#but also I don’t think that function actually works for me for some reason anyway soooooo

[stevenose]

ok sorry but i MUST share the idea i have for a multi chapter fic series that i will NEVER write because i don’t function like i used to

imagine me looking like this while explaining this idea. (i am stoned)

alright okay. so imagine reader is an intern for the new york times in 1986-1987. they usually ghost write things or edit articles (idk how newspapers work!!). they’re like the lowest level employee, cannot really be called a journalist even if that’s what they’d like to be.

cue in. mr and mrs harrington. BIG donors of the times. back from when they lived in nyc (where mr harrington got his start as an attorney) (he’s well connected with many celebrities and politicians). and mr and mrs harrington (john and. idk. some milf name) are GOBSMACKED with why the global media is not talking about hawkins. the town overran by the devil! so they reach out to nyt to coax them into coming. and nyt says no for whatever reason (haven’t thought of this yet - like is the government banning the media from coming? do they just rly not care about whatever weird environmental disaster is happening? chernobyl just happened for christ sake, who gives a fuck about indiana!) and the harringtons are like “if you don’t cover what’s happening in hawkins we’ll pull our funding” (which is like a fortune, they’re like top 5 biggest donors). so nyt sends down the little intern under the guise of gaining “real world experience” but in fact they just don’t want to send an actual reporter down here.

so reader heads down, government clearances given, and they’re staying with john and miss milf while they’re in. because they offered. because they have this big house that’s been REAL LONELY the past few years. and their darling son steve is hardly around anymore! and yeah they’re a little pissed they got sent an intern but it’s better than nothing!

and you know so steve finds out there’s a fucking reporter (intern) here that has 0 understanding of what they’re getting into and they’re staying in HIS HOUSE and steve really isn’t in the business of the world knowing what’s happening. he’s in the business of keeping people safe. so he’s pissed at his parents and tries very hard to keep this lil journalist (intern) away from him and everyone he knows. like literally tries to enact a curfew and whatnot but reader is smart and it’s fucking obvious something otherworldly is happening. if they go anywhere in town they need to be escorted by guards who have GUNS and the government people (i have a way with words) they met with already told them that they have to vette anything they write. and there IS a curfew and under no circumstances can anyone go outside after dusk!

but steve always gets to sneak out after dusk so why can’t reader!

so reader trails steve and you know general hijinks ensue. and it’s like only when nancy says “wow you’re interning with the new york times that’s crazy!” that steve’s like “oh MAD RESPECT love the times i love to read about news and also current events such as the weather and sports”. some angst about how reader reminds him so much of nancy who he’s PRETTY SURE he is in love with and who he definitely misses. you know all that fun stuff. sort of an enemies to lovers slow burn if that slow burn lasted over the course of a week.

anyway bottom line: i think if they’re going to give us a steve love interest it should be a journalist who is staying in his house because his parents are dip shits and want to look nice and hospitable and steve has to try to hide all of this information for fear of his own safety, the safety of his friends, and the safety of the journalist. and then they fall in love and have smart babies.

if u even read this thank u. and godspeed

[floatmeintothesun]

Idiocy

You get hurt, and Kunikuzushi thinks you’re extremely dumb (scaramouche x reader)

tw: pet names; kuni calls you love a couple of times, some injuries are mentioned

tags: fluff, comfort, little smidge of angst, kuni being worried, no specific gender being mentioned

——

“What the actual fuck were you thinking?!” Kunikuzushi hisses lowly, his violet eyes blazing with fury. You blink at him slowly, trying to get your mind to work, but it seems like your brain doesn’t particularly want to do its job and function properly. He runs a hand through his silky locks and sighs heavily, narrowing his eyes into dangerous slits. “You could have died.” 

He places special emphasis on the last word and you nod, trying to shake off the fog clouding your head. It makes your vision black out when you do so and the world becomes fuzzy for a second before Kunikuzushi snarls wordlessly, forcing you to stay still.

“You idiot, you’ve got a damn concussion--don’t go ‘round shaking your head like that.” He bites out and you resist the urge to nod again in agreement with his words. 

Honestly, you’d probably say that it wasn’t entirely your fault that you broke a couple of bones in your left leg and managed to acquire a concussion as well. It’s just that, maybe falling off a cliff while running away from Ruin Guards and almost going splat on the ground was part of the reason why Kunikuzushi is fretting over you so heavily. He mumbles something about incompetency and you wince as he ties the makeshift splint on your leg tighter.

“Ow…don’t cut off my circulation…” You complain blandly and Kunikuzushi huffs softly through his nose in faint annoyance.

“If you didn’t break your damn leg we wouldn’t be in this situation, would we?” He deadpans, even though he loosens the splint quickly. You blow a strand of hair out of your face, laying down on the grassy floor. You watch in boredom as the green tufts shift and move with the slight breeze, as Kunikuzushi continues to mutter things under his breath.

“I probably would have been fine.” You mumble quietly, half hoping that he wouldn’t hear it, but alas, his head snaps up anyway.

Well, fuck.

The dimmed anger in his eyes flares back to life, and his lips stretch out into thin line.

“No, you wouldn't have. You would have fucking died if I wasn’t there to catch you before you hit the ground. I don’t even know how you managed to hobble that fast with that leg--”

“I had a plan!”

“Oh yeah? What stellar plan did you come up with while you were hurtling down the side of a cliff face to your imminent death? Did you plan to suddenly sprout wings?” Kunikuzushi spits lowly, standing up and dusting his clothes off. “Or maybe you thought that you’d spontaneously become immortal or something?” You look away, your face twisting slightly.

He sighs again, grabbing his kasa hat quietly and flopping down next to you on the ground. You inhale lightly when he glares at the floor mulishly. 

“I don’t know. I just--I knew you’d catch me.” You confess after a moment of silence, closing your eyes when the sun hits your face at just the wrong angle, sending pinpricks of pain into your head. You grimace, groaning quietly, and he uses his kasa hat to cover your face, effectively blocking out the light. You blink. “I trust you.”

He laughs incredulously, his face twisting in an emotion you can’t quite identify.

“If I was a second too late…” He murmurs to himself, just barely loud enough for you to hear.

“But you weren’t. I'm here, I’m fine--”

“Define what you mean by fine, love,” Kunikuzushi says, narrowing his eyes slightly. You backtrack quickly.

“I am alive, there, and we’re both safe.” You amend and he raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “I get it. I almost died, I said it.” You sigh, scrunching up your nose. He huffs out a thin, almost mirthless laugh.

“You’re admitting your idiocy, then? Good.” You turn your head, using a hand to lift his wide hat to look at him. Surprisingly enough, he’s also facing you, his dark violet eyes boring into yours. “I’m confining you to bedrest for a couple of weeks and after that, you’re limited to only doing menial chores, you got that?” You groan at his terms, exhaling softly through your nose.

“Right, right, I got it. Come on, let’s go back to the cottage.” You say to him, moving as though you're going to get up. He makes a low hissing sound and you pause. “What is it now?”

“I’m carrying you.” He scoops you up easily, his strong arms hooking underneath your legs and back. Kunikuzushi smirks at your surprised yelp, pressing you securely against his body. His vision glows and you glare as he lifts both himself and you up into the air, whizzing off in the direction of your shared home. His kasa hat shifts into the halo behind his head and you know he enjoys scaring or shocking you whenever he does this.

“A little warning, please?” He snickers faintly at your unimpressed stare, holding you tightly. Kunikuzushi uses his shoulder to block out the light, keeping you tucked carefully in his own shadow.

“No thanks. That takes away all the fun, love.” He shrugs, smirking like a Cheshire cat. He sticks his tongue out at you and you do the same until he dips his head down and kisses your forehead. “I think you deserve to be teased after throwing yourself off a damn cliff.” He adds pointedly, and you sigh.

“Yeah, I guess so. Don’t think I won’t get you back, though.” You shoot at him and he laughs.

“Oh, I know you will.”

—

I would totally jump off a cliff for him lmao

[carlos-in-glasses]

Please don't copy fics/parts of fics and pass them off as your own work

It’s come to my attention that a chunk of my fic Afterglow of a Supernova (and some other aspects of it) has been copied into a fic posted today. I posted Afterglow on 5th March 2023.

This is the main copied section in particular (as in, the below screenshot is from my fic, not from the fic that copies it), but there are other parts too:

Please don’t use other people’s words like this. It does stand to reason that many of us will have very similar ideas for the same ships etc, and some people will have very similar writing styles, but it really isn’t okay for the language to actually be lifted out, and pasted, and passed off as your own work from your own brain. It’s saddening. I now feel the need to highlight this as a way to claw back what’s mine. Some of you might be aware of what the fic in question is now, but I don’t want to link it here. I have also contacted Ao3 about it.

