#but I think he can tell the difference between like a 5 vs a 8 year old whereas syd cannot

[corvidclub]

Ok so ik that fanfiction often requires characters to act ooc but I've seen multiple (tbf like 3) accidental pregnancy fics in the bear tag....and I just want to have my own 'he wouldn't fucking say that moment' and say that there is not a single universe in which Sydney Adamu would ever carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. If the concept of abortion didn't exist my girl would invent it to not have to do that shit lol.

[olenvasynyt]

Similarities and Differences between Lucien and Azriel

Alright...Elriel vs Elucien.  And I am aware that this is a topic: this fanbase has very strong opinions!  I have strong opinions myself ofc.  But I am going to suppress my own personal biases and look at these characters from a logical, unbiased perspective.  And I’m not really going to talk about evidence that proves one ship is canon or anything like that, I actually will barely talk about Elain at all.  

I want to point out the similarities and differences between Az and Lucien because I think these will definitely come into play in the next ACOTAR book since it will most likely be Elain’s book and this ship war is probably going to be addressed (at least I hope)

Similarities:

Prominent Scars

Both have scars which is rare for High Fae, and the way they got these scars is very prevalent to their backstory.

2. Knowledgeable spies

They are both intelligent and sly and know a lot about Prythian because they’re both spies, Lucien was considered Tamlin’s spy / emissary.  They both seem to keep a lot of secrets even from the people they’re close to.

3. Childhood

Their history are similar.  Both were tortured by their fathers and brothers.  Their mothers might have been used against them in their youth to control them (Mommy issues for sure)

4. Found Family

They were taken in by their friends after a really traumatic experience—Rhys and Rhys’ mother took Az in, Tamlin took Lucien in.  And they developed a very strong loyalty to Rhys and Tamlin perspectively as their high lords but also their best friends.

5. Loyal but still speak out often against their HL

And both of them still say the issues they have with their High Lords.  Az is more confident with Rhys while Lucien is a lot more cautious with Tamlin especially after UTM and for good reason. 

6. Defending their loved ones

And they both have their moments of rash defensiveness, like Az choking Eris at the High Lord’s meeting when he insults Mor, and Lucien telling Amarantha to “go back to the shithole she crawled out of” in the first book.

7. Insecurity

And it’s hard to understand them because we barely got POVs from either but they both seem really insecure with themselves.  Az seems to think of himself as a monster he avoids looking at his scarred hands.  And Lucien blames himself for a lot of stuff, one of the most important things imo, Jesminda’s death.  It seems like they avoid a lot of parts of themselves.

8. Elain

And one of tne of the most important in this shipwar situation that makes them similar imo—that I never see anyone talking about—are the conversations they have with Feyre and Rhys perspectively.  In the Autumn Court Feyre and Lucien have a fight about Elain and the Night Court, and Feyre says that he is only tagging along “just so he can get what he thinks he’s owed,” referring to Elain his mate.  This is very reminiscent of what Rhys asks Az in the bonus chapter, “you believe you deserve to be her mate?”

And both of them don’t directly answer and say they think they’re deserving in fact they both address their mistrust/dislike: Lucien answers, “my mate is in my enemy’s hands” and Az says “I think Lucien will never be good enough for her.”

They are both very conflicted when it comes to Elain. Az is attracted to her to the point of infatuation, and he’s stuck on this idea of having love because both of his brothers found love and a mate but he hasn’t.  But being with Elain is forbidden and he kind of realizes he doesn’t have a plan laid out.  He knows all of this is wrong and kind of seems to think he knows he’s being irrational.

And Lucien has the mating bond and all of the emotions and attractions that come with that but he is sick of getting hurt.

He’s still thinking about Jesminda it seems like and he thought she was his mate so he’s already comparing the two females.  

And he also sees that Elain is not into it plus he feels like he’s being forced into it himself.

And I really think the differences between the two will come into play as well, and are probably more important when it comes to Elain and how both of these two males interact with Elain at this current moment in time.

Differences:

`1. Light / dark powers

The most obvious difference is their powers; Lucien has the power of the Day court and Autumn, so light and fire which is the exact opposite of Az’s cold shadow powers. A lot of people use that difference as evidence towards Elucien or Elriel being the next relationship.  But as I said before I just want to point out some other differences that aren’t about each of the two males’ potential with Elain but rather just a character analysis. 

2. Honor, heroism, and helplessness

Az is very much a white knight. He is a savior, a rescuer.  He has a reputation for saving females, including Mor, Gwyn, and Elain.  He kind of has a hero complex in a way at least from how I view it, mainly bc the reason for a lot of these complexes is the desire for affirmation, validation and a sense of purpose, which I think has Az written all over it.

Also, a hero complex isn’t all about rescue and “damsels in distress”.  It is all of these other things:

good at saving people, very perceptive and sympathetic

A need for validation

dismissing their own needs and neglecting self-care

difficulty accepting help

feeling overwhelmed and drained

emotional and psychological burnout

low self-esteem

resentment

fear of abandonment and rejection

guilt over perceived mistakes

issues with overstepping boundaries

I'll make another post about it but I think it's an important.

You can try to analyze this from a psychological viewpoint, like Az was abused and suppressed when he was young, he was locked away and could not help his mother until he was empowered by his Illyrian heritage and shadowsinger abilities and got out of his father’s imprisonment.  A lot of these rescues are because of this job but Az seems like the person who is honorable and would help these females anyway, even if his high lord didn’t blatantly order him.

Lucien has a similar history: he also didn’t have power over his father or brothers, he was helpless when it came to helping his mother. But he reacts differently to this trauma.  He is a lot more helpless. 

Lucien is a gentlemen and very good hearted, and again, he can be rash and he does defend his loved ones, (helping Feyre UTM, going to find Vassa and get help from the other fae territories) but most of the time he is very careful with the moves he makes.  And I don’t want to say he’s selfish because he has done plenty of very selfless things, but sometimes his trauma really drives his decision making.  You can see this with Tamlin in ACOMAF: he tried to help he tries to stand up to Tamlin a few times, but imo his trauma from Beron and seeing his mother being abused really influenced his actions and made him cautious.

3. Trauma from losing loved ones

There is a key quote from Lucien and Feyre’s conversation in the Autumn Court which really just defines how Lucien interacts with people especially Elain.   Lucien was saying he wants to see Elain “just once.  Just—to know.” And Feyre asks him “to know what” and he says “if she’s worth fighting for.” (Chapter 12 Page 114 ACOWAR)

I remember reading that for the first time as someone who fell in love with Lucien from the moment I met him and being like… “ooh 😐 damn.  That’s a little selfish lulu why aren’t you trying harder.” 

And in the bonus chapter, Az says to Rhys that he doesn’t think that Lucian deserves Elain as a mate because he probably just sees Lucien as a coward, he sees how Lucien interacts cautiously around Elain and he’s probably sees him as a coward. He’s frustrated and he doesn’t understand why Lucien is so cautious with his mate because he doesn’t know his history and trauma. 

Lucien is sick of losing people.  He has lost so many of his loved ones.  He has lost Jesminda, he technically lost his mother because most likely hasn’t been allowed to speak to her in centuries.  He’s lost Andras, and he just recently lost Tamlin.  He lost his eye which isn’t a person but it’s a loss still.

Jesminda seems to influence a lot of his decisions when it comes to Elain.  He does not talk about her a lot but in a way he does, you can tell he thinks about her constantly, even if it may have been hundreds of years.

Lucien was expecting a mating bond to snap with her.  He thought that his mate was murdered. 

And he seems very selfish in this conversation with Feyre but it totally makes sense why he said he wants to see if Elain is worth it.  He is sick of losing people.  He’s just like… “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

4. A supportive network

Azriel has had his own losses but he has a lot of people around him.  He’s got all of the inner circle who have supported him and loved him for centuries.  His mother is also alive and there are hints that he goes and visits her.

I think Lucien has a supportive network now with the Band of Exiles, but he lost so many friends and loved ones and allies along the way. He is constantly moving around, loving his spot and finding another one, while Az got a very stable home.

5. Revenge and serving justice

And another thing is, revenge.  Az has a lot more of a need for revenge it seems like.  He wants justice to be served.

When he got out from his step-brother and father’s imprisonment, Rhys isays that what he did to them was so horrible that he struggled looking at him for a while after.  And Az really wants to kill Eris for what he did to Mor, and the only reasons why he holds back are because he believes Mor is more deserving of that revenge and because of his High Lord and High Lady since Eris is a very important ally to the night court right now.

Lucien doesn’t seem to think about justice being served.  Justice has never been served in his life and he thinks it never will.  

He doesn’t seem to have a need for revenge.  He was rude to Feyre in ACOTAR in the beginning which was totally reasonable btw. She murdered and skinned his best friend of course his reaction is bitter hate.  Plus he was losing a lot of hope with the curse.  But he kind of got over it pretty well and Feyre became friends.

And in ACOWAR he encounters his brothers—who tortured him in his youth and held him down and forced him to watch his lover butchered, and also rooted for his torture UTM.  And we don’t really see any need to get his revenge for any of that.  Power came into play in the ACOWAR winter court situation bc him and Feyre were overpowered so they ran instead and that makes sense.

6. Running 

Lucien has a habit of avoiding problems.  He and Feyre ran in Winter (I know their powers were low but still), he ran from Autumn to Spring after Jesminda, he ran from Elain in a way to go help find Vassa.  In ACOFAS when he and Feyre fight on the winter solstice, he left instead of staying.  He just doesn’t want to invest because again, he’s sick of getting hurt.

And maybe not all the time but sometimes Az seems like he runs ahead with his eyes closed.  He bottles up his feelings but he explodes sometimes when he gets too invested, like with Mor and Eris and with Elain in the bonus chapter.

Comparing these two characters is pretty important in the future books, since we will get POVs from both, discover more of their story, and see how this whole shipwar thing ends up.

[telltaleangelina]

TC tag game Thank you for the questions and for tagging me @renaultphile Rules: Answer the questions and tag other TC fans

"He would not fucking say that" only they did and it's canon. When/who?

I don’t think I’ve read it enough to have a sense of something like this. I really disliked Laurie’s scenes with Adrian though. So it’s not so much ‘he wouldn’t say that’ as ‘I would prefer to ignore the fact that he said/did that.'

2. Did they kiss in the study? Yes/no + why you are 100% correct about this.

I think they did. The first time I read it, I didn't really wonder if something had happened, only what had happened: I didn’t know if they’d only kissed or done anything more. Later, it seemed to be confirmed by Ralph’s letter that they’d not done ‘anything more,’ I just assumed it was a kiss, and I don’t really think the dialogue following the ellipses makes much sense without anything having happened. “Now you see what I mean, Spud. It would never have done, would it? Well, goodbye.” What could Laurie have seen if there was nothing besides a hug or handshake or something? What would never have done? Why ask him to ‘come here’ at all?

