any friends for years I don't know if that's just what's normal or if she's actually a little bit interested in me. Honestly I'm not sure what to do or if I should even do anything. She's basically a normie and I'm borderline autistic. I'm not used to anyone actually being interested in anything about me and I don't know how to tell one kind of "interest" from another. And considering she's a coworker and I enjoy her company, I don't want to fuck anything up. What do I do?

Ok there's a lot to unpack here...

First of all, I'm not going to be that person who tells you looks don't matter because let's all be honest here for a second, they do and anyone who says otherwise is lying for internet morality points. Obviously if you're going to date someone, you need to not be repulsed by their physical appearance.

But. Looks are not the most important thing and they're also not permanent. Plus in my experience, the more you get to know someone, the more attractive they become to you because you just see people differently when you love them. So don't worry so much about finding the most beautiful girl you've ever seen, or being the most handsome guy she's ever seen. When it's right, that stuff will handle itself.

(Also, I'm not saying you did this, but if you put all that in your online dating profile, please delete it immediately because it will scare women off if it's public and even if it's just for the algorithm, you're probably losing a lot of potentially good matches by being too specific)

I would think a little more about personality. It can be a lot harder to define that than appearance, but that's the part of her that you're going to really fall for. What does "big" personality mean to you? Does that mean just being loud, or is it a certain kind of humor, or just being extroverted or outgoing? Think a little about the people you enjoy spending time with and figure out what it is about them that makes you want to be around them. Interests are a good starting point, but try to think about what drives those interests and how they express them.

And think about you too. How would you describe yourself? I'd guess with your interest in game development, you probably have a big imagination and attention to detail, yeah? Do you have a dry sense of humor, maybe? Are you a patient person? Do you prefer to be busy or to take it easy? When you get stressed out, what calms you down? What are your values in life?

Think about what kind of person complements all that. Remember you're looking for a partner, someone to build a life with. That means the two of you have to make a good team. You'll bring out the best in each other and compensate for each other's weaknesses.

As for the changes you think you need to make, I'm going to let you in a little secret about women: there is nothing sexier to us than a guy who has his shit together. And that doesn't mean you need a fancy law degree and a six figure office job and a mortgage. It means knowing who you are and what you want and be working a clear, realistic plan to get there.

So yes, everything you mentioned is probably a good idea because it sounds like that will help you have more confidence and get on more solid ground with your life and future. But as for what you should do first, just focus on what is best for you, not for some hypothetical future wife you haven't met yet. It sounds to me like you've still got some healing to do and that needs to be your priority.

But when you're ready, the only thing to do is start talking to people and go on lots of dates that will mostly go nowhere. That's okay. The point is to meet girls and see if there's enough there for a second date, then maybe a third, and so on. You're not looking for something that's perfect right away. You're just looking for a starting point to build something more from.

In your case, yes, you probably do need to find a girl who at least has some interest in video games. It's going to be too much of your life for her to not at least be willing to indulge you when you want to talk about the game you're working on. I would guess that there are a lot of girls in "nerd" category who maybe don't know much about video games but would be interested if someone they cared about wanted to show them. Or if you really want to start off with just a pool of people who are as interested in game development as you, I'd hazard a guess that there are conventions or online forums on the subject. Maybe check out some of those and just start talking to people. Maybe it goes nowhere. Maybe you make a new friend. Maybe more. Who knows?

As for the girl at work, I think you're setting yourself up to get hurt. Girls who go for bad boys don't usually change their habits easily. She may be interested in you because you're not like her ex and she's trying to try something different, but that doesn't usually last. It isn't that you're doing anything wrong, it really is just how girls like that are. And it doesn't make any sense but it's how it is.

In general though, if you're getting to know a girl and you're not sure if she's looking for a friend or a boyfriend, it's okay to ask. Don't be creepy about it or anything, but it's okay to say something like "I just want to make sure I'm not reading too much into this." And be prepared to drop it if she says she just wants to be friends.

(Also my rule for dating coworkers is this: if it's a job you plan to stay at long term and you work closely together, the answer is no. If it's more of a temporary thing or you really only pass her in the hall once a week, that's probably okay as long as your company doesn't have some policy against it)

Bottom line, you're overthinking this. Love isn't logical. You can make all the plans and checklists in the world and none of them matter because that's just not how it works. Trust me, if it was, I'd be married by now too.

All you can really do is be the best version of yourself for you, meet a bunch of people, probably get your heart broken a couple of times along the way, and eventually you'll find someone who makes it all worth it.

-

As a side note, are you in a good church? If you're a person of faith at all (and I'm an atheist, so no judgement if you're not), I think having a community like that around you would be good for you right now.

[muggle-writes]

Rules: Answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better.

tagged by @elizabethsyson

Nickname: Muggle is my nickname, but when I went by Muggle in person for more than a month at a time, it naturally got abbreviated, usually to Mugz

Zodiac: Aquarius

Last movie I saw: into the spiderverse (same answer as last time. I don't watch that many movies tbh except around Christmas. unless YouTube counts in which case... music of some sort? idk links for the next answer)

Favorite musician: changes by the day. I've kinda been in an acapella and/or folk music mood recently so the Maccabeats and Peter Hollens are in my YouTube and Spotify history a lot recently. also I'm eternally in awe of Forte Handbell Quartet (eta a longer video; i recommend skipping to the techno piece or the Jurassic Park theme)

Last thing I googled: "vine why are you buying clothes at the soup store" (my wife hasn't seen it; also i can't find the vine because apparently it's a much bigger meme than I realized). before that it was "chgrp not root" because work and group permissions are useful when they work

Song stuck in my head: well for most of the day when I haven't been actively listening to something, it's been the Pokemon RSE route-walking music. (but that somehow happens frequently when I'm in the no-music-no-internet room at work, as I was for most of the day, and I don't know how I accidentally trained my brain to make that connection). right now, surprisingly, I don't have any background music playing in my head. I think it's because the humidifier provides just enough white noise that my brain doesn't feel the need to provide its own

Other blogs: my main is @muggle-the-hat and I'm a mod on @why-do-neurotypicals but we've gotten one ask ever so that blog has been dormant for a while. I have a bunch of other sideblogs, but they're all small and I use different screen names on each of them (enby life: no idea which name suits me best so I may as well try them out) so i feel like it would just confuse things to link them.