If the person who has done this sees this – you don’t need to copy anyone. You are talented enough in your own right. I advise stepping back, taking a breather, and then please write and celebrate your own words. This isn’t just about me, but all of us that share this space with you and trust you – please don’t do this again to any writers. Please.

I’m sorry to do this publicly, but I genuinely feel the need. I put my whole heart into my fics. I work very hard on them. They mean a huge amount to me. Afterglow of a Supernova was one of my favourite writing experiences, and now it feels spoiled. Anyway, you copied that portion of my fic and posted it publicly…so nothing feels fair or right and now we’re both in this, and I have to react. I can’t sit here pretending it hasn’t happened when people are thinking certain portions of my fic are yours. And maybe you have done this to others too, over time? However, my DMs are open if you want to have a chat about it, now that you know I know. I have no hate for you, I’m just upset for us both and very concerned.

I hope this is enough to ensure that you never do this again, and I ask that you please remove the fic I'm talking about.

I’m basically a human golden retriever who just wants to run around in a meadow of daisies, so believe me, all this is out of my comfort zone.

Also: I’ve taken the anon function off my asks for now. Sorry, but I fear the repercussions could end up worse for me than for the person who has done this. 

[paracosmicessence]

Hey! I love your art so much 💖 I wanted to ask what program you use for 3D modelling?

aw thank you!! :3

and to answer your question i’m going to warn you this is going to be kinda long because i’m gonna use this post as an excuse to show my 3D models that aren’t awful (sorry lol).

i actually use two different programs, both for different purposes, but you don’t need to get both, it really depends on which kind of modeling you want to do.

1) the first is called Nomad Sculpt on the iPad, you do have to pay for it unfortunately but it’s definitely one of the best modeling apps for the iPad. i know Blender is free but my computer is really old and doesn’t run the program very well, and at this point i’ve already gotten used to nomad sculpt.

anyway tho, i use it for art-related things like the obvious 3D models, but recently i’ve been playing around with just making scenes to use as references for my drawings. they’re not anything impressive, most of the time i actually use it to make little figurines to print and turn into earrings/little friends that sit in my room just for fun.

i’m gonna show this first bc they look cooler once they’re printed and colored (also you can tell i printed mini crowley and aziraphale when my sonadow hyperfixation started bc i never actually painted crowley) (he’s just kinda sitting there oops).

the little red guys are actually my favorite bugs (goliath beetles), i made them about a year ago but i still wear them like every day.

and here’s what they look like in the app, it’s a little intimidating but once you get used to it it’s actually kinda fun just playing around and seeing what you can do.

2) the second program i use is Shapr3D (also for the iPad, but i think they made an update where you can run it on windows/mac). you also have to pay for this as a subscription which sucks, i’m only able to use it since the engineering program i’m in pays for it.

Shapr3D is one of the many CAD software programs out there, but it’s nice bc it’s very beginner friendly and very easy to use. CAD is mainly for architecture/engineering but i honestly think more 3D artists should give it a try. it’s really nice once you get the hang of it and (i’m probably biased bc i’m a student) i honestly prefer it over just normal modeling software because i feel like you can be a lot more creative with it.

right now for my engineering class, our semester final is to design and present something that’s functional, and we can either explain the math behind it or just 3D print it and demonstrate how it works, and i’m making a functional mini model of “the rack” trap from Saw III (i’m not psychotic i swear i’ve just had a Saw hyperfixation for 5 years).

i’m definitely gonna post it when it’s finished just bc i’m already excited with how it’s turning out, but for now here’s a couple at-home projects i’ve done:

(above) i have a bunch of wet liners and i designed a stackable holder thingy with bolts between the shelves and a little cute star screw to fasten it at the top.

(above) i also made a few rotating brush holders at home (bc the ones that actually rotate are like $40 for some reason) by buying a set of small sphere bearings at home depot for like $5 (that’s what those little metal things are inside the third one, i took it apart bc i don’t know how to put a video and a picture in the same post) (just pretend they’re spinning rn).

anyway that’s all!! if you actually read this whole thing i love you so much bc engineering and design is one of my special interests so thanks for letting me tell you about the silly things i’ve made :3

[silverfoxstole]

It’s done!

After ten days of work (and another three for a waistcoat I’m not that happy with; see below), the NotD coat is finished! Woohoo!

Overall, I’m really pleased with it, which is just as well as it’s taken so much time (and grief!). I worked out that if I’d paid myself minimum wage for all the hours I put in the labour alone would amount to about £500. One of my ex colleagues used to suggest I set up a dressmaking business and wouldn’t believe me when I told her it wouldn’t be cost effective as the amount of labour involved would make everything too expensive.

Anyway, I have taken quite a lot of photos, so you can see how it turned out:

This got long so I’ll stick the rest behind a cut.

I ended up adding some extra fabric to the tails, as they were sticking out at an angle and didn’t look right. It means an extra seam but it’s not that visible and I much prefer it this way, with more fullness at the back (and it properly covers my bum, which is very important!):

Though it looks fine on the dummy when I put it on I’m not convinced I didn’t raise the back waist seam a bit too far, but it’s sitting on my waist so… *shrugs* I don’t often look at myself from behind so it probably doesn’t matter that much.

After sewing on the two back buttons I changed my mind and went with the covered ones in the end, deciding on reflection that those I bought last week were a bit too pale. They would have fitted better if I’d made the binding more of a contrast (which I’m glad I didn’t as it would have been more obvious that it’s not exactly perfect in some places). I had to make the buttonholes manually as there was no way the automatic buttonhole foot wouldn’t get caught at some point. I haven’t sewn any that way since I first started out six years ago and was using my mother’s old machine! All the ones I’ve owned have had an automatic function so I had to practice a bit to remind myself how to do it. Thankfully they’ve turned out well.

I also solved the problem of the gap between the collar and lapel by stitching them together. It works a treat!

Though I’ve made a miniature version for Eight Bear, this is the first time I’ve tried to replicate an existing garment for myself (the Dark Eyes coat was an interpretation rather than a direct copy), and I am actually really proud that I’ve ended up with something that does look pretty much like the original, as well as Steven Ricks’s recreation, which has been a definite influence!

That said, while the coat has turned out well I’m not massively pleased with the waistcoat. I decided to make another one on a whim as I had a more accurate pattern and saw what looked like an ideal fabric but I don’t like it all that much now it’s done. It was hell to put together because the satin just started disintegrating and still is; I’ve had to sew up holes in both the pockets because the seams have just frayed straight through and I’d put them together before I thought of stabilising the edges with interfacing. It’s another men’s pattern and I should have made some adjustments but after doing so much to the coat I really couldn’t be bothered and just put it together as it was; I should really have added some length, which is ironic given the amount I had to remove from the coat, and perhaps levelled it off at the front. Consequently it’s not a great fit and sits really awkwardly on Stella as you can see, though that may have something to do with the fact that I put the buttonholes on the wrong side out of habit:

There is a watch on the end of the chain this time, because the pockets are real! I quite like the look of the waistcoat undone when I put it on, but done up not so much. There’s a lot of spare fabric in the front for some reason, which I tried to hide by smoothing it under the collar and then stitching the collar down. It hasn’t entirely worked, and it doesn’t help that the brocade is such a bouncy fabric and doesn’t press well.

Putting it all together I do think it looks better on Stella than me, but that’s probably because I rarely wear so many layers! I wish I had a better backdrop than the bedroom but it’ll have to do:

Maybe I could unbutton the waistcoat and untuck the shirt and be Eight having a casual day? I love the coat but I do feel much more comfortable wearing it over a t-shirt and jeans!

Now I just have to wait until some cooler weather to be able to put it into use. My only gripe is that there are no external pockets, either on the original or the pattern I used! Surely you’d think the Doctor would need pockets?

[earthstellar]

Battle Analysis: TFP S2 Episode 18 - New Recruit

I like how in the beginning of Smokescreen’s introductory episode, we get to see a decent little battle which serves to emphasise how each character works well independently and together in a fight. 

it actually reminds me a lot of how my father (who was a field medic in the Army) used to tell me about how some of his casualty extraction missions went, in terms of how Ratchet is positioned with the others in formation etc.

Then I started thinking about it, and I thought it might be a good scene to go over in a little more detail. 

So, since I’ve never done a battle analysis before, I figured I’d try covering this one! :) 

The Situation at Hand 

It’s worth keeping in mind that the setup here is that a Cybertronian pod has crashed down to Earth’s surface, and the Autobots are unable to ascertain if it is an enemy pod or not. 

So Optimus asks Ratchet to bring his medical kit, in the event that it is a fellow Autobot who may need medical attention, which is a reasonable decision and places Ratchet in the field with good purpose. 