3. Mandatory question about Ralph's alleged tattoos.

I really don’t think he’d have any, but if he did I think it'd probably be something nautical.

4. 53 vs 59 edition: quote a line or paragraph that is better in the edition you like the least.

I don’t know which of them I read and I definitely haven’t read another addition, so I can’t answer this. Apparently, the earlier one had more detail and dialogue, so if I haven’t I’d love to read it

5. Which TC character would feel right at home here on tumblr dot com?

Sandy, I think he'd be great on here.

6. Tag yourself at Alec's birthday party.

Laurie reading a book or Laurie just at the beginning, sitting around awkwardly, listening to people’s conversations and wondering how on earth he ended up there.

7. Post a TC meme

The first I ever saw (on the Mary Renault tag) and still the funniest to me, I think because I understand it perfectly

8. Easy to talk about who deserved better. Who deserved worse?

Straike, I hate him with a fiery passion. The man had a dog put down, not because he was sick or anything but simply because he couldn’t be bothered to care for him. Vicar? Ridiculous.

9. You can break the fourth wall (at any point in the novel) and say a single sentence to our protagonist, Laurie Odell. What do you say?

'This is not Ancient Greece, stop being weird,' at the exact moment Andrew is telling him his traumatic life-story and Laurie is preoccupied worrying about Dave. Also related to the question, but not really asked for: if I could I’d also tell Andrew he doesn’t have to feel ashamed of how he feels about Laurie. Well, more accurately, I’d give him a modern copy of ‘Quaker Faith & Practice’ and have the relevant passages highlighted, so I know he won’t miss them. It makes me very sad for both Andrew and Dave that their whole lives could've been very different (and much happier) if they were born four or five generations later.

9. What's a question you have about TC? One you haven't found an answer for yet.

I can't think of any, besides wondering how Mary Renault could've written it because it's so good. I love the use of subtext, the way she describes emotions you've felt before but never would've been able to put into words on your own. In terms of characters and story, I do have a random question about Bunny: was it supposed to be implied that he was a perpetrator of sexual assault? I got that idea when I was reading the car scene between him and Laurie but I was unsure.

I don't know who to tag! I think all of the Charioteer accounts I know have already been tagged, but if anyone hasn't and wants to, I'd love to read your response!

[stoopid-turtle]

Aug Summary + Takeaways

Okay, straight off the bat, the timeline for this month is a mess. So many conflicting dates for just about everything. I tried real hard, but I hit my limit as a non-Chinese speaker. So consider this all to be sketchy.

Let's hit on the significant moments point by point:

DD's birthday!

There's some disagreement as to what happened on 8/4 vs what happened on 8/5. As near as I can tell, we get them filming the rooftop fight, the bug chase, the stargazing, and the birthday countdown on 8/4.

On 8/5, DD does the livestream during a lunch (?). GG is filming solo scenes for a bit, then DD joins him when they fight off the Wen owl. Then they do the post-timeskip market scene. This also includes a moment with dd being a chaotic gremlin while gg is being serious and working thru a scene with the juniors. After finishing his takes, gg walks up to dd with what I called the "indulgent dom" face. It's the only way I know how to describe it, but y'all have seen this expression before. It's identical to the expression he had when DD bratted at the Nanjing fanmeet by refusing to make a cute face.

(I'm not making any particular statement about them actually being dom/sub here. Just...some moments have big dom energy and this is one of them)

(also, since @deadeyellentigh expressed an interest in gg's codeswitching, this is also another instance when it pops up)

After filming ends for the day, they do the cake and gift exchange.

They are presumably in a relationship at this point, so odds are, there were other celebrations in private that we weren't privy to.

All the fucking interviews

Excuse my language, but within a 3-day timespan, there are night/day interviews with yb and dd, gg, and ggdd. JL has a couple interview/measuring sessions with them individually. There's an on-set interview when they're sitting in front of a rockface of some sort. Then the Sina interviews and the interview on the white couch and the outdoors interview with gg calling DD gouzaizai and oh God why are there so many fucking interview clips????

The yb interviews seem to take place around filming close-ups for some fight scenes on 8/7. GG will interview with yb while dd does some takes, then they switch. There's another nighttime yb interview clip on 8/8 with both gg and dd. And then on 8/9, yb does the awkward waist-measuring interview.

Why does yb interview them on 3 different days? Or should this all be on one day? The latter seems more likely, but the sources I'm using have varying dates for varying clips from these interviews so *throws hands up in air*

Ok, back to ggdd

Sorry, I just wanted to rant convey how shaky the timeline is this month. The Weibo timeline I was checking against doesn't have anything for Aug, so I was working with fewer sources.

The first part of the month seems good for them. They're playful, clearly having fun, but also just glomming together and chatting between themselves between takes.

The 8/10 exchange with jc is interesting to me. Again, I'm basing my understanding from a YouTube video I've seen, and there's every chance that video is misleading. Just watching the unedited, untranslated clip, it does look as if gg's a little freaked out by something while dd is trying to reassure him, but it's really impossible to know what they're all talking about. There was a lot going on on the set that wasn't related to ggdd, and honestly, I have the impression that their relationship was widely known about. As such, it shouldn't have been something that jc had to discover through a photo. He likely had known about it since the start.

The end approaching

The last week or so leading up to the end of filming is a bit of a roller coaster. On 8/16, they have lots of fun filming fight scenes together. On 8/18, gg sings Sam Smith to dd. I think a lot of what gg busts out singing on set is a little random (sometimes, you just get an earworm), but this is clearly meaningful given the way he's directing it at dd.

So at this point, gg and dd seem to be in a good place. I don't know if they've been discussing what happens after filming. I don't know if they've already agreed to try to make it work. Maybe they're avoiding the topic. Maybe they're not on the same page. But on 8/18, gg and dd seem ok.

Then in 8/20, we get the cloud recess library scene. This scene has a lot of fun clips, but I've also seen another clip from that day (unless there's another cloud recess library scene day that I'm missing -- a very real possibility). I've only seen this clip translated once, so I don't know how accurate it is.

But it's a clip of an extended pretzeling session between the two. I've seen shorter clips of the pretzeling, but I'd never seen the full scene or context until I randomly came across it one day.

The scene starts with gg angry about something dd said about him. DD asks gg if he's gonna add him back on WeChat. gg says after filming, they'll go their own ways and won't have to see each other. DD asks how he could say something like that. (Sidenote: I will not link to this clip. Please do not ask.)

It's honestly uncomfortable to watch, and if the translation is accurate, then it's obvious the bts caught a couple argument. I have some reservations about it bc, honestly, the other clips at the library don't have any hint of tension between them. Was this something that happened after? At the end of the clip, they do walk past the camera as if leaving the set.

There's reasons to consider the clip with some skepticism. First, the translation I saw could be wrong. I usually like to see 2 different translator's versions before I consider a clip really solid. I've only ever seen one on this. Otoh, even without the translation, both gg and dd seem upset in the clip and the atmosphere isn't playful. (Made even weirder by the fact that it was included in one of those "cute ggdd moments" compilations. Y'all, I got thoughts on some of the stuff on Youtube). Still, maybe the scene isn't as ugly as that translation makes it appear.

Another possibility goes back to what I've been saying from the beginning: we are seeing so little of what actually happened. 20 minutes out of a day of filming. Maybe 30. On rare cases, an hour. Maybe gg and dd made up after that clip but before filming ended. Maybe they went through 5 breakup/makeup cycles before filming ended. Maybe the scene didn't happen on 8/20 at all. Maybe there's stuff happening around the scene that changes the context completely.

So take it or leave it. I'm inclined to think the translation is relatively accurate. If the translator wanted a cute ggdd moment, they could have tried a lot harder. That's the opposite of a cute moment. And while the tone of this clip may contrast with the clips around it, I also don't think that's necessarily a strong point against it.

As an example, the next day, 8/21, when gg is sick, they seem okay but there's every possibility they are being cautious about their arguments in front of the camera. If they're like me and my wife, they're able to put an argument on hold to attend to whatever responsibility they have. My wife and I had an argument right before hosting some friends for dinner. We just...pretended through the whole night. Then, once people were gone, we finished up the fight.

DD and gg are actors, and gg, especially, is good at schooling his expression. We know dd routinely lies during interviews with ease. They're both able to put on a guise of being okay. As usual, we're seeing such a small slice of what's going on with these clips. There is every possibility this was an ongoing argument between them that they kept from the camera (excepting that one scene in the library).

At the same time, gg was singing Sam Smith to dd just 2 days before the argument. What happened between 8/18 and 8/20 to create such tension? The only clip I have from 8/19 is of gg filming solo. Something happened that led gg to attempt to cut contact with dd.

On the other hand, some couples are just a bit volatile, with a lot of back and forth happening within a short amount of time. This can especially be the case with young couples where both people have strong personalities.

The next days after 8/20 are the final shots and then the wrap events. They seem fine, for the most part. However, there is the moment on the steps at wrap when they hit each other.

@bzhitstruth noted that the fight here is real, and I tend to agree. Dd was notably late to the big cast and crew photo. Then, during the line up, dd said something when it finished that seemed to upset gg. That's when gg reaches behind the person between them to whap dd and dd whaps back. Everybody laughs, but gg and dd's expressions are serious rather than playful.

After, dd looks like he's gonna follow gg down the stairs but he stops himself and just lingers. Then they're both called over for another photo. GG's pretty cheerful and bouncy but DD barely smiles.

I'd been skeptical of the rumor that gg changed his WeChat or something to break off contact with dd after filming, but after going through these clips, I think it's at least plausible. GG may not have changed his number, but he apparently unfriended (or whatever) dd around 8/20.

It really seems as if gg was prepared to break things off, against dd's wishes. Even when considering the whole "gg needed a break after filming" possibility, I didn't think their separation was so acrimonious, but it looks like it was pretty dramatic and oftentimes hostile.

But there's ambiguity here. There's room for disagreement. I'm leaning towards the "bad breakup" interpretation, but there's room for other takes, and if you think that things left off on a more hopeful note, I wouldn't blame you. We know they eventually got together, after all.

The after

On that note, our knowledge of the after is even sketchier. We know gg went on a trip to Japan and dd wore the "I miss you" hat. If gg did delete dd as a contact on WeChat, then the hat was really dd's only way to communicate with him.

Next we know, dd visited gg for his birthday on 10/5. I have a litany of questions for this.

Who contacted who and how after the Japan trip? Did gg reopen chat with dd? Or did dd find some other way to contact gg? Had gg made up his mind during the Japan trip to get into a relationship or was that a decision he made after?

Of course, without that tell-all book, we have no way of knowing any of this. That's what fanfic is for, I guess.

But it's clear that they're together in 2019. It's at that point that dd introduces gg to his DDU brothers, and then they start doing the promo events that include so many interview moments that hint at a relationship between them. So while the last we see of them during filming was tense and unresolved, we know they both chose to work things out and make a proper go of a relationship. Well, dd seemed to never waver on that, so it was up to gg to make that commitment. He clearly did.

