#but then sometimes it's clear that they're just doing silly things either because they can or because they're waiting for the game

[toxycodone]

𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 !

𝘤𝘸. 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘰𝘴, 𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘶, 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘤𝘬

Laios:

I genuinely think Laios is attracted to the unconventional or stereotypically attractive. Anyone with unique features, personality quirks, etc. If you don't fit in, you're more willing to catch his eye.

He finds it difficult to really like? Gain an interest in someone who doesn't really "stick out". I think it's clear with the way he treats Kabru that like! People kinda are a blur to him! So! anything that makes someone stick out will catch his interest and he'd be more willing to remember them + actually continue to think about them.

MUST. Share his interest in monsters/animals. This is very important. Like there must be a shared interest there whether its just about anatomy, behavior, etc. I just think he needs to be accepted to talk about this and share fun facts. He likes it. Cooking or an interest in food would also be another plus.

Also just? He likes really easygoing people who aren't super judgemental. Laios is really unapologetically himself and he gets chewed out for it by his friends enough. He's very self aware when it comes to his own issues (esp by the end of the manga) so. Yeah. Just someone who he doesn't feel the need to mask around.

Honestly, maybe someone childish would fit his vibe too? I mean this in a more lighthearted sense. Like someone he could play tag with or goof around in the woods with. He missed out on being a kid for a while, and he's still kinda interested in stuff like that (bug collecting, cool rocks, etc.). Even in post manga he still wants this.

Also uhhhh beastkin/monsters/whatever of any kind get bonus points. Do they have to be this way? No. But. It would definitely do some favors to be feral/wild in some way like this.

Kabru:

Okay I am not saying this is healthy or anything, but Kabru is ridiculously attracted to fixer-uppers. The main character/savior/hero complex kicks in and he cannot help it.

This can either be super good for him if the person is like. not terrible and is actually okay with this. but uh. that isn't always the case. Bro is often setting himself up for some sort of situationship most of the time. He cannot catch a break.

But he totally needs to be confronted about this to have a relationship work out. Hope you can be at least a little assertive!

Oh and the people pleasing. It's going so far. Please, I-....

He needs to be stopped.

Ultimately. He's gonna go after the people who show the least interest in him and this SPECIFICALLY comes from his own insecurities as a person.

But in the end he's gonna truly fall for someone who can put their foot down and confront him about these issues. He's so insightful and perceptive when it comes to others and can easily point out and help you with you're own shortcomings. But he is super blind to his own faults. Legit does not. Even realize.

He honestly needs someone to help him grow, because in my eyes I can see him like even post manga being pretty stagnant here so . Yeah. You don't need to be like some badass assertive person either. As long as you can just sit down and have a serious conversation w him about this I think it'd go well.

And he'd fall for you because I think it's the first time he genuinely sees someone who recognizes things that are bad about him + still loves him despite that + wants him to grow as a person and assert his own wishes and needs more. Yeah. I just have a lot of feelings about that.

Chilchuck:

This goes two ways.

Non Toxic Route

He'd easily see himself falling for someone mature and responsible. It would start out as just a professional admiration but it would slowly become more intimate as Chilchuck starts to enjoy their more unique personality traits (and even ones he'd consider annoying) --like being feisty, or maybe they're picky, or they can be silly sometimes. That type of thing.

It's a total slow burn with him.

But he also likes people who are more lowkey. Chilchuck is not a "falls for you immediately/puppy love" kinda guy. He's jaded and has a past and has KIDS so. He needs to be treated gently and not rushed into things. Anyone who lets him come to them and start to be more affectionate without demanding it...yeah. Handle him with care PLEASE.

And speaking of this...he wants to keep up appearances since he does value his professional life and has kids and an ex-wife. So he wants someone that can blend into this life without causing drama or more headaches (his party gives him plenty. pls.)

"Toxic"/Not Gonna Last Route

Chilchuck is easily motivated by the more basic pleasures of life, so I can definitely see him having a bootycall that becomes some weird "what are we" type of vibe.