They leave without Bulkhead, as he is still recovering from prior injuries.

The order in which they arrive on scene via ground bridge is notable: 

Bumblebee is a scout, so he’s out of the ground bridge first. 

Arcee is supporting Bumblebee as spotter/additional firepower; Both her and Bumblebee are in “on point” positions, meaning they are the most exposed forward. 

Optimus is, in this situation, the heaviest hitter, so he takes a central position-- This also allows him to remain in reasonable proximity to all members of the away team, making it ideally easier for him to command. 

Ratchet is in the rear position, slightly offset to Optimus’ left, giving both Optimus and Arcee good cover of him if things happened to kick off immediately upon arrival on scene. 

This is a good deployment arrangement! 

Arcee and Bumblebee proceed forward and get to the crashed pod first, which makes sense; This is why they’re on point. 

But then the group spaces out a little bit, which isn’t ideal; Oh shit, it’s Decepticons!!! Mostly Insecticons. 

Immediately we see Arcee and Bumblebee close in together, something they’re probably familiar with and were possibly trained to do, given that they are in complimentary positions in deployment most of the time. 

But this leaves Ratchet exposed, and you can actually see in his posture here (sorry for the blurry screencap, this is a very short moment and the camera moves over fairly quickly) that Ratchet is wary of the source of enemy fire and appears to be trying to move closer to where Optimus is generally at. 

Again, this makes sense: Medics are, unfortunately, a huge target on the battlefield. (Geneva Convention treaties don’t apply here, and even if they did, most of the time they’re just ignored in reality. It’s not great.) You DO NOT want to be in the open anyway, but especially not when you are a very easily identifiable, highly desirable target for enemy fire. 

As a medic, you aren’t just charging in with any others, you’re constantly strategically trying to figure out the best way to provide support and not die while doing it. While Ratchet does have one of his wrist blades deployed here, keep in mind, Ratchet does not have a blaster or long range weaponry. He’s at a particular disadvantage in this situation. 

So Ratchet’s best chance for cover and his best position to provide support is with Optimus, who is more likely to be hit (owing to slower speed and larger size compared to Bee and Arcee). Thus giving him more protection and allowing him to serve as functional support. 

For those of you who have played TF2, this is probably the most obvious part of why the Medic/Heavy combo is so good. It provides maximum benefit to both people/players. 

(At the same time, the reason he didn’t follow Optimus from the get-go is likely because since Bee and Arcee have lighter armour, they might be at greater risk of injury from just one or two shots, compared to Optimus who’s a bit hardier. So he took a middle position, which unfortunately left him with no immediate cover.) 

Unfortunately, Ratchet is also old. So he’s instantly pinned by a fuck off huge Insecticon; There’s no way most could have reacted in time to dodge this, but especially not him. 

What I especially like here though, is that the impact of this hit appears to genuinely stun him. 

It happens quickly, but you can see how he’s looking straight forward here, his limbs are out to his sides-- It seems to take him a full second to recover and actually look up. 

While Ratchet is just about pinned, the Insecticon does actually leave a noticeable amount of space in between them, which makes me think this impact definitely hit Ratchet pretty hard; He has enough space here to take a swing with his blade, but he doesn’t. 

It’s interesting because this is a pretty good shot; The Insecticon has a fully exposed torso here, which would be a good area to target with a blade as their armour seems thinner to allow for greater range of movement and speed. 

But! Not taking the opportunity here was also a solid choice. 

Ratchet, being smaller in terms of height, may have been able to get a good jab into the torso and upward with his blade, which would likely have caused some decent damage in a sensitive area and may have even allowed for a large tear to form in the armour, leaving the Insecticon more vulnerable to blaster fire or any follow up impact to the chest/waist. 

At the same time, in the moment, Ratchet is now trying to recover rapidly from a hit that was hard enough to stun him while also having to evaluate if the risk of taking any action here would be worth it. The Insecticon could easily close in, especially with greater speed...

...And of course, the Autobots are experienced at working with each other in the field. Ratchet also likely understood that Arcee and Bee are still close enough to provide assistance, and might have made the call to depend on their aid rather than risk damaging his wrist blade-- Which is still a medical tool, and his primary purpose in the field is to assist others if/as needed. If his wrist blade is damaged or dulled while trying to puncture Insecticon armour, that would leave him less capable at his primary function here.

 Arcee ends up coming in from the side to take the opportunity instead, which is quickly proven to have been a good choice of action. And very good situational awareness on Arcee’s part, too! 

Arcee is grabbed by the Insecticon after giving it a reasonably heavy kick, but is able to get out of it’s grasp with a solid backflip-- Ratchet just does not have the flexibility or frame type to allow for this type of escape, especially not after just having been stunned by a full-body impact. 

It was the right call for Ratchet to leave it open so Arcee could land the hit. 

Sure, the Insecticon may not have been able to grab Ratchet in the same way, but Arcee has the reaction speed to match, and created a ton of distance in between her and the enemy almost instantly-- Something Ratchet could not have done if the Insecticon further advanced on him, as the boulder he was rammed into limits his movement options.

We then see that Optimus has also moved back over to close the gap between everyone, with Arcee next to Bee (although hard to see in this particular shot) and Ratchet now in a better position to provide support (behind and to Optimus’ right), even though he did not have to move himself-- Optimus moved over to him, instead. 

Smokescreen shows up, initially jumps over Bee and Arcee to take point position, then leaps back-- And firmly plants himself in front of Ratchet as well, while also maintaining enough distance to still remain on point. 

It’s worth remembering that Smokescreen at the very least went through boot camp for the Iacon Elite Guard (even though this seems to have mostly been a ploy by Alpha Trion and we don’t know what the actual selection process was like for any of this), so Smokescreen does seem to have some ability to know where to position himself in battle, even if he lacks experience and his tactics amount to “fire a lot at the enemy or in their general direction”. lmao he’s still learning though, it’s fine. 

As far as Smokescreen is concerned, there was a gap exposing their medic, and they only have one heavy hitter (Optimus), so he’s put himself in a position where he can cover Ratchet, easily move to group with the other faster, lighter weight bots if an advantage opens up for them to move forward, or move laterally to provide fire support for Optimus if need be. 

Honestly, not a bad position to take, it’s just the way he went about it and his “shoot everything” approach which is problematic, lmao. 

At this point, he ignites the energon fuel leaking from the pod by accident, which leads to a bit of an “oh shit run away” sequence-- But we can still see that they maintain a reasonable formation in falling back: 

Ratchet, in the rear and most defended position, is now first out. Arcee on the far left is running up ahead to get in front of or alongside him, to regain a more on point position. Bee is following her, slightly slower to keep the formation reasonably tight. Optimus is taking the right side, and Smokescreen follows suit slightly to the right as well but in a good position to turn around and take an immediate point position in the opposite direction if needed to provide some rear cover.

They successfully bail behind some rock formations for cover from the burning fuel explosion, and you can see the order in which they get there, consistent with the previous sequence. 

They land in the appropriate order: Arcee, Ratchet, Bee, Optimus, then Smokescreen last.

And that’s pretty much it, the explosion took out the Insecticons and Smokescreen proceeds to embarrass himself immediately. lmao 

This whole little scene is a particularly good example of the Autobots sticking to their roles in battle while also understanding how best to operate and work together as a team when deployed. 

Although it’s fairly short, it showcases everyone’s respective roles in battle very well! 

Bee is an excellent scout, and we know that, but it’s nice to see him actually handling things effectively in the field; Notice how he’s one of the few who didn’t get pushed around too much here! When the team had to close in together, they did so with Bee’s general position as their defensible point, and stayed more central to where their fire was being most effective. 

Arcee got to showcase her skills in a few ways here, speed and situational awareness both being critical. It would have been easy for her to fixate on what her and Bee were doing, but she knows better than to get lost in a single focus and came to Ratchet’s rescue very effectively. 

Ratchet was ready throughout to provide support if needed, and when he got attacked, he knew to rely on his teammates to assist him rather than risk taking additional damage as the sole medic. 

Optimus did a good job (as expected) being both their sole heavier gunner and their field commander-- Double duty, as Bulkhead’s still out of commission. He was clearly right to order a retreat when he did, and didn’t bother fixating too much on Smokescreen’s sudden appearance, instead remaining focused on the task at hand. Not that any of this is surprising, but it would be interesting to compare his field command style to Ultra Magnus’. 

Smokescreen did a good job of figuring out where to fit himself in during battle; He just really needs to stop fucking around, lmao, but he also just woke up after a fairly long stasis and he has very limited actual field experience prior to this, so that’s worth keeping in mind! 