I kinda hate to leave this project off on such a downer, tbh. I hadn't really thought through the possibility that they had an ugly break-up at the end of filming, but there we are. I feel bad for them that their early-relationship dirty laundry is out there for the world to see. I'd hate for some of my early relationship dramatics to be caught on camera. (Thus why I will not share the clip of them arguing)

So let's end on an up-note. We know they're together even now. We have a new LRLG rumor just last week. We can see they've both committed to and grown into their relationship.

The latest rumor is long and is full of sweet moments, but there's also a bit where dd talks about his relationship with his staff. I think we can take the current state of their relationship from what he says:

"Date in a way that makes you comfortable. Work through the differences and it will be okay."

Assuming this isn't all fake. Cause it probably is.

I'm gonna do an overall summary + takeaway from this project for some stuff that didn't fit into any individual month (professionalism on set, possibility of devil's timeline, "it's complicated" relationship status, etc). Probably this weekend. Watch this space.

[hikennosabo]

trimax vol 10 random thoughts (ch 5-8)

part 1 here.

okay, time for part 2. i don't want to do this, i have a pit in my stomach.

chapter 5:

destroying razlo's punishers... a good strategy!

getting leverage to jump by stepping on his leg, i love it

you could say he. he was. *wheeze*... i guess you could say he was... ...disarmed... [a comically large hook drags me off the stage]

wolfwood and razlo just met today (not technically but y'know), but he can read razlo so well already, taunting him like this.

THIS FIGHT...!!! it's reminding me of vash vs knives in the finale of the 98 anime! one black gun and one white gun, and them being on even ground, making the same moves...

they're an even match when they're just whaling on each other, but wolfwood has tactics that razlo doesn't. also this is an insanely cool move.

chapter 6:

^ how it feels to read trigun maximum (said again)

^ how it feels to read trigun maximum (said for a third time)

he knows wolfwood is dying. we know wolfwood is dying. he can't do anything to stop it. we can't do anything to stop it. (except for refusing to keep turning the pages, i guess)

THEY HAVE NAMES?

vash can't do anything to stop wolfwood from dying, but he can help wolfwood go out on his own terms...

PLEASE, HE'S ALREADY DYING, WE DON'T NEED YET ANOTHER DEATH FAKEOUT FOR THE BOOKS.

livio interfering... i'm not an expert but this is not how DID works. but sure. the drama carries it.

WHY AND HOW IS CHAPEL STILL ALIVE FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU

razlo realizes very fast that chapel never cared. despite his verbal denial, i think he was realizing way before this.

DESERVED!!! YES.... KILL!!!!!!

of course razlo can only attack. attack, like how he killed livio's parents. not that chapel doesn't deserve it, but this is the only thing razlo knows how to do.

ough. livio apologizing... "i'm okay now"...

so is razlo just gone now? like i said, i'm not a DID expert, i know re-integration(? not sure if that's the correct term sorry) is possible, but i don't know if this is how it works...

honestly, i feel bad for razlo. he only knew a life of violence, he was manipulated and indoctrinated by chapel, all he wanted was to be needed but his last experiences are finding out that chapel didn't care about him and then livio telling him he doesn't need him anymore. poor guy.

chapter 7:

oh, no, i don't want to read this chapter again. don't make me read this chapter again.

the difference between this and tristamp... stamp had the orphanage much more directly tied to EoM, and a bunch of guys in suits came to pick wolfwood up. this scene is a lot more "normal," a lot less obviously suspicious. idk if i'd go so far as to say stamp!melanie was in on the whole thing, but she doesn't look happy about wolfwood leaving... i do wonder how stampede will handle all this... ANYWAY!

"six years"... lmao. now i understand what people meant when they said the timeline is confusing. it's killing me and i hate it, actually?! nightow ALL you had to do was NOT specify a number!!!

the coins... i constantly forget about them and i find it funny whenever they're brought up... they were so clearly meant to set the ghg up as a shonen battle enemy-of-the-month type thing but then that got thrown off the rails when the magazine ceased publication and everything got turned upside down. yet the coins persist. what are they all for in the end.

also i'm sad. this is wolfwood's paltry attempt at pushing vash away. (also he's been carrying rai-dei's coin this whole time?! lol?! that's also sad... just waiting to give it to vash i guess...)

"this is the way you want it? are you sure?" i'm just fucking inconsolable at this point.

of course this attempt at sincere emotion is deflected. you boys are so, so, so, so, so stupid.

i can't do this man. i can't review the couch scene. i'm crying too much.

the prayer. this especially is getting to me. we've seen wolfwood pray a few times, but now it's vash's turn to pray. we've never seen him do that. and while vash was there to answer wolfwood's prayer... there is no one to answer vash.

what if i climbed into the microwave right fucking now.

ourgh. out of all the images in this chapter, this is the one that stuck with me the most. even more than the couch images. ugh, i can't even fucking write.

chapter 8:

i don't know where else to say this...? lol but livio's personality is different, he's cute now. is this because he broke out of the EoM brainwashing or because he integrated with(???) razlo? (once again: IS this how this works???) or is it both? either way he's a lot more expressive than he was before...

other people have already talked about how we didn't see the burial. i'm also thinking about everything else we didn't see. vash buried wolfwood, and he also cleaned up outside, brought livio in and laid him down, gathered ingredients and started cooking...

how long did he sit on that couch for before he moved. how much and how hard did he cry. we didn't see that either. we don't need to.

knives. he's smearing blood on his face again.

his laughter... i don't think he finds this funny like "haha funny" necessarily, i think he's just losing it.

vash defends the orphanage and knives doesn't even push it. he just moves on. hmm, i'm trying to articulate this... vash's display of power used up more of his life, which knives noticed obviously, and vash is willing to go that far to protect the orphanage... knives still doesn't want vash to die, and... he's laughing out of disbelief, or something like that. i don't know.

vash and livio sharing a meal together is... it's nice. but vash is still clearly very angry. with livio, with razlo, with himself too probably.

i don't know. i'm not angry with livio or razlo at all. they were both victims of chapel same as wolfwood. this is all chapel's fault in my mind, lol.

oh.

we're gonna see this in stampede too, aren't we. wolfwood will die for a third time and we're gonna see vash holding the punisher.

the fact that this volume doesn't even have the goofy author extra... we're just forced to sit with this. man. the book club wasn't kidding, it's so much worse the second time around. the first time i cried a little but i was mostly just taking it all in. the second time i was like actually heaving and sobbing. reading this volume twice within a few days was a BAD IDEA.

AND WE STILL HAVE FOUR VOLUMES LEFT. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GO ON AFTER THIS. four entire volumes without wolfwood...

[magistralucis]

Observations on the French version of The Infinite and the Divine

1.. I always thought if English has to be translated into anything, French is one of the top 3 most straightforward languages to do it in. At first glimpse this is a direct translation of the English text. Good for cross-referencing, but I'm not anticipating a great deal of unusual localizations or woolseyisms, not that such things are usually at the translator's liberty with novels like these.

2. That said, the Trazyn vs. aeldari farseer encounter is excellent. The warning she gives him is the same (including the planet's demand for 'le sang de Trazyn'), but there's something special about watching him receiving this warning, immediately paying for it with his bodily death, then springing back up with a deadpan 'bon sang!'. Hits a lot better than 'this world sings for the blood of Trazyn' / 'damn!' imo. A nice little linguistical coincidence.

3. When I first read 'le tétrarque' I was thinking tetrarch of... what exactly??? But no that's just the French translation for a necron overlord. 😅 The term of address is 'messire', directly equivalent to 'my lord'

4. Sannet addresses Trazyn formally, while Trazyn tutoyers Sannet. I've yet to find out if Trazyn addresses anyone else in Solemnace this way.

5. Orikan and Trazyn, on the other hand, vousvoyer each other religiously. They don't even drop formality when they're insulting each other as the lowest of the low, and I'm not finding any instances of them doing so while skimming the pages. There's a great deal of coldness between them, but they don't deliberately talk down to each other either. I'll have to come back to this point later when I have a better grasp of French!T/O's dynamic

6. Not sure if I like 'factionnaires' as a translation for 'lychguard'. From what I can tell the French is simply the word for a sentinel or a guardsman, whereas the English is a pun on 'lych (lich)' + 'guard' = 'corpse/undead-guard' = 'body-guard'... just feels like they could've come up with a more clever translation, you know? Or am I missing something? Let me know if you can.

7. Wait Phillias is a svelte stunner? ('La femme élancée') She's definitely tall and stunning, but I always thought she was more on the side of 'built like a goddamned brick wall' or something

8. 'Salopard' 😩👎💢

9. I have emotions towards dream-pipes and wish Zuberkar could've gotten his back

10. Actually Orikan does tutoyer something: the Mysterios. And Trazyn referred to the aeldari gem earlier with a 'tu' as well. This is normal 'tu' usage in French, but it's notable that in the original English Trazyn and Orikan were both specifically addressing those objects as if they were persons. They're not that different, cooing softly at the objects they hold dear.

11. Trazyn is not on familiar terms with his chief librarian ('et apportez-moi tout ce que vous avez sur la Guerre Céleste…') or presumably his copyist crypteks, but he does use 'tu' consistently with his main crypteks (Khybur, Sannet, Tekk-Nev). 'Mes chers fidèles'!

12. Not a French-specific thing but oh my god the vicarious embarrassment Trazyn must've felt over seeing Orikan crowing his supposed victory over Vishani always gets me jghfhhdhshs

13. La tête 😳 ordonna Orikan💫 à l’Immortel 🔫 Prends ton temps 🤯🤪

That's it for Act 1. Will add more in further reblogs.

Disclaimer: not a native French speaker, also have not previously read French WH40K articles/wikis/literature/etc. I'm likely missing out on many linguistical curiosities, so if anyone else has this edition of I&D, I'd love to hear your thoughts ✨

[jordaninthevalley]

The Ginger Island Mushroom Cave Argument

This is a follow up of my "Mushroom Cave vs Fruit Bat Cave" post.

Originally this was going to be included in my initial post, but I felt like it was long enough so I am going to be making this it's own seperate post.

This also ensures that I can dedicate my full focus on this argument and everything within it, so buckle up for yet another long post as this contains information for every. single. aspect. of getting to ginger island, different things within certain aspects of it, and much more.

Divider Credit

A common argument I see within the various discussions I participate in or just read through without throwing my opinion into the mix related to this topic is, essentially, "Ginger Island has a Mushroom Cave so you should just pick the Fruit Bat Cave because you don't need two of the same cave!" and I, frankly, find this argument to be insane. This post goes into why.