He's like...in the back of his mind the type to enjoy a "dirty little secret". Something he thinks only him and this person know about. But as time goes on he eventually gets emotionally involved with them and is like "we need to cut this off".

It is an extremely painful breakup on his end for sure and makes him more jaded when its literally! His own fault.

[fairestwriting]

I saw and loved your piece about an S/O that's like a heater. What about the absolute opposite? I'm always kinda cold. Would love to be warmed up by Jack :) thank you ever so much!

Ace Trappola

Knowing how easily you get cold, Ace is ready to be a little bastard and put his cold hands on your neck first chance he gets. What he didn't know, though, was that even your neck already felt like an icicle in this weather, maybe even colder than his hands?

Despite his occasional little bastard-ing about it, he thinks it's sort of endearing. He tries to play it cool most of the time, to be the suave boyfriend who lends you his jacket when you're cold. This fails pretty miserably because he starts freezing his ass off, but you can tell he cares.

You can get your revenge for his little prank (which he will repeat, because even if it doesn't startle you a lot, it still startles you) by making he experience how chilly you feel whenever you cuddle up to him. He'll get startled and complain about it all dramatic, but you can sense that he feels sort of proud that he's warming you up now.

Deuce Spade

Takes every opportunity to fuss over you, gets all worried if he doesn't see you wearing a jacket. Like Ace, he'll lend you his without hesitation, except he manages to be "cooler" about it since he doesn't get cold as easily. He's still all worried about you, though.

He's easily flustered by touch no matter the circumstance, but he's also dead set on keeping you warm. Initiates hugs a lot more, the possible excuse of "not wanting you to catch a cold" makes him a little bolder. It's hard for anyone to pry you off each other.

He probably has things like scarves and sweaters his mother knitted for him that don't fit anymore, and if they fit you, he's downright overjoyed to hand them over. Some of them look a little silly in the way that homemade knit clothing usually does, but it's kind of impossible to refuse him. He loves them, and he loves seeing you on them.

Jack Howl

Yeah, he is the ideal boyfriend for this scenario. Having lived in a cold place for most of his life, he does know a lot about how to stay warm!

...Which means, he knows when he doesn't have to be cuddling you for you not to freeze, but one time or another, he'll use it as an excuse to stay glued to you for a bit, saying it's the best you can do now to stave off the cold. He blushes while he mumbles out his very clear lie.

Even harder to pry him off you than it is with Deuce. Whether it's summer or winter. You know, he is way warmer than a human, so when it's hot, it's his turn to cool down on you. It's the perfect excuse to get all that PDA he's usually too shy to go for.

Epel Felmier

Out of the three who would try to play the "cool boyfriend giving you his jacket when you're cold" trope, Epel is the one who actually pulls it off perfectly. He does get worried, of course, but he's not nearly as fussy as Deuce, and he's pretty tolerant to cold. Maybe a little too much. You two will be an interesting sight during winter, when he's walking around wearing a scarf and gloves at most, and you're all bundled up.

If you like hot apple cider, or apple pie, or anything warm that involves apples, you're getting an endless supply of it. Some from leftovers he gets after visiting his family on werkends, and some made by his own hand.

(He's a little embarrassed to admit he made them, though, because while they're good, aesthetics really aren't his forte. But he's trying his best.)

Sebek Zigvolt

Still runs considerably colder than you, but it still spooks him. You're not fae cold, sure, but still? Is that really normal for a human? He expects answers.

Winter is... not very kind to either of you, needless to say. It's not that he gets cold in the traditional way, but it does a number on his energy. Even then, he'll still spare some to scold you if he thinks you're underdressed.

...Sometimes Sebek exaggerates a little. It's honestly just because he doesn't know a lot about how warmth works for the human body. But giving you a second pair of earmuffs when you already have one on is still one of his ways of showing that he cares about you.

if you wanna support my work, you can buy me a ko-fi or commission me!

[sirgawainofgalifrey]

Last one of the Investigations Manga, aka; Edgeworth and Gumshoe just trying to live their lives and be together but people keep getting murdered around them.

Today we open with another fic trope: a Sick Fic!!