Following: blogs matching all the themes of my sideblogs, (including this one, which is writeblr), korean langblr, jumblr, assorted fandom blogs, authors of my more favorite fanfictions (some overlap with other categories), and irl friends and acquaintances (including one fandom blog turned irl friend)

Do I get asks: on my main if at all, which isn't really surprising because i have hundreds of followers there and maybe 60 followers combined among the rest. but I get asks far less often than I reblog ask memes so... I'm always happy to get more. I do get tagged in ask games more on this one, but writeblr is actually vaguely organized about tag lists so that makes sense. also I used to get tagged a bunch on my main and I rarely could find the posts again to follow up when I had time to answer.

What I’m Wearing: pajamas. staying warm and cozy

Lucky number: I don't remember what I said last time, but I like a lot of numbers. 64 is a good number. recently I've been debugging software in which 0x3E is my lucky status number and 0x0E taunts me. (um, decimal 62 and 14). Also my other favorite number i can't share until it's no longer the combination to the lock to the Secret Room. (or realistically never because opsec and i shouldn't make public the types of parents we use for that combination lock), honestly I aim to be like.... ah, I'm sure the anecdote involves G.H. Hardy but i don't remember on which side. anyway one mathematician remarked to another about how the id number of the taxi he rode in was sadly uninteresting, and the one I aspire to be like, argued "what are you talking about, this number is interesting because ______" and I'd like to be able to do that for any arbitrary number thrown at me. (hi yes math is good, history is hard, math history is interesting yet i still forget the people even if i remember the math. except when things are named after people, but that tends to be, like, Euler and LaGrange and other people who did lots of cool science things so i remember the methods and the names of the methods separately which never helps)

Amount of sleep: ....depression both screws with my sleep schedule and means I always feel like I need more sleep except when I wake up at 5pm and feel like I've wasted the day. so yeah. I can never get enough sleep

Favorite food: yes (why do I have to pick a favorite?) uh, chocolate in most forms, many other sweet things, red meats (especially if served with potatoes), curry (especially if it has "too much" ginger), fresh-baked bread, chai the way my favorite local Indian restaurant makes it (spicier with just a little bit of sweet, which is the opposite of what i can get from the mocha machine at work which is wayyy sweet with a hint of spice but that inferior chai is still superior to coffee so i drink too much of it). also vegetables which I really don't eat enough of: sauteed zucchini and onions, roasted broccoli

Dream trip: dreaming requires creativity and tbh I funnel that mostly into my writing instead. I wouldn't mind going back to Korea for another visit though

Dream job: my current job is pretty good when I feel productive and when my debugging tools actually produce data maybe??? (they were not being helpful today. but i still mostly like my job.) dream job is probably this but with seniority and confidence and double the salary (while living in a similar area of the country; I wouldn't want to double my salary by moving to work for Google in California and having less available after rent than I do now)

Describe yourself as aesthetic things:

the smell of old books

the first glow of sunrise (the sunrise painting the mountains pink and gold)

a rainbow in the spray from a waterfall

the flicker of distant lightning (watching a thunderstorm fade into the distance)

this picture

Random fact: about me or about the world?

how about a combination answer: when we got our new handbell music this season, we only looked at half the pieces our first rehearsal and afterwards I tried to look up one of the pieces we hadn't gotten to on YouTube because it's got a weird time signature and I wanted to get a feel for how fast it would go and how strict the counting is...... except it turns out we're the first group to ever play the piece. it was commissioned recently but seeing my conductor's name on the page didn't tell me how new it was because he's super prolific. (the fact that it was on printer paper without the publisher's graphics should have been a giveaway but it's only the second time I've been among the first to play one of his pieces so I think I can be excused for not realizing)

Languages: mostly just English, but I took Spanish for years, so I can hold simple conversations in it. I can almost read sound out Hebrew fast enough to keep up in services, and I know some random Hebrew vocab but comparatively no grammar. and I took Korean in college, enough that I can recognize sentence structure but I can really only speak tourist-Korean, though I can sound anything out (if it's typed. handwriting is hit or miss.) in both Hebrew and Korean (and Spanish tbh but i don't often listen to Spanish music) I'm very proud when I can separate the words enough, listening to a song, to translate them without looking up the lyrics. also I tried to learn Japanese from Duolingo when it was new, but I still hadn't gotten the kana straight when it started progressing to kanji so that was a rough time and I went back to Hebrew.

tbh I "dabble" in "language learning" which really means I start a million courses on Duo and stick with none of them. with the notable exception of French, which I acknowledge is super common and probably a good idea to learn but the spelling and pronunciation seem so arbitrary I'm scared to look close enough to learn it properly, and I've never particularly considered starting the Duolingo course for French

I think I lost a few questions, because that's only 18 answers. whoops.

um... who to tag

@abluescarfonwaston if school hasn't drowned you in work yet and @copperscales I'm interested in both of your choices for lucky numbers especially.

... wow I'm blanking on other mutuals I haven't tagged recently. as usual lmk if you'd like to be edited in, or just answer the questions and tag me back, that's great too.