The Boat:

Anytime after Summer 1, Year 1 you can enter the fish shop and a cutscene will trigger, Willy does not have to be in the shop, but the cut scene is Willy telling you how he has an "old friend" in the back and hints that if business picks up he will show you what he has in the back room. This door is locked before this cut scene and remains locked afterwards.

To be able to access the back of the shop you need to finish either the Community Center or the Joja Warehouse. Sometime afterward Willy will send you a letter inviting you to enter the back room of his shop, where you will find his "old friend" - a broken down boat. The boat has three things which need to be repaired, the hull, the anchor and the ticket stand.

The Hull: 200 Hardwood The Anchor: 5 Iridium Bars Ticket Stand: 5 Battery Packs

Hardwood:

To get hardwood you can find it from a Large Stump, Large Log, Mahogany Tree or Mystic Tree. If you have the Lumberjack Profession, all trees have a chance to drop hardwood.

Large Stumps can be destoryed with a Copper Axe or better. You need 5 Copper Bars and 2,000g to get that. Large Stumps provide 2 hardwood, meaning you'll need to chop down at minimum 100 Large Stumps to get 200 hardwood. Large Stumps have a 10% chance of dropping a Mahogany seed.

Large Stumps (Re)Spawning: - In the Secret Woods there are 6 Large Stumps which respawn - On the Forest Farm there are 8 Large Stumps which respawn - On the Four Corners Farm there is 1 large Stump which respawn - With the Shrine of Callenge activated you can find Large Stumps on floors 41-69 in the Mines. Stumps spawned on the Standard Farm do NOT respawn

Large Logs can be destoyed with a Steel Axe or better. You need a Copper Axe, 5 Iron Bars, and 5,000g to get that. Large Logs provide 8 heardwood, and do not respawn.

A large log does block the entrance to the Secret Woods, meaning that unless you glitch through with a chair to the Secret Woods, you won't be able to get the hardwood from the secret woods until you have the Steel Axe.

A Mahogany Tree produces between 8-13 hardwood when felled, I suggest not chopping down your first Mahogany Tree that you grow but instead letting it spread for awhile until you start to chop them down incase you do not get another mahogany seed when you fell your first tree.

A Mystic Tree also produces between 7-11 hardwood when felled, but I think that tree is better used being tapped for Mystic Syrup over farmed for hardwood.

Iridium:

To get iridium you must head to the Skull Cavern (you can also find it in the Volcano Dungeon, but that is found on Ginger Island.) If you pick the Hill-top or Four Corners farm, there is a chance of them spawning there after reaching Level 10 in your Mining Skill.

You can also find them from Magma Geodes, Omni Geodes, Super Cucumber Fish Pond once the population reaches levle 9, a meteorite, fishing treasure, panning, the traveling cart and the Statue of Perfection.

A Meteorite has a 1% chance of happening, and will only happen if the random 3x3 area the event chooses on the farm has a 2x2 area within it that has no water, placed objects that block movement, buildings, resource clumps or farm animals. If this isnt met the event does nothing. If you get the meteorite, you need a Gold Pickaxe or better to harvest this. To get a Gold Pickaxe you'll need a total of 17,000g, 5 Copper Bars, 5 Iron bars, and 5 Gold bars. When you destory a meteorite you get 6 iridium ore, 6 stone, and 2 geodes with 25% chance to drop a prismatic shard.

They can also drop from Purple Slines, Iridium Bats, Iridium Crabs, and Iridium Golems in the Skull Caverns.

Magma Geodes can be found on levels 81 - 119 of the Mines. Omni Geodes are found when breaking rocks but every Tuesday Krobus Sells 1 for 300g and the Oasis sells 3 every wednesday for 1,000g each.

In total you will need at least 25 Iridium Ore, and 5 coal, to get 5 iridium bars.

The traveling cart has a chance of selling an iridium bar for 3,000-5,000g. The following mobs also have a chance of dropping an iridium bar:

Shadow Shaman at 0.2%

Shadow Brute at 0.2%

Iridium Bat at 0.8%

Purple Slime at 0.9%

Iridium Golem at 3%

Battery Packs:

Battery Packs are gained from Lightning Rods during thunder storms, solar panels after 7 sunny days, 5% chance to dropped from the iridium bat, and as a possible gift from Pam or Kent. The traveling cart also sells them at times for 1,500-2,500g

If you pick the remixed bundles and get and complete the Children's Bundle, you will be awarded with 3 battery packs. The solar panel recipie is acquired after the "Island Ingredients" Special Order is completed, but you have to have Ginger Island unlocked to have a chance of getting this Special Order.

The Lightning Rod recipie is acquired after reaching foraging level 6 and you craft it with 1 Iron Bar, 1 Refined Quartz, and 10 Bat wings. You also get one when completing the 10,000g Bundle in the Vault in the community center.

The Lightning Rod can only be hit once per thunderstorm, so if you only have one lightning rod you'll need at least five thunder storms to obtain 5 battery packs.

If noLightning Rodd have been struck there is a 100% chance for one to be hit. If 50% of the Lightning Rods on the farm have been struck there is a 75% chance for the rest to be hit. If 90% of the Lightning Rods on the farm have been struck there is a 19% chance of the rest to be hit.

The Community Center / Joja Warehouse

You need to complete the Community Center to be able to even repair the boat. This takes, at minimum, a year to do but can take much longer depending on your playstyle. You will need 42,500g to complete the Vault bundles.

You can also pick the Joja Warehouse to complete, but you will need a total of 140,000g to buy the membership as well as all of the developments. You can fudge this a bit by completing certain Community Center bundles and then buying the Membership so you can reduce the amount of gold you have to spend.

Ginger Island

Once you repair the boat you can travel to Ginger Island for 1,000g per boat ride. When you reach the island you are on 'Island South', this contains the dock as well as the paths to the other parts of the island.

You will head to the only open path with takes you to 'Island East', where you follow the island resident "Leo" and upon interacting with things within his hut you will unlock 'Island North'.

When you unlock 'Island North' you will follow the Magma Sprite and head to the Volcano. You will only be able to unlock 'Island West' after gathering 10 Golden Walnuts.

'Island West' includes the farm, and a dilapidated farmhouse that can be fixed up for 20 Golden Walnuts, you will need an additional 5 Golden Walnuts to be able to recieve mail while on the island. For another 20 Golden Walnuts you can craft the Farm Obelisk which will only warp you to the farm, you will have to get a seperate Obelisk to be able to warp to the Island without using a totem. Upon making the Farm Obelisk, you will be given one Island Warp Totem.

You can sleep at Ginger Island and will wake up on the island. The golden walnuts are scattered around the island, and can be found when completing puzzles, fishing, tilling up certain locations around the island, and more.

Ginger Island Mushroom Cave

Now that we are on the Island, how can we get the Mushroom Cave?

Head to 'Island North', when you see the Field Office (Green tent with bone on the outside) head to the left. There is a broken bridge which can be repaired for 10 Golden Walnuts. This leads to the dig site, which has the Mushroom Cave. There is a boulder blocking the cave which you need to blow up with a bomb to not only release Professor Snail but also have access to the Mushrooms.

The cave randomly spawns new mushrooms everyday, and they grow directly from the ground so you benefit from the Gatherer or Botanist profession as well as get XP from them, this does make it better than the Farm Mushroom cave on that front but not the cost front.

Staying On Ginger Island?

The only thing that would make the mushroom cave a benefitial thing at this point in the game is if you stay on the island and never leave it. You can, somewhat realistically, do this as you do have a farm on the island, a bed, as well as a shipping bin.

The island farm does have some perks such as not needing scarecrows, sprinklers can be placed here, fruit trees can be grown here, and the island acts as a greenhouse.

However, you will have to head back to the normal farm to be able to complete certain quests, get certain achievements, unlock certain items, have animals and keep them happy, catch certain fish, get various items and much more. So, to even fully play the game you cannot stay on Ginger Island forever, this means we need to either spend 1,000g every time we want to head over and benefit from the mushroom cave and the other things we can benefit from on the island, or we need to be able to craft the warp totem or build the obelisk.

Warp Totem: Island

Bought from the Volcano Dwarf for 10,000g.

Floor Five of the Volcano Dungeon houses a dwarf that runs a small shop but unless you have the Dwarvish Translation Guide you won't be able to access his shop.

You get the Dwarvish Translation Guide by donating all four of the Dwarf Scrolls to the Museum. - Dwarf Scroll 1 can be found Tilling in the mines or Skull Cavern on any floor at 0.16% chance. Bat, Bug, Cave Fly, Duggy, Green Slime, Grub, Rock Crab and Stone Golem have a 0.5% chance of dropping it. - Dwarf Scroll 2 can be found Tilling in the mines between floors 1-39 at 0.1% chance. Ghosts, Frost Bats, Dust Sprites, and Blue Slime all have a 0.5% chance of dropping it. - Dwarf Scroll 3 has a 1.5% chance of being dropped by Blue Slime while other Slimes, Lava Bat, Lava Crab, Squid Kid, Shadow Brute, Shadow Shaman, Metal Head, Spider, and Blue Squid have a 0.5% chance of dropping it. - Dwarf Scroll 4 has a 0.2% chance of being tilled up in the Mine on floor 80 and above. Monsters outside of Serpents, Skeletons, Wilderness Golem, Carbon Ghost, Iridium Bat, Iridium Crab and Haunted Skull have a 0.1% chance of dropping it.

If you are able to access his shop, you will be able to purchase the recipie for the Warp Totem: Island for 10,000g. This will always be in his shop until you purchase it.

To craft a singular warp totem you will need 5 Hardwood, 1 Dragon tooth, and 1 Ginger.

Dragon Tooth:

Obtained in the Volcano Dungeon either around the skeletal remains of a dragon or by killing a Lava Lurk, which has a 15% drop chance.

If your inventory isn't full, you don't have to worry about items falling into the lava as they will automatically go into your inventory, however if you don't have room there is a chance that when it drops on the ground it can land in the lava.

You can also get Dragon Teeth from a Stingray Fish Pond which has a population of at least 9.

Stingrays are found in the Pirate Cove found on the Southeast side of Ginger Island. You unlock this area by building the Beach Resort for 20 Golden Walnuts after repearing the Farmhouse. If you put a Stingray in a fish pond, you will have to fulfill quests to be able to reach max amount of fish in the pond. For the first quest you'll have to give them seven cinder shards, which are found within the Volcano Dungeon by either mining nodes, inside chests, or dropping from a Magma Sprite, Magma Sparker, Magma Duggy or False Magma Cap. For the second quest you'll have to give them a dragon tooth. Once you reach 9-10 Stingray in the fishponds: - Roe has a 63-69% daily chance of spawning - Magma Cap has a 4% daily chance of spawning - Cinder Shard has a 9-10% daily chance of spawning - Dragon Tooth has a 5% daily chance of spawning - Battery Pack has a 9-10% daily chance of spawning

These are, as far as I am aware, the only ways to get Dragon Teeth. There is not a guarentee that a Dragon Tooth will spawn around the Dragon Skeleton, and Lava Lurkers seem to be the best way to get them.