Classic trope of one person getting the other sick because they're always so close to each other.

"I can't believe you did this to me!" Oh my Gosh (girl why were you letting him get that close to you??!)

(also WHY ARE THEY SO SILLY I CANT TAKE IT??!)

But Gummie's determined to help his little munchkin

So let me get this straight:

Edgeworth

Agreed to go to a clinic he's never heard of before, instead of his usual one

Was willing to follow Gumshoe blindly when he'd said he'd HEARD (several years ago) that it could heal you quicker (no solid proof or testimony)

Has been walking around for an HOUR (wasting time on said hearsay) when it's clear Gumshoe doesn't even know where it is

In what he himself said was the busiest season for him

All because of Gumshoe.

And for Gumshoe.

Hmmmm okay 😏....

Then there is more silliness at the clinic

They're both somewhat scared of the clinic cause it seems seedy, but also Gumshoe is willing to be the tester for him.

And when Edgeworth starts investigating, even though Gumshoe's not there, he still pairs himself with him.

"WE may be of some help." BOTH of us. Because we are a TEAM. We are PARTNERS.

(he values their partnership!! And doesn't distance himself from him in the presence of others!! If anything he's more open about their connection!!)

And Gumshoe comes back pissed and Edgeworth's actually concerned!

Wow!! Actual acknowledgement of the impacts of Gumshoe's bad treatment?!

And the fact that Gumshoe doesn't blame Edgeworth at all for his state, despite the power that he holds over him (Almost like he knows he doesn't really use it, and that they're PARTNERS, not just a boss and employee.)

And Edgeworth's silence, either realizing and actually having sympathy for Gumshoe, and/or being dumbfounded at how he can put it off like that (and not blame him?)

And, of course, Edgeworth solves the case, but what's this?

He compliments Gumshoe?

Compliments him on something he would usually be yelled at for being clumsy? (And has been at other times, by other characters throughout this.)

Attributes the whole case being solved to it?

And Gumshoe being so confused, used to bad treatment by now?!

But Edgeworth seeing just how his instinct and luck (and perseverance and empathy and practical knowledge how and loyalty) can be useful a d important?!!

LOVE!!!

This whole series has been really good, especially in illustrating their relationship. The fact that most of the cases are just them doing regular things together or them being pulled together by fate. Showing how Gumshoe really cares for Edgeworth and wants to be helpful to him, but is constantly put down by literally everyone else for his weaknesses and mistakes, to the point of Gumshoe figuring Edgeworth would be better off without him. Showing how Edgeworth really cares for Gumshoe and sees his unique strengths and value, and while he sometimes snaps at him, he sees them as equals, and isn't afraid going against people who dismiss him or looking bad by associating with him, and goes out of his way to help him. Gumshoe really wants to be where Edgeworth is, Edgeworth really wants Gumshoe to be with him. And they're both so stupid and so silly.

Anyway. That's all for now, folks. Godspeed.

[iid-smile]

#08 ୨ৎ ⸝⸝ @meidiary ⋆

i think im in luv with u... 😪 mei is a 10/10 guys!! certified cutie ☺️ idk who i was expecting you to pick, but inumaki 😆😆 one of my favs fr! and i was so excited to do 23 for some reason... you're the first one to request it 👏 all of them are headcanons 🙂‍↕️ (tumblr keeps not saving what i put down its stressing me out!!!)

#18 🍓 | protecting you

im sorry, but inumaki can be such a scaredy cat sometimes...

he'd be afraid, but still step up and get in between you and whatever is the threat

doesn't consider his own safety and wellbeing in the process either... he always puts others first, and a little bit of throat pain is much better than you getting hurt

100% mans up against insects because you hate them

gets intimated when he's up against a muscular 6ft guy, but has a eureka moment and uses his cursed speech. easy win

theres also other things he'd protect you from too, like pulling you away from hot oil and flames if you're cooking together. he's got spidey senses (according to him)

the cold is also something he'd protect you from. always makes sure you have a warm coat, scarf, gloves, and everything. i think inumaki really likes earmuffs too, because then he can whisper about how much he loves you and you wouldn't hear a thing