---

Hopefully this was interesting; I just woke up so I’m still sipping a coffee lmao but I wanted to write this up while I had a little time. :) 

If you read all this, thank you so much!! :) <3 

[tojikai]

Ya I don’t feel all that bad for naomi 🫢 like you said, what did she expect going into a relationship with a guy who broke up with his baby mama a week ago like that situation is just ripe for drama. Also the way she passively let y/n be trampled on by satoru and his demon of a mother. Just going with the flow and smiling pretty when they did the family portrait and holding Yui as if she was hers (like why did she have to hold her? Did satoru lose function of both arms at the time or?). I know some of y’all wanna make excuses for her that satoru enabled her by not putting a stop to it and whatnot but that’s a grown ass woman. She is a grown ass full on adult woman, and you’re telling me that without satoru holding her hand and explaining to her about boundaries and having empathy and treating someone with basic respect, she wouldn’t know how to act?? Come on lmao let’s not be silly now

If she doesn’t know how to act in situations like that, how is she coping with the intricacies of social interaction in her day to day life, at work etc? I’m not buying her whole “I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong” act, therefore the only other explanation is that she knows her actions were out of line and she did them anyway cause she’s an asshole who thought her behaviour could go unchecked because at the time she was favoured by satoru and his mother lol it’s gonna be a bitter pill to swallow when she finds out satoru doesn’t love her and in fact loves y/n

Also we thought miss girly in permanent mark was innocent at first too but she turned out to be a snake in the end so I wouldn’t be surprised if Naomi turns out similar (I agree with the anon that said she’s giving off baby trapping vibes). I think she enjoys the attention and privileges and prestige that comes with dating the Gojo Satoru too much to go down easily. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if satoru’s mother tries to get her to do something shady when they have their meeting. She’ll probably try and paint y/n in a bad light and say she’s seducing satoru or some shit (Which is so dumb cause it truly seems like she thinks satoru has no autonomy of his own like? He’s a grown man but alright go off) Knowing Naomi’s ass, once their plan backfires and satoru becomes aware of their ugly personalities, she’ll say she was only doing what his mom told her to do and she had no idea that she was doing anything bad 👉👈

Speaking of I hope Satoru gets wind that his mother actually physically assaulted y/n because it didn’t seem like he knew in the last chapter when he woke up and interrupted their fight. I feel like he would’ve had an angrier reaction than just pleading with his mom to leave them alone. Yeah that woman is literally the worst. All that money to her name but no class 🙃

ooh, that family picture, i got a little more story about it. i mentioned in part 5 that naomi liked to think about satoru and yui as her own family. even before they became official, it just crossed her mind but it's more of like just her imagining having a family of her own. and when that picture taking stuff happened, they were just starting their relationship that time and that's when she really felt like they were a family, especially with the fact that satoru's mom favors her and thinks she's the better woman for her son :'')) it was a painful memory to yn bc she had to stand there and watch them :(( but anw u got a lot of things right, like his mother badmouthing yn, and trying to get her to do something shady😭 the slap was explained, he saw it when he moved her to bed and fought w his mom abt it. and the only reason satoru couldn't react more then, was bc yui was there :((

[mswyrr]

Things like prolonged abuse can give people very uneven social and emotional development. They can be very responsible and "mature for your age" in some areas and also very stunted and immature in others.

This can also happen for, say, LGBT people who were closeted during pivotal periods of development too, where dating and discovering themselves happens later and there can be a development gap for a time. And grief around never getting to be a kid when they were a kid can be a thing for people once they try to connect with the things they had to cut off because they weren't safe to feel them. I went through some of that myself, from various sources, so I have a lot of empathy for that and how absurd/frustrating it can be.

(And a lot of hope - it doesn't, as far as I've seen and experienced, take someone very long to "catch up" after a while of fumbling around like an idiot)

Anyway - sometimes I see people reading Carmy's "accidental fuckboi" behavior in terms of how a grown man who's been dating since he was a teen would be thinking/feeling, if he behaved like that. But, for me, I interpret that differently because of the “first” situation and the developmental stuff. IMO, he's basically being a feckless/inexperienced teenager dating for the first time here, because in this area of his life he is still developmentally a dumb feckless teenager (and one who is trying and failing "not to be shitty" without much of a clue what that looks like).

Doesn't make the harm less real, but the intent I think is shaped deeply by the fact that, for the first time in his life, he feels safe enough (because of how much responsibility Sydney and Nat are taking on and that is absolutely not fair to them!!) to try to enjoy things. And he thinks maybe he can even make that work with being responsible somehow, but... utterly clueless about how.

There's the caveat that he didn't go out and choose to start dating at this pivotal moment for the business - dating found him and there's complexities around how much he wanted it to find him right here and now and how much he feels obligated to be what his family/friends/Claire wants him to be. I think he'd have been able to turn down anyone who wasn't as deeply tied to his family as Claire, and I'm not ignoring his agency in the situation, but they chose to bring someone in who he'd find it incredibly difficult to balance pleasing/doing what he's expected to do by while balancing everything else for a reason.

The "executive function" stuff where he's staring at the calls coming in and unable to answer either of them is key for me, in terms of this being someone who just isn't functioning well rn at all and is coming to a real crisis point and trying to ignore that/salve that any way he can think of. Masking really hard and deep in denial and trying to keep a lot of plates spinning without being very intentional about any of it.

It leads to sucky behavior and he's responsible for that--and the other characters can and should hold him responsible for that, but especially for actually addressing the core gravity warping untreated mental illness that's motivating a lot of this frantic rushing around and being a prick-- but I don't personally see much of it as a crime of intent. Intent requires a level of insight and experience that he doesn't have in the area of dating specifically lol

That balance of someone being responsible for their actions but also, for various reasons, in a place that mitigates and shapes what they're able to do--based on the tools they have--is an interesting part of the story that gets touched on again and again through various characters. It's interesting and it can coexist with the people around someone having the right to protect their own peace and boundaries.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Bleach’s Issue with Queer characters (2/3)

...

Dordonii might seem like a weird one to point out here, compared to some of the more overt examples, but I think he had a fairly evident queer codedness to him.  His more overwhelming quality was his kind of Spanish flair, what with the tap shoes and Flamenco-esque poses and gestures, the devil horns in his greased hair and on his mask shard, and his little Mephistopheles mustache and beard.  But the ear ring, and Flamenco adjacent sex appeal mixed with the way he kind of baby talks Ichigo strikes me as contributing to a certain daddy-ish gay character type.  Also, I’ve never been 100% sure that it’s not just crosshatching, but I’ve always read it as some chest hair peaking out from his low v-neck.  But I feel like that assessment needs some qualifying context...

Western sensibilities tend to read effeminate features on men as a chief indicator of homosexuality, Japan has never been quite as narrowly focused with its own gay stereotypes.  There is definitely a particular character type in anime and manga that pins the preening vanity of smooth faced and long haired effeminate men on homosexuality, but it’s not really the go-to.  Tracing back to media trends of the 1970s the long haired, smooth chested pretty boy (even the gay ones) very much became the domain of female audiences and creators, where as the prevailing trends of gay portrayals by and for men actually settled more firmly on the hairy and muscular image that bara is associated with now.  I'm not about to do a whole big breakdown of the japanese gay subculture behind the bara thing, because that deserves more time and attentio that i can give it here, but you've got a keyword to work with now, so I encourage you to do a little googling yourself.

Also he has his right ear is pierced?  I don't know if this was ever a thing in Japan, but in America it became kind of a wide spread myth(?)  Originally it actually was a functioning kind of code within the queer community in the 1960s and 70s, but after it became somewhat more generally well known the practice more or less stopped, for pretty obvious practical reasons... but weirdly enough by the sheer power of stupid homophobia, straight people continued to scrutinize and be paranoid of men with pierced ears for decades following.  Again, though, I have no idea if either the original intent or the misinformation of that trend was ever anything that had any kind of Japanese presence...

Anyway... What I’m getting at is Dordonii feels very queer coded to me, just not in ways that everyone picks up on.  But speaking of muscular hairy gays...  Let’s talk about an elephant in the room:

Charlotte Chuhlhourne:

Obviously, Kubo doesn’t quite have the tact to make use of queer identities in a totally respectful way, so it’s hard to tell how much is attributable to Kubo making a character exactly as they appear, and what could be argued to be a character’s theoretical self-identifying terms filtered through Kubo’s limited vernacular.  But the word to know here is Okama[オカマ], which has traditionally referred to gay, AMAB transvestites.  Obvious stumbling point here is that prior to more widely codified and accepted trans identities this term applied to both transwoman and drag queens.

Granted until fairly recently(by which I mean within the relatively short spand my own lifetime) even the queer community at large didn’t always differentiate the two very well; presentation was presentation, the circumstances for it and the specificities of achieving it were personal choices, not taxonomical crossroads; some moonlit as queens and that was it, others would’ve lived as women and never walked a show in their life if that had been a practical option, others still were happily gender fluid, but the scene had one look and one label.  We made due with what we had.