Ginger:

Ginger cannot be grown as it is similar to Spring Onion. You can find it growing wild on the island and harvest it with your hoe. TigerSlime have a 9% chance of dropping Ginger and theyre found in the volcano dungeon as well as in tiger slime grove.

Tiger Slime Grove is found in 'Island North' and is north of the pond.

Island Obelisk

You can buy this Obelisk from the Wizard for 1,000,000g, 10 iridium bars, 10 dragon teeth, and 10 bananas. It is 3x2 building and is neceassary to achieve perfection.

To be able to buy the various buildings from the Wizard, you need to complete both the Dark Talisman Quest and the Goblin Problem Quest. To complete the Dark Talisman Quest you need to complete the community center or joja warehouse and unlock the sewers. You will have to trigger a cut scene up in the mountains after completing either the CC or the JW, then speak to krobus. After speaking to krobus you'll have to go to the mutant bug lair and go through it to get the dark talisman. Upon retreiving the dark talisman, you'll head back to the railroad and place it in it's appropriate area. To complete the Goblin Problem Quest you'll enter the witches swamp, speak to Goblin once and then you'll give him a void mayo. You can either fish up the void mayo from the surrounding water, or you can buy a void egg from krobus and turn it into void mayo, or if you have a void chicken you can turn one of it's eggs into void mayo. Once you give the Goblin his void mayo, he'll run into the hut. You now have access to the hut, he won't be around. Grab the Magic Ink and head back to the Wizards hut through the symbols on the floor. You are now able to access the Witches Hut, the Shrines within it, as well as the Buildings in the Wizard tower.

Banana:

Bananas and mangos do not spawn in the fruit bat cave so if you picked that, you're SOL on collecting these fruits from your farm.

To obtain the banana sapling you will have to get the Island Trader for 10 Golden Walnuts on 'Island North' after purchasing the Island Farmhouse. Banana Saplings cost 5 dragon teeth.

You can also obtain the Banana Sapling through Golden Coconuts and completing the Large Animal Collection in the Island Field Office.

Golden Coconuts

These can be found by shaking palm trees that have a visible coconut on them. There is 10% chance the palm tree will drog a golden coconut. If you have a fish pond with Blue Discus there is a 4-5% daily chance for them to give you one. Their quests include 3 taro root then 10 taro root, which is a crop you can grow after buying them from the Island Trader for 2 Bone Fragment per Taro Tuber.

You can also trade 10 coconuts for 1 golden coconut.

You break the coconuts like you do with Geodes by using Clint, they cannot be broken with the Geode crusher. The first golden walnut you crack open will always produce a golden walnut. Afterwards the golden walnut will produce other items.

Golden Coconuts can produce Banana Saplings, Mango Saplings, Pineapple Seeds, Taro Tubers, Mahogany Seeds, Fossilized Skulls, Iridium Ore, and a Golden Helmet.

The probability is a bit weird on the wiki, and I don't fully understand it but I will provide it here: Banana Sapling: 1/7 Mango Sapling: 1/7 Pineapple Seeds: 1/7 Taro Tuber: 1/7 Mahogany Seed: 1/7 Fossilized Skull: 1/7 Iridium Ore: 1/7 Golden Helmet: 1/20 All of them have an asterislk next to them which leads to: "After getting the Golden Helmet the probability is set to 0. If the player does not have it yet, the probability of getting the other ite,s is actually 19/140 until it is obtained. If you can explain to me what this means, that would be a wonderful help! It is possible I am not understanding this as I am typing this all out at 5am after being up since 9am yesterday but as of right now that is just gibberish to me.

Large Animal Collection

Fossilized Leg (2): Breaking Bone Nodes at the Dig Site, 10% Chance

Fossilized Ribs (1): Digging Artifact Spots on the Southern side of the island, 25% chance, and breaking bone nodes at the dig site, 1.35% chance

Fossilized Skull (1): Golden Coconut

Fossilized Spine (1): Fishing in Dig Site River, 10% chance

Fossilized Tail (1): Panning in Dig Site River, 20% chance

Completing this collection awards you with 6 golden walnuts and 1 banana sapling.

Bare Minimum List Of Materials Needed

Hardwood: 205 (+ 5 for every extra warp totem: island crafted)

Iridium Bars: 15 (75 iridium ore, 15 coal)

Battery Packs: 5 (1 Iron Bar, 1 Refined Quartz, 5 Bat Wing Per Rod)

Copper Bars: 5 (25 copper ore, 15 coal. For Copper axe.)

Iron Bars: 5 (25 iron ore, 15 coal. For Steel axe.)

Dragon Teeth: 16 (+ 1 for every extra warp totem: island crafted. Not counting fish pond requests)

Ginger: 1 (+1 for every extra warp totem: island crafted.)

Bananas: 10

For the Gold amount:

Community Center Completed: 1,058,500g (+ 1,000g for every ginger island trip)

Joja Warehouse Completed: 1,156,000 (+ 1,000g for every ginger island trip)

I dunno about y'all but this seems like a lot of time, gold, and effort just to get a mushroom cave when you can get one upon earning 25,000g.

[thescribblings]

Just some random lil fun facts about my peepaw au, since i can

1, his tail isn't natural whasoever. He spent too much time in radioactive areas and boom! Lil nub tail popped up one day! (No, he didn't notice it until someone pointed it out, and yes, it can retract, but it's uncomfortable after a while, lol)

2, it's called 'slightly feral future leo for a reason, i just haven't explored it properly yet so i don't have many explanations atm '•>• (except that he has 'mission mode', it's basically ptsd but with extra ✨️spice✨️)

3, this man is like, really fuckin active (living my dreams fr) one of his favorite things to do when he isn't lounging on the couch is run! And boy, does he run, he was a lil too eager to get back to it when his abdomen was healing, and luckily nothing bad really happened, but he did get an earful from everyone else

4, contrary to most, my peepaw doesn't have a lot of self depricating thoughts! They're there, but they don't run the show, y'know?

5, like i mentioned in the post about his prosthetic, he's really fuckin heavy (200-250ish kg or 440-550ish lbs), and for good reason! On top of the heavy ass shell attached to him, the undeniable fact that he's mainly made of muscle and built like a damn tank and his prosthetic, i decided to make him 7'4, 223,5cm. What can i say? Tall idiots scratch an itch in my brain

6, he has zero sleep schedule, you will find him awake at the most random of hours, in the most random of places (sometimes he's up for days, but we'll get into that in the future) you'll also find him sleeping in random ass spots, on a light fixture in donnie's lab? Yep. In a corner, crammed between pipes? Yessir. In the middle of the floor? Obviously. Literally in the fuckin closet? Yes. Turtle brain go brrr

7, onto one of my favorites, i personally believe (as illogical as it may be) that rumbling vs churring has to do with size to some extent, the smaller turtles can rumble but they have to think about it, the bigger turtles do it on instinct, make sense? Lemme tell you, this man can sound like a fuckin engine sometimes, mikey loves it ofc. oh, and he makes more turtle noises than the others lol, part of the whole 'feral' thing

8, he's very interested in unicorns still, once a leo, always a leo. But he's also very interested in fashion, and mainly different clothes that look good, are comfortable, AND that he can kick someone's ass in, so he mainly wears loose clothing, and despite the choking hazard, often wears his scarf! I just don't know how to draw it yet, lol (and yes, present leo did get him a unicorn onesie, he loved it)

Oh! And he does usually wear a prosthetic arm, i just havent designed one yet lol (and I'm enjoying not having to draw 2 arms)

Thank you for reading my ramblings!

Have nice day

[metalandmagi]

Other things to focus on in this season of HSMTMTS, because I’m kinda tired of seeing nothing but Rina vs Portwell in the tags.

1. Kourtney and her anxiety plotline. I love that they turned a “haha teens can’t survive without their phones” joke into something that actually means a lot to her, since she can’t communicate with her mom when she’s panicked. I even went back and watched Camp Rock (for the first time in forever), because they said it’s her comfort movie, and now I see why.

2. ELTON JOHN CASWELL!

3. Maddox and Jet’s relationship. I LOVE SIBLING STORIES! Their past is infinitely more interesting to me than the love triangles. If love triangles are your jam, that’s great, but I LOVE SIBLING DRAMA! I think it’s partially because they give me Connor and Zoe Murphy vibes from Dear Evan Hansen. 

4. Ashlyn’s “make way for Belle” attitude. I was really annoyed with her at the beginning of the season, but now I think this is a valid arc for her to go through. When you’ve spent a lot of time playing side characters, then suddenly get the lead (when you’re not someone who is normally cast as a “princess” type), then get put in the ensemble during something you saw as your big break, it can be...a lot to process. She’s had an entire season of Big Red telling her how amazing she is (and she IS amazing), but something every theater kid needs to learn is that every show is different. You will not always be the lead. You will not always be in the background. Nothing is certain in theater.

5. ELTON JOHN CASWELL!

6. Ashlyn is definitely going to be bi now. Realizing you have feelings for someone of the same gender while you’re already in a very happy relationship is a crazy journey to go on, and I want to see her deal with her feelings (but I swear if she and Big Red break up, I’ll cry).

7. Everything going on between Ricky and Jet. I love that Ricky is a full fledged theater kid now, and he sees so much of himself in Jet. I love that he’s trying to bring Jet into this world (and yes, Ricky is also a bi disaster, you love to see it).

8. ELTON JOHN CASWELL!!!!

9. I really hope they don’t drop Carlos being angry at always being an inanimate comedic character and trying to change the cast list. I wonder if this will come back at some point now that they are specifically trying to stir up drama.

10. I don’t have anything against Val’s character. I like Meg Donnelly, and I was super excited for her to be in the show...but she isn’t serving too much of a purpose right now other than to push Gina and EJ’s plotline foreword. I want to see more of her.

11. This season is really showing how much pressure you can put on one person before he snaps. Let EJ take a nap. 

12. I feel like there could have been an opportunity for Ashlyn to be kind of upset at not being cast as Elsa, specifically because she and Gina have always had the more sisterly bond. I feel like they’re so much farther away this season.

13. What’s up between Kourtney and Jet? They keep dropping little “blink and you’ll miss it” interactions between them. Don’t know if it’s a couple thing or a friendship thing, but I think it’s kind of cute!

So anyway, I’m happy the shippers are having fun, but this is where I’m at right now...