#20 🍦 | love language

physical touch + quality time

a mixture of both

the two of you could lay around for hours, and he'd just listen to you talk as you both cuddle. when you're both into a particular show or series, snuggling in bed when you're both supposed to be sleeping hits different

if you're on public transport or aimlessly walking around, he'll hold your hand, but it's more like he's holding it from behind rather than actual handholding.

silence with him is always comfortable, and you completely tune out from the rest of the world whenever you're with him

gift giving

he gifts you snacks a lot. even better if he specifically gets ones with pink packaging

not the best with fashion but he tries for you. he would buy you a turtleneck just like his but a different colour and patterned

not the best with fashion, but he tries. at first, he'd literally buy you any clothes that are pink, and gets so confused when it's not your style. he gets it eventually, don't worry

matching shoes are a must! not the exact same shoe as you, but the same colour

pranks

not really a love language but aha

he loves it too much when he scares you with bugs, especially ones that fly. craneflies are the worst, because they're relatively easy to pick up and hold compared to flies or other flying creatures

he'll grab it by the leg and chase you around with it. sometimes he'll cup his hands together and pretend he has one because he finds it funny

he doesn't do anything with spiders because you're both scared of them

he actually would love it when you prank him back. scaring him from behind by shaking his shoulders is the best way to get him

#23 🍦 | your romance trope / dynamic

friends to lovers / mutual friends

he wouldn't date anybody he doesn't know well

since you're friends with a lot of people, there's no way he hasn't heard about you, and you happened to meet by chance

maybe coincidentally crossing paths and your extroverted self just had to say hello.

as soon as you both realise you have a mutual friend, the friendship blossoms and grows quick

the way he cares for you is so clear to everyone else except for you, but when somebody points it out, you can tell

sunshine x enthusiastic but silent enabler

inumaki is already a silly guy, and he just gets sillier

the conversations you have are always energetic, engaging and exciting, even with the language barrier, so he's pulling out ingredients that nobody's ever heard him say before. essentially, you're the only two that actually can understand

his energy immediately springs up whenever he gets to hang out with you. he can go from 0 to 100 in a split second, and that needs to be studied

he really doesn't mind how much you talk, since he likes to listen

#24 🍦 | when they're jealous

it's hard to see his face when his mouth and eyebrows are both covered, so you're only depending on the eyes. or if he tells you himself

if he wants to get out of a situation to feel more at ease, he'll tug on your sleeve or fingers

"🤬"

that's literally all he sends you over text or shows you on notes, and when you look over at him, it's really obvious that he's upset. (to you, at least)

will have a whole debate with you on why, how and what he's jealous about. small or big, it doesn't matter

when he gets the most jealous is if you're paying too much attention to something else in general

like, if you're sitting a bit too far to each other and you're on your phone, he'd pull you closer so you'd be right by his side, silently asking for you to talk to him a bit

event masterlist

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

🤽‍♂️ WIBTA if I broke a pool rule made specifically about me? 🤽‍♂️

Long story short, I (27M) am a freediver and work as a lifeguard at my local pool. I'm one of the few adults who work there, and most of my coworkers are either in highschool or barely out of it.

To be perfectly honest, I would not trust a good number of them to save me if I were to drown. And thats not just because they're teenagers, some of them have some seriously dangerous bad habits that they've been warned before about.

So now that winter has started and I can't go out to the lake, I've been practicing my breath holds at the pool to stay in practice. But I do NOT do this when one of the problem guards is on duty. I only ever do it when there's a good guard on, it's not too busy, and they're at least some level of aware about what I'm doing.

Shortly after I started doing this, big "No Breath Holding" signs went up.

Of course none of the guards were told about this because communication is sometimes a problem at this pool. So I have no other information other then there wasn't a sign, and now there is.

But I'm reasonably sure the signs are specifically because of me. I guard there pretty frequently, and I've never seen anyone hold their breath for a concerning amount of time. Its mostly kids who do, and none of them can hold their breath more than 15 seconds and they pop right back up, so other than keeping an eye on them, I've never been legitimately worried about them. That's one of the things I'm least worried about while guarding tbh, there are a LOT of other dangers.