Anyway...  point being that Charlotte’s character is specifically a play into an Okama stereotype.  That is to say, the archetypal look of Okama in Japanese media for many years has been a middle aged, square jawed, often broad or even muscular, drag queen.  Although Charlotte doesn’t actually have one, they are also frequently shown with a muzzle of stubble growing in.  Despite what you might think about jabs at the beard as a masculine feature betraying their feminine presentation, it’s actually not (usually) the reason...

The image comes out of Japan’s gay bar scene --in Tokyo, Shinjuku-Nichoume in particular-- which has long been a cultural centerpiece of Japan’s gay culture.  The larger Shinjuku ward as as whole is itself a commercial district.  So, to the general public who didn’t have any interaction with gay culture itself, the small glimpse they had was from the crossing paths of salarymen commuting into work as straggler okama headed home from the bars the morning after, still in drag and makeup but with unshaven stubble growing in after a long night.

(Also, just a side note on this, but if you’ve ever seen an older (usually bigger) woman with a deep, brassy voice in kind of sultry night attire at a bar referred to as “Mama,” it’s because that’s the owner of a okama bar.  She’s not literally anyone’s mother, she’s the defacto den-mother of sorts for the patrons of her bar.)

It’s still definitely not a flattering portrayal, but it’s one with a very specific history that doesn’t communicate to Western audiences at all.  But there is a certain strangeness to how the Japanese handle this, comparatively.  While Western rhetoric has its hangups with moralist preaching and bitching and moaning about “degeneracy” and “deviancy,” those judgments just aren’t baked into Japanese culture in quite the same way.  In fact, while most of these okama caricatures by and for cishetero creators/audiences are definitely not what anyone would call “good” representation, they do lack a certain expected malice.  Sure, flamboyant bafoonery is a constant in exploitation of gay culture on either side of the Pacific, but where as the West uses this as a means to disarm gay men --to make them non threatening, or to rationalize not taking them seriously-- anime manga and even videogames tend to fixate on the curiosity of it.

(although one enduring, generally positive case of this that actually seems to fly super under western audience’s radars are the great fairys in Zelda. which have maintained their extremely obvious dragqueen inspired look since OoT)

One of the first encounters with the okama charactertype that I only learned to identify looooong after the fact is the Magypsies (haha oh boy that localized choice of slur...) in Earthbound. On the one hand they were treated as a bizarre spectacle and literally not human, but they were magical and benevolent and a little comical but not in the way where they were relegated to being the punchline of a joke and nothing else. And I've found over the years that that tends to be the tone of these kinds of characters.

Another very similar case of this is Ivankov in One Piece, the Kamabakka kingdom Okama and Newkama, including Bonclay/Mr.2. (His "okama way" gimmick being a play on the hardboiled gritty actionhero cliche of a "man's way.")  Where on the one hand, it’s a disgusting, tacky use of the familiar okama cliches, but also their very existence as okama is painted as the basis of their unique form of super power?  Really, it’s just so wildly divorced from reality that it’s hard to even call it “representation,” harmful or otherwise...  Still, in impossibly poor taste based on optics alone, though.

This all is not to try and sweep under the rug that these are still ultimately problematic stereotypes and caricatures to have to debrief each new generation of viewer on just to avoid the slippery slope of total misinterpretation, but I've noticed that there is a distinct difference in how that tone is read. The overwhelming attitude I see from these creators is that these long standing cliches are how okama look and act, but that it makes them interesting or funny, and yes “other,” but rarely lesser.  Obviously that's still rooted deeply in ignorance on part of these non-queer creators, but you can see how it lacks the teeth that the western equivalent has, where such caricatures are explicitly there to defame and demonize, and I think that’s an important distinction to make.

(And let’s not even get into the issue of fake “woke” white people struggling to wrap their tiny brains around the idea of another culture by framing it as that culture’s unique idiosyncrasies as if they’re just failed attempts at conforming to white anglo-centric western values, because THAT is a whole other can of worms...)

To maybe put this into some better perspective here, Tier Harribel has blond hair and tan skin, and given what the Arrancar are and how they live she is presumably naturally dark skinned, and naturally blonde.  But her design is clearly based on gyaru/gal (or possibly ganguro) fashion, which makes use of fake tans and bleached hair.  She looks the way she does because she's made to look like that aesthetic, but looking the way she doesn't doesn't imply she bleaches and tans(presumably those colors are both natural on her in-world). 

That same relationship of image inspiring image while being divorced from meaning is just kind of how Kubo makes these kinds of aesthetic decisions, all across the board, problematic or not.  But of course no one really cares about it when it’s a weird recontextualization of the gal aesthetic because no one’s offended on their behalf.

And in general, I think a lot of these things are just so outside the Western perspective that even when they definitely are problematic, some people can’t even begin to grasp what about it is, and end up fabricating just nonsense arguments against it to rationalize a kneejerk kind of discomfort and confusion over the subject...

Anyway...  having said all that, the next one actually IS a huge problem...

[1][2][3]

[itsclydebitches]

You know I don’t have a problem with the relics in theory but maybe they should have been naturally displaced items from the…(I forgot the name) “Wonderland”. I think one of the worst things in the course of the story was the introduction of the god brothers. Not looking forward to the team saying a whole speech between the four of them being holier than thou with the deities. Also the Maidens shouldn’t exist. Not without some true purpose cause semblances are already plenty strong and better

I feel that, anon, and I personally hate how none of this fits together now. RWBY keeps adding more worldbuilding that just complicates an already underdeveloped world:

Characters have aura that protects them/heals them from physical harm. At first it seems like everyone's got that - and they technically do - but it needs to be unlocked to work and after showing that once around episode 3, it's never relevant again.

Aura is distinct from Semblances, special powers that let you do cool things by controlling some natural force.

This is distinct from Dust which is substance that also lets you do cool things by controlling some natural force.

Not everyone has a semblance and not everyone has access to Dust. What determines - from an individual and class perspective - who gets what? Not important.

Oh, also one semblance is randomly inherited, but no one cares to unpack that.

Oh, also, also one semblance is randomly The Worst Thing Ever, but no one cares to unpack that either.

Semblances can also evolve! This will happen at random points and will only be tied to the narrative structure in the loosest sense.

Now, semblances can evolve again... maybe. If you're Ruby, anyway.

All of this is how Remnant naturally functions. It's a magical world.

Sike! Actually there's real magic and it's distinct from Semblance magic because... uh. Idek anymore.

Four women are able to wield real magic because a singular magic user gave humanity that ability generations ago.

He got that ability by being a part of Humanity 1.0. Why did the Gods drastically change the skills humanity had access to the second time around? Unclear.

Oh yeah, there are Gods too with their own shapeshifting/creation magic, completely unlike the magic they gave to people.

They did, however, give four random, real-real magic objects to help ("help") one guy with the worst group project in existence.

So at least we've got this settled then, yeah? For however messy everything else is, the Gods are the top dogs who dispense real-magic/semblance-magic to everyone else.

Sikex2! They're actually from another world that functions completely differently from the one they created. They're the product of a third type of magic, which is even more convoluted than what Remnant's got because it functions under Wonderland logic -- AKA, no logic at all.

This includes the real top dog (for now): a Blacksmith/tree lady we meet for a grand total of 10-ish minutes, making miniature people and letting go off into the multiverse to wreak havoc.

That's too much worldbuilding with too little development! Once upon a time a nonsense world birthed two super powered beings who decided they wanted to be Gods. They go off and create a group of people with magic distinct from their own. Then they wiped them out, creating a second group with another distinct magic structure (that supposedly isn't really magic), but remnants of the first group remain. So the world is now populated by everything from "I'm an NPC with nothing going for me" to "I have a super power" to "I have super powers, but not the cool individualized kind" to "I have the real magic super powers" to "I'm a device from a literal alternate reality" and all of it is mushed together without rhyme or reason so that fights are impossible to get invested in now due to the lack of consistency. Are you fighting another normal super powered person? A weaker version of that without a Semblance? A god-like being wielding real magic? A transforming cat possessing the most powerful character on screen? The answers don't matter because Ruby is going to win regardless by swinging her Normal Fighter Weapon around.

Meanwhile, I miss when wielding Crescent Rose was actually SUPER impressive against the grimm, rather than a "How are you even winning nowadays?" puzzlement against the new backdrop of elite forces and magic and godhood.

[chuuyanakahardon]

kunikida smut... pleading

Ask and you shall receive, anon!

Also I’ll be using GN pronouns for this but female genitalia in the dirty parts, if you want something different just lmk!!