[rickybaby]

Omg I would love (if you want to share of course) your thoughts on Christian and Daniel’s relationship. I find it so intriguing and in certain cases there’s two different stories of what happened like the contract negotiations in 2018. I do think it was taken as a slight being offered whatever he was offered first, then the same as Max which I think was worst by rbr. I mean Daniel had been at that team for 5 years, he should’ve been given a better contract than Max imo. Like they wanted him to feel valued but failed. I do think Daniel is a bit of a chameleon in that case too like Dietrich, Christian etc thought he was locked in and had no clue what he was going to do

Honestly I think whatever I want to say has already been said way more eloquently by @ef-1 when she’s talked about the interactions between Christian and Daniel around that time and how mad Christian was at him. After all, his one throwaway comment that Daniel was running from a fight would end up characterising his time there and would be the one point most people keep bringing up over and over again.

The thing for me is Christian is very positive when he talks about Daniel in the present, but on the podcast, when he talks about 2018, you can tell he’s still mad and hasn’t really forgiven Daniel for leaving. Which is surprising because Seb, the OG golden son, left and it’s ok because his dream was always Ferrari. When Dax asks Christian how did it feel to win 4 in a row and then having to watch Mercedes win for 8 years, he says it was terrible. Adrian Newey nearly left, the team nearly got sold to Audi and yet, Daniel stayed with the team throughout that period. He stayed through the numerous dnfs, the numerous engine penalties, gave the team the best years of his career at a time when there was no hope that they would ever be a championship winning team in the near future. And when Daniel realised he wouldn’t be the one fighting for the championship if the team would ever be on top again, he left.

I think Christian sees a lot of himself in Daniel, which is why he lets himself be more critical of Daniel than any other drivers who have driven for him (sometimes I feel he’s even more critical of Daniel than he has ever been with checo). They’re both these widely charismatic individuals, they know how to play the media game and in the whole Daniel vs Max thing, he sees Daniel as him. At one point in the podcast, he says Daniel at the time didn’t realise how good max was going to be. I don’t know if he says this as justification as to why they rallied around Max so early on but in the early part of the podcast, Christian recounts this moment when he was a driver and he saw juan-pablo Montoya take a corner with such fearlessness and he realised he had to be honest with himself that he would never have what it takes to be that kind of driver. I think he thought if he could accept he was never going to be a formula one driver, Daniel should have been able to accept he was never going to be a champion and still stay with the team. Because that’s the thing, he wanted Daniel to stay with the team, but he already knew in 2018 even if he didn’t say it aloud, that when the time came for them to fight championships, it wouldn’t be Daniel. Maybe he thought Daniel should have accepted to play second fiddle and he would have had more wins than he currently has and then move into an advisory role but still be part of the ‘family’

But Daniel, with his confidence or misguided arrogance, thought he could be more and left

[luxurybrownbarbie]

Yes Barbie, but how do we establish the difference between genuine analysis and paranoia ?? 🫡💋

You're a water sign, aren't you babe? 💛

It's not easy! But our gut tells us a lot more than we like to admit. Coincidences are not coincidences. Brushing past small things leads us to believe our analysis is just simple paranoia. You need to interrogate your feelings as much as you interrogate everything else in your life.

You also need to get comfortable with sharing hard things with a trusted confidante. Preferably someone he doesn’t know nor interact with, so you can be unfiltered without worrying about it getting back to him. As women, when we’re in relationships we tend to filter how much of our reality goes out to our family and friends, so they don’t know what goes on until it ends (if it ever does). There needs to be a place where you can be open without any reprisal.

I also think a partner who is truly on your side is not going to make your observations seem crazy or unfounded. If you bring up something small that worries you and he makes it seem insignificant or meaningless, you can be certain you’re not being paranoid. If he takes the time to listen and understand, you can work through the main issue without being too concerned.

Human nature is a fickle beast. People get jealous, they get petty, they get angry. It’s ugly, but it happens. Paranoia, by definition, is unfounded. To figure out if it’s paranoia vs gut instinct, you have to ask yourself the tough questions. 1) What is the balance between the good times and the bad? 2) Is he still trying to be a good partner to you? 3) Does he have other things going on in his life similar to you? 4) Are you still able to communicate well? 5) Have you found yourself hiding away pieces of yourself? 6) Do you still feel safe? Is there still kindness there? 7) Do you feel taken for granted? 8) Do you still feel valued overall?

If the answer to any of these is no, especially numbers five or eight, you’re not being paranoid. 💛

[davidmariottecomics]

Week 86 - 8/28/23 - A BLUE BEETLE MOVIE???

Hi there, 

It probably isn't news as it's a pretty popular film in theaters right now, but there's a Blue Beetle movie out! And it's a lot of fun! 

If you didn't know, Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, is my favorite superhero. There's a pretty good joke in the new movie about the difference between Ted and Batman, and not to step on the punchline, but it boils down to Ted knows how to laugh. He's a character frequently written to have a sense of humor, to know a good joke, and to be the dramatic superheroic straightman when it counts. He is not exactly an everyman--he's a genius, he dresses up in a silly costume, and he's rich--but in a lot of ways, he's just a guy trying to do the right thing because he can. 

And he casts a long shadow over the new movie, which is about Jaime Reyes--fantastically played by the dreamy Xolo Maridueña--who I don't love quite as much as Ted, but who I think is himself a great and important character. He's a very different hero. He's got a sense of humor, he's got a good heart, but his relationship with his family, with his friends, with the scarab, and with the Blue Beetle legacy allows him to be something totally apart from Ted. The movie takes a lot of liberties--it's part Spider-Man, part Ant-Man, part Green Lantern (though... honestly probably better than the past few recent film adaptations of those characters)--but it doesn't run from the truth of who Jaime is as a character, which I think makes it all the better. The best superhero movie projects don't try to be just an adaptation, but to take what makes the hero great, understand it, and share it in a way that makes them more accessible and loom larger as a hero. 

I don't want to spoil anything, but there was one extremely stupid part that made me tear up (out of just finally getting to see a thing on-screen and knowing there's some practical version of it out there and honestly, a little bit jealousy). If you see me, or want to reach out and ask about it, I'll gladly tell you. 

But there's a Blue Beetle movie. And even though I saw it and really quite liked it... I kinda still can't believe it. 

Next week: No blog on the website/newsletter! There is a Patreon post scheduled if you need your fix, going out to all backers at $5 or more a month! But I'm outta town and will see you when I return. 

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Craig of the Creek (Cartoon), Honkai Star Rail (Video game), My Adventures with Superman (Cartoon), The Broken Room by Peter Clines (Book), Dumbing of Age (Webcomic), Solve This Murder (Podcast), The Venture Bros: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (Movie--which my pal Phil Murphy worked on!), Kaiju No. 8 (Manga), Kaguya-Sama: Love is War (Manga), Blue Beetle (Movie--duh), Oldboy (Movie), Witch Watch (Manga), Becca playing a little more Persona 5, Tangled (Movie), Jurassic Park (Movie), D.E.B.S. (Movie) 

New Releases this week (8/23/2023): Godzilla Monsters & Protectors: All Hail the King TPB (Editor--on the latter half)

Final Order Cut-Off next week (8/28/2023--last day to get your preorders in): Sonic the Hedgehog #65

New Releases next week (8/30/2023): Godzilla Rivals: Vs. SpaceGodzilla (Supervising Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog: Endless Summer (A very silly credit) Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island TPB (Editor) 

Announcements: Becca is at Cartoon-a Palooza in Temecula on 9/15 & 9/16. It's a cool free all-ages little con, so come on out and see them!

Wanna support me? Consider joining my Patreon! I've got a bunch of cool stuff coming up and already on there. As well as some silly stuff like a tour of my desk, so you can see where the comics magic happens! I've got a bunch of stuff scheduled for September already and there'll always be more! 

I have a webstore! It does look like I'm going to get a small supplement to my Beast Wars Vol. 3 stock, which is nice, but most everything else, I am not going to have more of anytime soon! Maybe give it a look! 

I've still got a few things on my eBay, if you're looking for stuff! But obviously, anything that would get shipped out won't until I'm back!  Pic of the Week: It was National Cinema Day yesterday, which is why Becca and I went to Blue Beetle ($4 tickets to the movies!). But they had to work, so I went and saw a second film, the 20th anniversary screening of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy. And the theater that was showing Oldboy had a special Cinema Day deal on the Blue Beetle backback popcorn bucket, so I did pick it up because that with a popcorn and a drink was still significantly cheaper than the bucket usually is by itself. So here's a photo of Becca modeling it. 

[nightsidewrestling]

D.U.D.E Part 19 - Treat Her Right (Set in 2021)

Note: This is set in a universe where Men VS Women / Intergender matches can happen.

Chapter 1: here Chapter 2: here Chapter 3: here Chapter 4: here Chapter 5: here Chapter 6: here Chapter 7: here Chapter 8: here Chapter 9: here Chapter 10: here Chapter 11: here Chapter 12: here Chapter 13: here Chapter 14: here Chapter 15: here Chapter 16: here Chapter 17: here Chapter 18: here

Tags: @piratewithvigor @tantamount-treason @thedollmaker16 @janetreader

Around 2000 Words. 18+ in places (those chapters will be marked as 'Mature / sexual content' just to be safe). Please inform me if you wish to be tagged or untagged from posts. If the text is in italics and orange it's Kirby's inner monologue. If the text is coloured but not in italics, it's either dialogue or a P.O.V change (P.O.V changes will be in bold and translated dialogue will appear in square [ ] brackets), Key below. Quick note on Geia's text colour: Yes I do know that as Greed she should be in yellow but I decided to colour the men's dialogue yellow so Geia was changed to be pink like the other women in the story outside of the main 8.

The Main 8: Damo - Bio. Vi - Bio. Billie - Bio. Geia - Bio. Kirby - Bio. Honey - Bio. Eli - Bio. Sara - Bio.

Kirby's P.O.V:

Eddie treats Kirby to everything she wants for the six weeks after she gives birth, date nights at every restaurant he can find Within Yonkers, massages, full days spent shopping for stuff, both things for Kirby and the twins. Slowly getting Kirby and the twins used to longer car rides. Gathering everything they need for the twins and themselves and doing the long, ten hour, drive down to Florida.

Ethan Page is the first person to greet them at the Airbnb the next morning, Friday 2nd September 2021.

"Oh hi, I'm guessing you heard the news." Kirby chuckles when she answers the door, still in just an oversized shirt, boxer shorts and her black yoga pants she slept in.

"I was told you had the babies." Page beams.

"Ethan, meet Emyr and Ethan."

Page's eyes light up, "You did not."

"yeah, we named him Ethan, I kept thinking about how long you've known Eddie, and how much you and Eddie have impacted each other's careers."

"Oh my God," Page hugs Kirby tightly, "you're so sweet."

"Don't squeeze me, Ethan, I had a bad night last night."

"Oh no, everything okay?"

"Yeah, Eddie decide that we would relax with a couple drinks… and I only had one beer I felt off. I think my body's rejecting anything bad for the twins."

"Maybe, Renee did say that you're breastfeeding." Page shrugs.

"Wifey, what's goin' on?" Eddie asks, walking up behind Kirby in just a tank top and boxers.