Frankly, I think the rule is silly. I'd think it were less silly if we had a problem with patrons holding their breath for long periods of time, but I've never seen it happen. So unless it happens in the hours I don't work, I can only assume the rule is specifically about me.

Maybe I'm being paranoid or having main character syndrome, but from what I see, I'm the only one who would actually be affected by this rule.

Now since I only dive in front of a handful of guards anyway, I figure there's a decent chance that if I warn them about what I'm doing ahead of time that they wouldn't raise a fuss about it.

But it IS a liability issue for the pool (a lot of our rules are mainly to do with liability tbh), and I worry that very explicitly breaking this rule is an AH move and I should just accept I'm going to have to retrain in the summer from scratch.

NOTE: The lake does not have any lifeguards, but I never dive alone. But it is CONSIDERABLY safer to practice at the pool where the water is clear and there's a lifeguard right there. I'm comfortable practicing for longer at the pool for this reason, while at the lake, I'll usually only do 2 practice dives to warm up, a few shallow dives, and one big dive.

YES, I recognize that freediving can be a dangerous hobby. NO, I don't need to be told that. Most outdoor hobbies are on some level dangerous, and so long as you actually know what you're doing and have a spotter, I honestly think it's at least as safe as something like horseback riding or biking on roads next to cars - either of which can kill or maim you in a heartbeat if something goes wrong. Dangers in freediving usually (not always) occur when pushing yourself too far, and I'm incredibly cautious about my limits for that exact reason.

What are these acronyms?

[firefistfiri]

About Billy's true creator...

1.2 leaks ahead !! Read at ur own risk !!

Disclaimer: this is just a theory and speculation!

There's little to no information as to who built him and when he was built. This guy could secretly be like a hundred years old and we wouldn't even know! It's not like he told us for how long he wandered in the Outer Ring all by himself before he joined the Sons of Calydon (very heavily implied) …

But I wanted to point two things out: His official model name, and then the inventor of BANGBOO Sunbringer, which we have seen in the lore teaser on ZZZ's official youtube.

In his Teaser, he described himself as an Intelligent Tactical Unit with Firepower-Based Area Supresson Capabilities .. That's a mouthful..

He might just he flattering himself here, but given that, this might imply that there might be more of his models around, wherever he was created.

This leads me to think that whoever created him has made him for a good purpose. Whether it's military, or hollow exploration. But the real mystery here is did his creator set him free? Did he escape because he passed the forbidden fruit test?

We can say one thing for sure and that is: He either doesn't have a clear memory of his origins for whatever reason that might be, OR he is hiding something.

.. And if you read my Billy lore summary you already know that the ''mysterious Gang'' they're talking about is the Sons of Calydon, and the gang leader refers to Caesar.

You might also remember that I have mentioned that he is not up for talking about pasts, but we don't know if he meant his more recent past or his old past, so both of these ideas could potentially work at the same time imo.

now.. shortly ABOUT SUNBRINGER, INVENTOR OF BANGBOO..

Bangboo are silly little robots that have made living on this earth filled with hollows a little less stressful and terrifying. Now they are simple, but complex at the same time.

Bangboo all have their own tasks to perform, but they also have their own language and personalities!!

I only wanted to mention this because I believe that Sunbringer might have ties with Billy's creator. Since both of their engineering are very complex in my opinion.

Whether either of them are alive stays unknown for now, I might make a deeper dive on these characters introduced in the lore teaser.

Now, I might just be overanalysing things. The world of Zenless Zone Zero has introduced us to many different species in the world and sometimes it's really not that deep. They just exist, and it's normal to them. That could also just be it, end of story.

Now I do strongly believe that we will get a bit more of Billy's lore in 1.2, as it is going to focus on the faction I have mentioned previously, Sons of Calydon, and we will even get to explore a new area which is the Outer Ring!!

... But I am afraid that they will keep it at that, and the rest we have to figure out by trust events and random mentions of the character in story and quest dialogues. Please let me be wrong!!