Kunikida x Reader (NSFW)

Summary: Reader is basically a second Dazai except for the fact that Kunikida is incredibly attracted to them. Reader has an idea that they know will fluster the blonde idealist to no end, but the plan ends up backfiring in a way that is both unexpected and appreciate.

Warnings: smut, female genitalia, sex toys, dirty talk, semi-public sex.

“I think you’ve outdone yourself this time, (y/n)” Dazai remarked proudly, having just heard the rough details of your next attempt to harass Kunikida. Dazai knew something you didn’t, though, which made everything all the more perfect.

You and Dazai were very similar when it came to getting under people’s skin, especially the ADA’s resident idealist, so naturally the two of you got along very well. Most onlookers would assume that you two were more than friends, but Dazai was one of the few that knew you actually had a massive crush you on the uptight blonde that sat across from you at work, the other being Ranpo for obvious reasons. The twist was, though, that Dazai happened to sneak a peak at Kunikida’s notebook one night a few weeks ago and saw that he surprisingly returned your feelings.

Of course, Dazai being Dazai means that instead of just telling you what he saw he has to orchestrate you two getting together like some kind of puppet master, so he planted the seed for this idea you’re coming to him with now and is excited to see it grow into the perfect outcome.

“Ugh, I’m not sure Dazai. I feel like he’s just gonna brush it off. Maybe it’s too bold?” You responded, a bit more shy than your usual self.

“Absolute nonsense! You’ll see, he won’t be able to function after! I can’t wait to see the smoke coming out of his brain~” Dazai hummed reassuringly.

“You’re such a psycho, you know that?” You laughed. “I kinda hope you’re right though” you finished with a small smirk.

The office was almost empty save for you, your partner in crime, and the soon to be object of your aggravation. You figured Dazai was sticking around to see the bespectacled man’s reaction to your antics, so you went forward with your plan, not expecting a whole lot to come out of it in the end anyways.

You approached Kunikida’s desk carefully and sat yourself atop it once you were next to his chair, facing him, sliding his laptop out of the way in the process.

“What do you need, (y/n)?” He asked in his usual tone, his face cast downward trying not to look at you directly.

“You know Kunikida I’ve always had a question about you notebook~” you chirped, kicking your feet out playfully as you spoke.

“Well, come on then, ask. Although I won’t promise to answer if it’s something prepostero-“

“Can you make sex toys with it?” You cut him off, doing everything you could to hold back a giggle.

The look on his face was nothing short of priceless. You could hear Dazai trying to hold himself together in the background.

“I-I’m sorry, (y/n), could you run that by me again?” He said through gritted teeth.

“You know? Sex toys?? Like vibrators and stu- ah!” Your sentence was cut short by Kunikida abruptly standing up and staring you directly in the eyes, the look on his face unreadable as he stared seemingly into your soul.

“See ya guys tomorrow! Don’t have too much fun~” Dazai yelled as he took his leave, apparently satisfied with the outcome of the situation.

“Dazai you idiot!” Kunikida shouted after him, seemingly forgetting he was still in the office. “He put you up to this, didn’t he?” He turned his attention back to you.

“What?! No! It was all my idea! I’m very curious about the answer, you know! Like, I know they can’t be bigger than the notebook but it honestly wouldn’t take much for me” your eyes widened as you realized you’d said too much. Cursing yourself mentally as you’d just revealed how desperate you were for him.

Kunikida’s eyes widened as well after processing what you said, his arms crossing themselves over his chest. His stare only intensified.

“So Dazai… didn’t have anything to do with this?” He asked again, adjusting his glasses in the process.

“No he didn’t I swear! Why would he, anyways? He has his own way of messing with you” you answered, a bit confused.

“No reason… he just knows more than he should sometimes that’s all…” he said, now realizing his the one saying more than he should.

“Soooo… is that a no?” You pressed, curiosity still very much unsatisfied.

“(Y/n)! Have you any idea how inappropriate this is?!” He exclaimed, redness taking over his face.

“Cmon, Kunikida~! Don’t leave me high and dry! I know I don’t fit into your “ideal partner” and all that, but at least humor me!” You pouted.

“(Y/n)… do you really think that?” His gaze softened as he took two fingers and placed them under your chin, making you look at him.

“Yes! I mean Dazai always says I should try stuff on you but I mean obviously you don’t like me bac- um at all… like me at all I meant” you said, trying to back track after realizing you’d just exposed yourself.

Kunikida’s eyes cycled through a few emotions before widening in surprise.

“You idiot” was all he said before kissing you roughly, as though he’d been wanting to do so for a long time. It was your turn to be surprised now, gasping before kissing him back.

Your shock quickly turned to excitement, deciding to just enjoy the moment. You pulled him closer to you so that you could wrap your legs around his waist.

“This… is not how I wanted you to find out, but I really like you, (y/n) as much as you annoy the ever loving shit out of me” he said, pulling away just long enough to get the words out before kissing you again.

You tangled your hands in his hair, your awful mischievous nature still getting the better of you.

“I like you too, I have for a while~ but! You still didn’t answer my first question” you grinned devilishly.

Something flashed in Kunikida’s eyes that could only be interpreted as desire before he put his lips right next to your ear.

“Trust me, (y/n), what I can offer you is much better than anything my notebook could make” he whispered, causing a deep blush to spread across your cheeks.

He kissed from your ear down to the base of your neck, biting down hard enough to incite a pretty moan from your lips.

“I’m not sure if I believe you, Kunikida~” you hummed as you pulled on his hair, forcing him to look back at you so you could kiss him again. His hands left your face and traveled to your hips, gripping them tightly and pulling them closer to his.

You could feel his clothed member rub against the sensitive mound between your thighs, the initial sensation feeling so surprisingly good it caused you to buck your hips up, grinding against him. Your sudden movement caused him to grip your hips even tighter as he effectively began dry humping you against the desk.

“Mmm Kunikida~ fuck!” You moaned out, the tension becoming too much for you as you decided to pay him back for how wet he was making you. Your hands moved down to his belt buckle and began working to undo it.

“Take a seat” you eyed him mischievously, making it his turn to blush. He wasn’t entirely sure what you were up to but he was too entranced to question it.

You lowered yourself to your knees and finished undoing his belt and unzipping his trousers. You looked up at him playfully before pulling his boxers down enough to reveal his perfectly sized dick, not quite too big but definitely not small.

You eyed his member excitedly before taking it into your mouth, slowly at first. You run your tongue along the entire length of his cock a few times before picking up pace and taking all of it.

“F-fuck, (y/n)… that feels so good… you’re so good for me, so perfect” he groaned, taking one of his hands and pulling on your hair, trying not to be too rough.

You picked up pace, bringing a hand up to play with his balls while you continued your tantalizing actions with your tongue.

“Oh god, you’re gonna make me cum like that (y/n)… keep going- fuck!” He exclaimed as the warm liquid spilled from his cock into your mouth where you swallowed it all, making sure everything was nice and clean for him.

“Am I still annoying, Kunikida~?” You asked deviously.

“You’re definitely still a huge brat, that’s for sure” he responded. His hand that had previously been tangled in your hair was brought down to your neck, wrapping around it gently. “And you definitely need to be put in your place. Stand up” he demanded. You did as he told you, probably not as quick as he would’ve liked. “Not facing me, face the desk” he ordered, his hands coming up to play with your waistband.

“What are you gonna do, spank me?” You teased, hoping that would be the case. You took the liberty of removing the clothes covering your bottom half for him.

The hard slap on your ass answered that question and caused you to let out an excited squeak.

“Figures you would like that, annoying brat” he scolded before roughly grabbing your hips. He took a finger and rubbed your slit to feel how wet it was for him. Very, to his satisfaction. You whined at his actions.

He took the head of his dick and rubbed it against you, replacing where his finger had just been previously.

“Are you just gonna teas- mmph!” You were cut off by him slamming himself inside you without mercy. “Ahhh~! F-fuck!” You moaned as he pounded you into his desk.

“This is what you get, (y/n)” he never lost his fast pace, his grip on your hips only waivering to sneak a hand under your shirt to give your breasts a firm squeeze. “You feel so good wrapped around me, like you were made for me” he slowed down a little bit to give your neck a few soft kisses before picking his pace back up twice as hard as before.

The room was filled with your whines and the sound of Kunikida taking what was his. You could feel your release getting close as you tightened your grip on the edge of the desk, your legs starting to feel like jelly.

“Ahh~ please don’t stop! “ you cried, his pace quickened, his balls slapping against your swollen clit. He pounded into you ruthlessly until you couldn’t take it anymore, you’re legs quivering and your pussy filling with your own juices. Kunikida gripped your waist tighter as he felt his own release come too, his seed spilling inside your dripping cunt.

“God, you’re perfect” he mumbled, his lips grazing your neck in the process.