"I'm introducing Ethan to Ethan." She smiles softly, feeling Eddie wrap his arms around her waist.

"Emyr has my eyes, Ethan has his beautiful mother's eyes." Eddie murmurs.

"Oh, so they aren't identical… they look almost identical."

"Small differences," Kirby whispers, "but I can tell my boys apart"

"How?" Page asks quietly.

"Emyr has green eyes and faint freckles on his face and shoulders. Ethan has blue eyes, no freckles but he does have… oh, what's it called, a port-wine stain? Basically a birthmark covering his right knee and part of his right thigh."

"My sons, my adorable baby boys." Eddie kisses both of the twins' heads.

Emyr yawns and opens his eyes, bright green like Eddie's. Emyr takes more after his father, slightly more tanned skin and harsher features, seemingly only taking his mother's freckles, his hair a darker shade of blond than his brother. Eddie picks his eldest son up, letting 'All Ego' see the similarities between him and his first son.

"Wait here, Mox got us stuff, it makes the boys look a lot more like Eddie." Kirby whispers to Page, heading to grab a box from the bedroom.

She returns to the nursery with a small box, 'Emyr' is written on the top in Renee's handwriting, she opens it and places the box in the cot, taking Emyr from Eddie to change his diaper and dress him. A black and yellow baby grow, a small graphic t-shirt with Tupac on it, a faux rosary with a pacifier instead of a cross, baby-sixed timberlands and a baby-sized black, Yankees cap.

Page starts giggling when Kirby hands Emyr back to Eddie, she heads off to get the other box as 'All Ego' pulls out his phone, dressing their younger son in an almost identical outfit, the only difference is the t-shirt, a baby version of Kirby's Ice Cube shirt. Eddie holds both of his sons up and Page takes a photo.

Ethan opens his eyes when Page holds him, showing off the bright blue eyes he's inherited from his mother, his features are softer than Emyr and Eddie's, paler skin, a softer jawline, a thicker bottom lip and much 'kinder' looking brow-line. As Kirby described he has no freckles or beauty marks. His skin is more porcelain in colour than his brother's sun-kissed tone.

"So, how's it feel to meet a baby named after you?" Kirby asks as she takes baby Ethan back into her arms.

"It's amazing, he's adorable. His brother's also adorable." Page smiles softly, clearly trying not to cry.

"Eddie still needs to think of who their godfathers will be. I know that Renee will be their godmother, and Ruthie can't be because she's their grandma. If she weren't related to them though, she would for sure be a godparent. I wouldn't have gotten through the pregnancy without her."

"How are you handling being a mother? I heard someone say you were told you couldn't have kids."

"I view my boys as miracles, mainly because I was under the belief I couldn't get pregnant, let alone pregnant with twins," She chuckles when Eddie hands Emyr to her, "What're you doing, Pá [dad]?"

"Gettin' a can of Red Bull from the fridge, mama," He kisses her gently, "I love you," he runs his fingers over the scar on her cheek, "my badass beautiful wifey."

"You owe me a coffee, Jefe [boss]."

"Jefe, you callin' me 'Jefe' now, Ma?" Eddie chuckles.

"Head of the household, ain't ya, big boss, El Jefe [the boss]?"

Eddie nods, grabbing a can of Red Bull from the fridge and sitting next to page on the couch, "Well, Ma, I may be the head of the household. But you, oh brotha, you are way more powerful than me."

"Yeah, I've seen clips from C.R.C, you've lifted guys who are five-hundred pounds plus." Page adds.

"That's because it's part of my job." Kirby shrugs.

"Lifting five-hundred pound men, Ma are ya hearin' yourself? 'I's part of my job'? To lift five-hundred pound men?" Eddie raises an eyebrow at his ivory-skinned wife.

"Yes, during my time in C.R.C it was a part of my job. Eddie, during your time with C.Z.W it was your job to do death-matches." Kirby raises an eyebrow back at her tanned husband.

"She's got you there, Eddie." Page mutters.

"You stay outta this, this is between me and her." Eddie grumbles.

"Oh, did I touch a nerve, Edward? Did I touch a nerve there?" Kirby smirks.

"Cierra la boca [Shut your mouth]." Eddie growls.

"Hazme [make me]." She growls in return.

"Ven auqí [come here], Mami." Eddie gets up, going over to Kirby, lifting her chin roughly and growling as he kisses her.

"Te amo [I love you], Papi." She whispers against his lips.

"Page, you may wanna leave… now."

'All Ego' gets up, leaving quickly. Eddie takes the twins, placing them in the cot before hoisting Kirby over his shoulder, taking her to the bed and making out with her.

"You little slut." Eddie growls against her lips, climbing over her.

Kirby flips their position and straddles his lap, "I'm only a slut for you, Papi."

"Damn right, ya only mine, you wanna fuck your Papi, Ma?"

"So soon after havin' twins, only if you use protection, Papi."

Eddie smirks, "We could go dry, or I could get off watchin' you get off." He suggests.

"Mutual masturbation or dry humping? I'd really prefer if you-"

Kirby goes silent when she hears the front door open, both her and Eddie sharing a worried look.

"Eddie?" Moxley's voice echoes through the house, "Kirby? You have guests… He Emyr, hey Ethan, how're my nephews doing?"

"So close to lettin' you tear my ass in two, but no, we have fuckin' visitors." Kirby grumbles.

Eddie's eyes light up, "Fuck them, you've never let me do that before."

"Eddie, no… Edward, we have guests."

"Fuck." Eddie grumbles.

Kirby and Eddie's shared sour mood is quickly dropped when they see their guests.

"Jack!" Eddie grins, letting out a breathless chuckle.

"Eddie!" Marciano chuckles, pulling Eddie into a tight hug.

Kirby looks from her former commentary partner to the other guests, Renee, carrying her and Jon's daughter Nora, and three others. One a rather tall, tanned man with waist length black hair in a long braid, wearing one of the old C.R.C merch shirts and jeans. Ashkii Tsinajinnie. The second, a short Japanese woman, a pink shirt with 'Sakura Power' written on the front and pink gym shorts on, matching her half-pink, half-black hair. Yoshi Nakagawa. The third and final guest from Kirby's past is an average height, around five-foot-seven, black man, nearly 300 pounds of both fat and muscle, his head shaved, wearing black sweatpants and one of Kirby's merch t-shirts from before she was gluttony.

"Mike! Mikey?!" Kirby starts tearing up.

"Kirby… Princess? Lawd a massi!" Mike pushes past Ash and Yoshi, taking Kirby's face in his hands, "Oh, Princess, breathe easy, you an Empress now, baby gal." His Jamaican accent brings back a flood of memories from his and Kirby's shared past.

"Mikey, I missed ya, ya dope." She whispers, taking a deep breath.

Mike holds Kirby close to him, kissing her cheek and rocking her to keep her calm, "Oh, mis sistren, look at you, an Auntie, not jus' an Auntie but a Mammy now."

"Eddie, what's wrong?" Jack whispers.

"You're Mike" Eddie asks, completely astonished, "You're the guy she's cried over? You…" Eddie's astonishment turns into anger, "You kicked my wife outta your home?!"

Jack and Mox rush to hold Eddie back. Kirby pulls away from Mike and rushes to Eddie, holding his face, witnessing the rage in his eyes.

"Eddie, calm." Kirby whispers, her jaw dropping when Eddie pushes her aside.

"No, not wit' him. You," Eddie points at Mike, "you helped Damien get in her head, you knew she didn't want to be gluttony, if her parents weren't around she would have been homeless, you could have helped her but you didn't! I understand now why ya ring name is 'Monster', because you are one!" Eddie yells, getting up close with Mike

"Eddie, don't." Kirby rushes up to the side of both men, trying to push them apart.

Mike pushes Kirby away, by her face, knocking her to the floor, "How the fuck do ya know about my past, huh? She been tellin' you tings she ain't got no right to talk on."

Mike storms out, taking Ash and Yoshi with him. Kirby storms off in the opposite direction, leaving through the back door, hearing Eddie's footsteps behind her as she walks, going down the back alley between two rows of houses.

"Ma, wait!" Eddie hollers.

"Go fuck yourself, Kingston!" Kirby yells as she continues walking.

"Babe, just give me a chance."

"To do what? To ruin more of my chances at ever gettin' a friend back?"

"If he did that shit to you, was he ever a friend?"

Kirby stops walking, standing completely still as she thinks about it. Eddie's right, Mike practically handed me to Damien. he willingly let me get brainwashed by that tyrant.

"Doll?" Eddie whispers as he walks up behind her.

"Fuck, Eddie, I'm sorry… you're right, he fucked me over, he let me go."

Eddie wraps his arms around Kirby, checking if she's been hurt, "Breathe, ya a'ight, a'ight?"

"Yeah, yea… I'm good."

Eddie leads her back to the house, right as Emyr and Ethan wake up, the boys crying when they wake up.

"Oh, my baby boys." Kirby runs to the cot, picking up her sons and holding them close.

Marciano and Moxley check up on Eddie, Renee helps Kirby feed the twins, grabbing a bag of breastmilk from the fridge. Renee gives Ethan a bottle of breastmilk and Kirby takes her shirt off to feed Emyr.

"God damn, look at those tits!" Eddie hollers.

"Eddie, I'm feeding our baby, don't you get all fuckin' horny on me."

"Look at how fuckin' sexy you are though," Eddie smirks, kissing Kirby gently, "ya so sexy, Ma, so beautiful."

Kirby shakes her head, chuckling softly when she looks over at Renee. Renee mouths 'Go kiss him'. Kirby finishes feeding Emyr as Eddie walks out to the garage. She hands Emyr to Moxley, putting her shirt on as she walks to the garage.

"Eddie, hold up." She reaches for his hand as he gets to the car.

"What's up, Kirby?" He raises an eyebrow as he looks at her.

"Uhh… well, I… I wanted to do this…" She whispers, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him, gently at first but slowly heating up when Eddie puts his hands on her waist.

"Oh fuck, Ma," Eddie whispers against her lips, "every time you kiss me, it feels like the first time again."

[momobani]

List your top 10 biases and answer the following questions -

Tagged by @confuchan thank you dear!!! this is actually such a great concept omg

[disclaimer: i don’t really super bias anyone ever so this is kinda loose lol and i’m picking one from different groups on purpose] 

Jiung (P1harmony - piwon are kinda my ults but like Jiung is in a different league to everyone on this entire list)

Yuta (NCT 127)

Minghao (Seventeen)

Jeno (NCT DREAM)

Lee Know (Stray Kids)

Yangyang (WayV)

Jooheon (Monsta X)

Jun Han (Xdinary Heroes)

Hwarang (TEMPEST)

Haknyeon (The Boyz)

[i like a lot of groups but also i like basically all the members equally, favouritism isn’t my thing so this was hard haha]

Q1: between 1 and 4 who would your rather kiss?

[Jiung vs Jeno] - jeez hit me with a hard one, but i have to give it to Jiung since i have to give an answer

Q2: between 2 and 7 who would be your best friend?

[Yuta vs Jooheon] - funny since i adore them both in terms of vibes, i think personality wise i’d vibe with both  but i’ll go with yuta since i just want to hear his unconfirmed facts (and believe them by accident) 

Q3: between 5 and 10 who has a better voice?

[Lee Know vs Haknyeon] - i really wasn’t thinking when i put this list together, was i? these two specifically i’m very fond of hearing in songs but i’ll have to go with lee know, especially in the most recent albums, i’ve been super impressed but shout out to Haknyeon’s rock voice (y’know the one) like i love that so much 

Q4: between 1 and 8 who is the funniest?

[Jiung vs Jun Han] - lol introverted soft boys who make their whole team laugh. i’ll go with Jun Han with specific reasoning - his one liners in rock the world live rent free in my head (but Jiung is funny too just fyi)

Q5: between 6 and 9 who would you date?

[Yangyang vs Hwarang] - why are these questions so hard ffs haha, well i personally need a lot of hugs so i’m gonna say Hwarang since he could definitely deliver and i think Yangyang would cringe and tease me for being clingy lol

Q6: between 9 and 10 who would you do a collaboration with?

[Hwarang vs Haknyeon] - depends on the collaboration but i could totally see dancing with both of them, they’re amazing and i could learn a lot from them too (tmi - i want to dance but i suck and i’m lazy lol)

Q7: between 4 and 8 who is the better dancer?

[Jeno vs Jun Han] - well considering Hannie plays guitar obviously Jeno, but also shout out to Jun Han trying his best with that test me choreo, he did well!!

Q8: between 3 and 5 who would you most likely marry?

[Minghao vs Lee Know] - (scorpio men ughh pls either of them lmao, i’m also a scorpio btw), honestly i think i’d butt heads occasionally with Lee Know but not with Minghao for some reason, there’s something calmer about him that i think i’d fall for  

Q9: between 1 and 7 who would you nurse when they are sick?

[Jiung vs Jooheon] - oh god first pls no one get sick, second, probably Jiung cuz i think he’d listen when you tell him to rest but Jooheon would probably want to run around and do stuff cuz he just can’t stay still and that makes it harder to look after him

Q10: between 2 and 3 who has a better smile?

[Yuta vs Minghao] - listen i love froggy man’s smile but can we really forget that Na Yuta is known for his healing smile? i’mma go with Yuta on this one, though i love Hao’s smile too

Q11: between 6 and 8 who would you vacation with?

[Yangyang vs Jun Han] - polar opposites in terms of energy, hmm, probably Jun Han cuz i’d want to rest on vacation rather than do stuff and Hannie gives me that vibe too, whereas i think Yangyang would prefer to be active and that ain’t me

[did i think too hard about these questions? yes. did i also really enjoy thinking? yes. it’s a good game, would recommend hehe]

Tagging - @aceofvernons @sleeplessdawn @onlyseokmins @folkloreguk @seungkwan-s 

[charliesimss]

@simmingbeauty

1.If your oc was to host a TV show, what would it be about? Would your oc be good at it? What sorts of guests would appear?

He'd host a podcast like sickboy and have people with disabilities/chronic illnesses on it, and he'd be good at it because he'd be doing what he knows.

3. If you were to choose another name for your oc, what do you think it would be? Did you choose it for how it sounds or for its meaning?

I chose a different name for him before I chose Hemming, it was Bowen James, and now its Hemming James, both were for the sound of the name, and Hemming is from A Little Life, and I simply named him that because I like the character in the book. I dont think I've ever named an oc a name because of meaning. 💀

5. How well would your oc fare as a teacher? What subject would they be best at teaching? What about the worst?

He'd be a hot teacher, that just became a second career option for him. He'd teach English because of the everything about him, and he'd be bad at teaching math or drama.

7. Does your oc have any allergies, intolerances, or other sensitivities? How dangerous is it? Does this affect their daily life in any way?

He has a pretty severe dairy allergy, it gives him hives most of the time. He mostly just drinks milk alternatives and avoids other dairy, it's a little harder when cooking or going out to eat cause he has to get stuff thats 100% dairy free.

8. How easily does your oc make friends? Do they have difficulty talking to new people? Why?

He doesn't make friends easily, he has a few close acquaintances that sat with him at the begging of college, but not because they have stuff in common, they're mainly just school friends and the same went for regular school. He made a lot of disabled camp friends, plus Lina who he met at the hospital. He makes friends easier in that setting.

11. What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to your oc?  Do they still feel ashamed for it? Were there any witnesses?

Probably anytime his esophagus failed him in public, he's still embarrassed about it, being disabled in public is embarrassing, he'll die on that hill.

13. How dangerous is your oc? Are they completely innocent, or someone to be feared? Do others know?

LMAO no he's not dangerous, worst he'd do is run over your toes.

15. What is your oc’s favourite time of day? Why is this? Do they have a daily practice during this time?

He likes night time, 3am, he'd wake up at that time, or more likely still be awake, and he'd write. Or paint. It's the best time to be creative to him.

17. How well can your oc keep secrets? Is there a difference between how they handle their own vs someone else’s? To what lengths would they go to keep something hidden?

He keeps secrets pretty well because he has no one to tell them to :crygun:

19. If your oc were to be arrested for something, what would it be for? For being too kind, for a legitimate crime?

Tax fraud ♡

vehicular manslaughter ♡

breaking and entering ♡

robbery ♡

21. Are there any public events your oc would love to go to? Concerts, plays, movies, parties, etc? What about ones that they would hate? Why?

He likes plays and concerts, he'd go see all his friends plays, and indie bands like m*tski and cavetown. He wouldn't really like a rave or festival though, very overwhelming and he doesn't really like being outside.

23. How difficult is it for your oc to get to sleep? Do they fall asleep the moment they hit the pillow, or do they have insomnia? Any reason why?

He has sleeping problems probably due to the fact that his brain doesn't work properly. He used to be on mirtazipine but was taken off it after high school and being kicked off that good insurance. So ever since then he hasn't known how to sleep.

25. How does your oc handle being sick? Do they pretend not to be? Do they complain a lot? How susceptible to getting sick are they?

Trooper is his middle name! Gotta live up to that chronically ill kid vision of always being strong and brave. 😌

He gets sick often though, his immune system sucks.

But really colds don't bother him, he's been on so many antibiotics he hardly notices them now, so he'll just take meds for whatever is ailing him.

27. What’s your oc’s preferred mode of transportation? Walking, vehicle, (or in a sci-fi/magic setting) teleportation?

My sister in christ did u read these? This is such a funny question for him. He takes the bus or subway like any humble disabled person. Or he'll have his friends or brother drive him around.

29. How empathetic is your oc? Or are they closer to being a sociopath? Any reason why?

He tries to be very empathetic despite being an aries. He always tries to put himself in others shoes or relates to their feelings if he's ever had them.

31. What is your oc’s sense of humour like? What do they find funny? Do they try to be funny? Are they actually?

He doesn't try to be funny but sometimes he is by accident and then he gets all smiley like 'wow they like me'. He mostly finds shows like modern family funny, just surface humor type stuff.

33. How does your oc’s own perception of themselves compare to how other people see them? Is your oc aware that other people see them differently (if it’s different)?

He kinda doesn't have that good of self esteem. But people around him think that he's creative, friendly, and has good vibes, no one's ever afraid to start a conversation with him, and they always assume the best in him and that he's kind, but he doesn't know this.

35. Is your oc a workaholic, or do they find it hard to be busy at all? Do they find it easy to relax, or must they have something to do at all times? Why?

He likes chilling. If he's not working he likes to draw as a hobby or write. But he's also okay just resting with his cats.

37. How picky is your oc? Will they not accept something because of the smallest details being off, or do they not care in the slightest? Why?

No he's not picky in this sense, even at restaurants when he should be, he's more likely to just eat something and have to go to the hospital later for an allergic reaction cause he doesn't wanna bother people and be a Ken.

39. Is it difficult for your oc to focus, or do they have no trouble being in the moment? Do they daydream or zone out?

He stays pretty focused at baseline, he studies what he likes in college so it's easier for him to focus, but if he ever didn't focus on something in school he'd probably have a headache, and if it was bad enough he might even tell someone about it!

[antigonewinchester]

stumbled on the oral history of SPN from 2014, back when they were just abt to hit episode 200. some interesting quotes to me:

evil Sam fighting good Dean, you can definitely still see traces of that in the story even if it became something different in season 5... I wonder if the “evil Sam vs. good Dean” was an idea he’d had at the start of the show, percolating over the seasons, or if it was something he was thinking about only starting in s4 and s5, the timing is a bit ambiguous here. I’m also so curious if Kripke has read or watched anime/manga, particularly Devilman, because sometimes there are real shonen vibes to SPN, and Devilman vibes in particular: a complicated and homoerotic relationship between the 2 main protags, evil sexy demons, and an epic apocalyptic showdown. I guess even if he only read American fantasy works, there’s probably a way to trace some of it back to Devilman, considering its global influence.

very interesting perspective on how Carver & his team wanted to write Sam post season 7 and into season 8. I kind of like that Carver was just, hey, fuck it, what if Sam did something out of character? but also when you make your main protag do something out of character, that’s tough from an emotional continuity perspective. character-wise, it’s hard for me to read Sam’s not looking for Dean as a mature, ‘exploring what it means to be his own person’ way, at least how it was shown in the narrative, and not as something instead rooted in trauma and avoidance. although this mature framing does explain some of the (to my perspective) narrative weirdness early in s8, and why the writing went so hard on the ‘Dean’s dysfunctional as compared to Sam’ angle in s8 & s9.

kind of hilarious that the Gadreel storyline is so controversial in fandom and it was such a minor pitch. just a, well, we did a vampire storyline with Dean in s8, what if we did something with angels in s9, making friends with people who might seem like enemies otherwise. except with this framing, it would’ve made a ton more sense to have Sam say yes to Gadreel without being tricked by Dean, but then Gadreel to have his own secret agenda that he didn’t tell Sam, leading into the same surprise twist of Gadreel taking over Sam’s body like actually happens mid-season... I suppose the Dean tricking Sam thing did kick up some more conflict between the bros, and fit within the ‘the brothers can’t let each other go’ theme that Carver was clearly interested in exploring more.

really is fascinating to me that I’ve frequently seen the idea of Dean as the POV of the show, compared to how Jensen talks about it here, which I think is a more much accurate read of the narrative. Kripke started the show hinging around Sam’s character & his POV and that then carried thru with other showrunners. seeing Dean as the main POV character is going to give you a different (skewed?) lens than what was intended by the writers. certainly I love taking into account Dean’s POV, but I think if one is trying to analyze writing choices or why certain things happen, knowing that Sam is more of the intended POV is useful in sorting all that out.