“And I’m all yours now~ if you want that is” you replied pushing yourself back into him.

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course you are” he said, turning you around to kiss you again.

[itsnothingofinterest]

I have to say the reasoning behind Toga’s quirk being on the fritz was kind of neat. Even if you focus on the biological aspect of quirks, considering how our mood can influence how well we function, it’s a fascinating look at how quirks work when under duress. Although I admit I think I’d prefer a more angsty route honestly. Mostly in the ‘even if you listened to me I’m still not sure that I can trust you even with the confession’. Idk, I feel like the current situation is a bit too optimistic, which is fine, but I’d rather see a slower, more developed transition into her recovery. Granted, I could say the same for a lot of the recent events *cough*Spinner&Shoji*unconvincing cough* but I digress.

Eh, honestly I find the reasoning behind the quirk not working being this idea that Toga needs to feel “pure love” still a bit wonky, maybe even contrived. I think it’s mainly because we know it worked when Toga fought Curious, and she was also running on a considerable amount of fear for her life in that moment; so I don’t get why her drive for revenge would be different. Well we got a cool conversation with Uraraka out of it, so it’s whatever.

Regarding the confession & the pacing of everything around it; I totally get you about feeling things should be less quick and smooth than they look, given the circumstances. One of the many reasons I keep hoping for an MHA part 2 after the war arc is that a lot of the major conflicts feel like they need a lot more time to resolve. Especially looking at the two major plots that have already ended, Spinner, & Dabi, and how unresolved they still feel.

And this’ll probably be its own post but in brief, there's still some of that here too. While Uraraka offering her blood to Toga is surely very touching to her and she's surely already made much more progress with her villain than Shoto did; just brushing past Toga’s “you’re just gonna lock me up for life or execute me” accusation with, from what I can tell from the leaks (so excuse me if they're wrong) something like: “well yeah that’s just common sense” really feels like a major misstep right at the end. Because while I'm sure the confession & blood offer will be quite significant to Toga; Uraraka still feels off the mark from actually saving Toga to me if that’s how she responds to the actual threat posed to Toga’s life. She's almost there, but not quite.

That's my thoughts on that particular topic anyway.

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

On TCB Fans Being Annoying About Tinlightenment

So I got this response to this survey yesterday, and I spent pretty much all day thinking about it on-and-off (tragically, I do not have a very intellectually stimulating job). Reading it upset me a little more than it should have (the correct amount would have been zero), still upsets me a bit if we’re being honest, and I was kinda’ surprised by my own reaction. But the fact is, this person took time out of their day to fill out this little survey, and on the whole their responses were actually really informative and helpful. So, thank you, anonymous responder! Just because I didn’t like everything I read doesn’t mean I can’t be grateful to have read it.

So I’m gonna let you, and everyone else, in on a couple of little secrets (full response below the cut):

I kinda’ suspected at least one response like this one. Which is part of why my reaction surprised me so much.

The reason I suspected I’d hear this is that I… kinda’ agree? About the annoying part, anyways. I promise you, nobody is more annoyed about all the Tinlightenment promo posting I’ve done than I am. No one enjoys asking the internet for money. We’re not waking up going “oh boy, another day! I am so excited to find yet another new way to throw the same information into the void for the forty eighth time in a row!” Actually, it’s not exactly a void. It’s more like… constantly throwing crumbs into the ocean, hoping to save a fish but never knowing if anything actually gets eaten. And feeling annoyed/annoying the entire damn time.

But here we are, doing it anyway. And I would like my anonymous responder and anyone else who feels the same way to understand why.

Essentially, there’s no other choice that leads to Tinlightenment being funded. The internet is changing. It’s never been easier for small, independent creators, especially those just starting out, to make something and put it up online. But it’s also never been harder to get people to actually see what you’re making if, like TCB, you’re dealing with longer-form work that cannot simply be reduced to a TikTok-sized bite. Attention spans are gone, interest is spread incredibly thin, and everything is awash in content. Kickstarter algorithms have changed and grown in a way that benefits the website itself but hinders smaller indie creators, making it much harder to get people to look at your kickstarter than it used to be. (This is BAD, by the way.) If a kickstarter doesn’t have a grand enough start, and this one really didn’t, the algorithm will proceed to bury it even further. So it becomes vital to share it around. But why share it again, and again, and again—especially in the same community or to the same follower pool? Because, like I said, this place is an ocean. I don’t know about you guys, but I see an average of less than a tenth of the posts made by people I follow. I didn’t even know how much I was missing until I started actually having friends on here and realized I wasn’t seeing a lot of their stuff. So you gotta keep throwing out the line so that it will finally reach this different follower who might reblog it to be seen by this different follower, and so-on until it breaks containment and reaches some completely new eyes, like a former Spies Are Forever fan who may find their interest re-ignited. (And these posts have generated interest! I've seen it.) It’s a quest to spread the word as far as possible, when the internet is functioning in a way that wants to keep said word contained and concentrated. So it’s a bit of a Catch-22. We shut up about Tinlightenment in order to appease people who agree with my anonymous responder, and then all the buzz dies and the word stops and the kickstarter dies buried in the algorithm.

So, yeah, the old technique—TCB sets up the kickstarter and does their livestreams, the rest of us reblog it and maybe post the occasional promo but nothing too special—isn’t working. Sure, 50k in the first week sounds REALLY good on paper, but the first week is usually when the largest amount of fundraising happens, and if that pattern holds true Tinlightenment will not reach its goal by a long-shot. The backer numbers also weren’t/aren’t adding up to past campaigns. Joey isn’t live-streaming backer thank yous for his health. Corey isn’t raffling off Wigglys for the hell of it, or even as part of the original plan. The campaign is in trouble. Like TCB, we’ve found ourselves in the position of needing to switch up our technique without knowing how. So we try new thing after new thing in search of the best way to evolve. Unfortunately, it does lead to some people repeatedly encountering the same core message over and over again, but there you have it.

(We’re also fighting against history. Every big project officially announced by Starkid, Tin Can Bros, or Shipwrecked has ended up being realized. For a while, it really did feel like people just… passively assumed this one would happen as well. But Tinlightenment is different. They’re trying to raise a Starkid level of money despite not being Starkid, and have been pretty upfront that they can’t do this season at all without this influx of funding. And Kickstarter is all-or-nothing, remember. Tinlightenment stands a really good chance of being the first announced StarCanWrecked project to not get made, and that wasn’t really clicking with a lot of people. So we had to draw a thick line under that particular detail.)

And so there it is. A pretty basic overview of the technical “why” behind some of us being so pushy and annoying. It’s kinda’ unavoidable if we wish to fund Tinlightenment and avoid putting TCB into a financial hole that could temper any future projects for years to come. If you truly do find it so annoying, I would recommend blocking the “tinlightenment” tag for the rest of February. We do try to tag our shit (I did go back while writing this and see that I’d accidentally forgotten to tag the survey post. My apologies and the mistake has been corrected). Curate your experience!

Lastly, to be clear, I do not believe at all that this anonymous person is refusing to pledge because I annoyed them on Tumblr. They were not going to back anyway. They listed multiple other reasons in the “why aren’t you backing?” answer block and saved this particular comment for the “anything else you wanna say” space, so I think they were just a little annoyed and frustrated by an internet experience (join the club), were finally given a chance to express that feeling, and took to it with gusto. But if anyone out there truly is refusing to back solely because of annoying fan recruitment efforts…. Well, I’d ask if screwing over some fiercely indie creatives whose work you’ve enjoyed (through TCB, Starkid, or Shipwrecked), as well as over 900 other people, and also depriving yourself of a season of projects in the process (everything will be available for digital tickets!) is really worth getting one over on a handful of fans being temporarily annoying and passionate on the fans-being-annoying-and-passionate website. Especially when, by and large, they won’t ever even know. Like, do we really wanna prioritize being that petty?

[honourablejester]

So. Out of curiosity, given recent events, I was looking at Pathfinder 2e, just to see what it felt like. And, being me, I decided to do this by seeing how easy/difficult it would be to port my homebrew deities over to it. And the results were … interesting.

In that it is not necessarily easy to port deities over, but for a rather cool reason and in a cool way. Apparently, if I am understanding things correctly, your deity is functionally your subclass as a cleric in PF2e? As in, you get a couple of spells from your domain, sure, but you get more spells, an ability increase, a skill, a weapon, and your Divine Font all from your deity. You also need to match your deity to your alignment, and your deity gives you edicts to try and follow and anathemas to avoid if you don’t want to face consequences. Your deity is, essentially, your subclass.

(I’m not ignoring doctrines, I’m just mentally thinking of them more like warlock pact boons? Actually, PF2e clerics are reminding me of 5e warlocks in a couple of ways, really)

It's actually … Honestly, I find that really cool? From a worldbuilding perspective. Now, I can see from a player POV how it might feel quite restrictive, particularly the alignment, edicts and anathemas, but from a story-expressed-in-mechanics POV … It always slightly bugs me in DnD5e that clerics of completely different gods who happen to share a domain will be mechanically identical. You can have, for a random example, a Trickery cleric of Asmodeus and a trickery cleric of Garl Glittergold, and they’ll play the exact same way (mechanically, not counting RP). Your deity, to an extent, is kind of a cosmetic choice beyond domain. But in Pathfinder, your deity is distinctly more crunchy and involved, and I do kinda love it.

It does make porting homebrew deities from DnD5e to PF2e a bit more involved. I am going to work on it, just to see what it’s like, but already I’m having to think about a lot more than the alignment and domains of 5e. Though that is … in one sense it’s fun as a worldbuilder, because a lot more of the deity’s ideals and values and pet peeves are represented mechanically. It’s cool. Working out their domains, their edicts, their anathemas, their boons, their abilities/skill, their spells …

As an extension of this, can I say, there’s some really gnarly spells in PF2e. I’ve no idea if they’re good or not, but for ideas alone there’s some spectacular stuff. For Nalashtar, the plague goddess, for example, I was browsing both Blister and Grisly Growths as potential options (I think Grisly Growths might be the one). Absolutely disgusting, but thematically amazing.

The only downside is, again if I’m reading this correctly, the spells given to deities need to not be on the divine spell list, because deity spells don’t work like DnD5e domain spells, where clerics get them as extra prepared spells a day, and instead are more like warlock patron spells, where they’re options that the cleric can prepare, but they don’t get them always prepared for free. So if a deity’s spell is on the divine spell list, it functionally gives the cleric absolutely nothing extra, since they already had that spell as an option to prepare.

This is a bummer, just from a thematic standpoint, because I read the spell Quick Sort and instantly wanted to give it to Alatee. Is it useful? Not a clue. But it’s bang on for theme. And, yes, she has it anyway, in the general sense that her clerics can use it, but it would have been so good to have it front and centre in her bio to remind people. Oh well. If I make a cleric of Alatee, I’ll know it’s there.

This is definitely turning out to be an interesting exercise, whatever else. Heh.

(Sidenote: I’m getting my PF2e info from the Archives of Nethys site)

[jihyoruri]

me when it’s time for the yearly anon confession potluck and I have to admit that to me… wowyn.. is just.. 🙂. I think she is a little toxic and the wonyn situation takes me out so bad like it’s genuinely the funniest thing to me EVER. like I can not explain why but the wonyoung is like eh ik u like me but I don’t rlly wanna deal with that so! uhm!.. anyway! and wowyn just… listens tew her😭😭like ur telling me wowyn breaks up w girls If wonyoung doesn’t like them LMFAOO😭

idk for some reason wowyn to me is more of a loser than loseryn not even in a mean way just.. I don’t know I feel like if I met her fr I’d be like.. ur such a sad person…

moving past this… who is your favorite yn? we all know mine…

(1. shamelessyn 2. richgirl yn 3. aespayn/firecrackeryn)

i may not be the president of the aespayn or richgirlyn fanclub but I’m actually both of their therapists btw. yeah Ik you guys don’t know but my side gig is actually fixing them. yeah no aespayn is in the trenches… it’s bad in these streets. (I love richgirlyn almost the same amount as shamelessyn I’m a cheater sorry)

also side note I am sat for anything u write but I hope you continue to explore richgirlyn’s dynamic with chaewon and the other members.. idk maybe it’s bc I grew up with a lot of money but the way ppl w wealth act has always been so.. weird tew me. like I know these r just sillay yn works but I feel like people who write rich characters forget like.. these r the most emotionally stunted people on earth. they never learned to socialize or explain their emotions 😭dealing w rich people is insane because no one talks abt anything or knows how to interact with regular people like they have such hard times w it for some reason?? (because they never had to)

ANYWAY sorry for the long ask 😞I hope we get some aespayn fans out here for 4/20 SHOW SUPPORT FOR UR GIRL😭😭

-🎏

LOL babes imma have to correct you on some things. 😭

it’s not that wony is like “eh ik u like me but I don’t rlly wanna deal with that so! uhm!.. anyway!” she’s genuinely playing hard to get with yn, she feels like yn will always wait for her so she just doesn’t want to get into a relationship just as yet, I think I’ve mentioned it in early asks but wonyoung is playing hard to get with yn😭. wonyn is really a sad situation when you think about it because they’d be really good for each other but they’re not on the same page at all like wow!yn doesn’t think wonyoung likes her even tho wony does hold some feelings for her but she’s waiting it out but realizing that her time is running out. The only reason why wow!yn breaks up with people sometimes if wony doesn’t like them because wonyoung is genuinely her best friend if Giselle didn’t like one of yn’s gfs yn would probably break up with them as well, it’s so easy for her do that because she was just bored like she wasn’t in the relationship for real feelings if she acc had real feelings for the person it would be a different story take winter for example BOTH wonyoung and yujin didn’t like her and yn knew that but yn didn’t break up with her because she genuinely liked her but then she realized that she genuinely liked her so she broke up with her LMAOOOOOO. I wouldn’t call wow!yn a loser because she genuinely has problems, she has some mental instability. like her problems with her dad has definitely affected how she thinks about things and butchers how her mind functions in certain situations, she is a sad person tho. ANYWAYS moving on from wow!yn

my favourite yn and wow!yn and nwjns!yn THE SISTERS honestly I love wow!yn because she’s my most complex yn and honestly she’s just such a shit head and it’s so fun and amusing writing her and nwjns!yn is just a sweet mess like when I finally introduced her fic you guys will see what I mean, she’s the exact opposite of her sister 😭 (also a respectful mention of aespa!yn)

LOL they both need therapists for real so you got the job‼️ aespa!yn is a mess she’s a rich mess (I just took in that you like the two extremely rich yn’s LOL also firecracker!yn is always on someone’s favourite list and it always makes me laugh LMAOOO)

yes I am totally gonna explore richgirl!yn more, I tried my best to give a small peak into richgirl!yn having some problems I was so happy when you picked up on it in ur last ask for her

I honestly love long asks so much so this was fun to read LOL and thank you so much for reading and enjoying my works

[quicktimeeventfull]

ooh that language ask had me thinking... i think L learned lots of languages on his own and made Watari catch up, since it helps with detective work (also. hc that L is a weeb. he knows Hideki Ryuga a little too well. i bet he's read hunter x hunter twice)

however i do think the spk and the task force communicated in english - and how fluent is Light ? did the language barrier prevent him from being as persuasive as he was in japanese, now that he's forced into politeness patterns and nuances he doesn't get ? did this compound with his callous behaviour post L-death, and helped the task force realise he is Kira as they listened to his translated justifications ?

Misa would be fluent thanks to her job and maintains her image much better, but how does the task force deal, since i assume they're not all gonna speak english that well ? if Near used stronger and more direct language than they're used to, if only for the sake of simplicity, that would explain some of the reactions... (also: Mogi not speaking to Near bc he just doesn't understand english lmao)

this is what i think too!! strongly agreed with all of this. my personal headcanon is that L was born in japan & speaks japanese natively, but i can also see him as a primarily english speaker and/or someone who lost his japanese during his time in england and had to relearn as a teenger/adult. i also think he almost certainly knows loads of languages fluently and a few languages at a functional level — it seems fitting for his character and the whole concept of a superdetective. ALSO i’m so into the concept of L actually genuinely liking hideki ryuga. he even has his hair cut like him!! (my further niche hc is that L comes from kyushu and naturally speaks in an associated dialect, but code-switches to tokyo dialect around the task force. however, this is something i made up wholesale with no actual canonical basis other than that he’s a bit more formal in he speech than everyone else but much more familiar in his actions. he seems less like a city boy to me!) also strongly agreed with light and the task force!! i feel like it would be really beneficial for light to learn english well but i just don’t see where he’d find the time and opportunities to do so, at least in the first half of the series, so i personally hc him as having excellent highschool english. like, very functional but not something he can do perfectly or without a lot of effort. i never really thought about misa being more fluent because of her job but you’re 100% correct and i love that very much. the whole concept of misa maybe doing some translation for light is kind of delightful and i think would do interesting things to their dynamic? i always feel like it would make sense for near to do his exchange with light in a mix of english & japanese for that reason — like, force light into having to multitask between thinking up all his lies and coming up with pretty language to dress up his lies. plus switching between the two languages would allow near to control how much & how well the task force could understand what he’s saying. also, absolutely love the idea of mogi being able to be so resilient to near bc he doesn’t know what he’s saying anyway fgjdfg.