I mean.. how complex can he really be..?! Am I just overhyping him? Maybe! But It's fun to theorise about, that's for sure!!

Again, please lmk what you think, your theories and if I have skipped some things or have accidentally put misinformation in the post!

[hwajin]

#! — 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠

boyfriend stuff during spring!! since it's finallyyyy getting warmer where i live hehe

genre: fluff

pairing: skz x gn!reader

warnings: mentions of food, veryyy soft in general tho <3

ᴄʜᴀɴ

the australian in him longs for warm weather so when it finally starts getting sunnier and the remainings of snow melt away he's outside with you as much as he can! doing nothing in particular as well - he simply loves being out, even if that only means booking an outdoor seat at some café he's invited you to. loveslovesloves taking you on rides as well! he'd pick you up right before sunset, loving how set sun would set later and later with each day, enjoying ever added minute of daytime he can possibly get with you, and would drive around remote field paths or forest clearings to find a spot perfect for sunset watching. would have snacks and drinks prepared, a couple blankets and pillows to throw into the trunk to get comfortable in it.

ʟɪɴᴏ

bro takes you camping even if you hate it 😭. it'll either be a bet or another form of luring you into it, and you're so reluctant to go he has to console you all the way there. like argues that camping during spring especially is PERFECT because it's not too hot or cold, you have some alone time away from everyone, you'll be closer to nature, can enjoy a nice campfire by night and he's so enthusiastic about it all that you can't help but be infected slightly by it (though you obv wouldn't give into his words, arguing back and forth that you can all those things on a different type of vacation.) you'll end up enjoying it though, especially since it's him you're with — you won't have to do much cooking or prepping or bedmaking, even — he knows you're with him not out of full free will so he'll silently (without rlly admitting) takes over everything to make your stay a bit more pleasant. and admittedly, watching the sunset and the following sky if stars with him has a certain satisfaction to it.

ᴄʜᴀɴɢʙɪɴ

he's a romantic so the moment the weather hits anything above 15 degrees celcius he dragssss you outside for good old typical couple stuff. will plan picknicks even though the grass is still damp with condensation and will invite you for ice cream even though you're not yet craving it due to lack of actual warmth but he's just so excited the weather is getting warmer and you can finally do stuff aside from watching movies at home :((. will sulk for days on end when the weather suddenly gets super rainy or super cold again, which you'd have to take into your own hands to cheer him up again - cooking for him or inviting him out for dinner, or simply dragging him outside while it's pouring rain because he can't stop pouting over not being able to go outside - which is all but wrong, and as silly as it'd be you'd end up laughing about getting soaked and cheesily kissing in the rain.

ʜʏᴜɴᴊɪɴ

another romantic candidate though he's less motivated himself if the weather is colder than expected. he loves, however, whenever the sun comes out, even for a little bit - will want to be outside, even if only sitting on a park bench, letting your faces sun bathe while thick coats still kept your bodies from shivering to death. he'd love walks so much too!! would love to explore all sorts of new places by walking around unknown city parts and areas, ocassionally sitting down in restaurants or cafés if they're accustomed to both your liking. you'd talk about everything and nothing, or would sometimes not talk at all - simply sit in silence while he'd unpack his notebook and pencil, doodling you and everything around him to memorize the day.

ᴊɪsᴜɴɢ

is a homebody even when warmer weather comes around so you'd have to be one dragging the man outside 😫. even convincing him for a walk is a task not easily handled, though he wouldn't be able to say to you on the long run if you'd nag at him for the remaining day until he'd actually agree to walk a round or two with you around the neighbourhood (you'd love to walk a bit more, though you'd decide to not let him suffer for much longer.) you'd spend a bunch of evenings outside simply watching the sunset together because you both love how late they are getting and how much longer you can stay up and still see that darkness hasn't yet occupied the night.

ғᴇʟɪx

starts buying SO many fruits you have to use half of them to bake something for them to not grow moldy omg. like he loves how seasonal fruits are finally cheaper and way more delicious, tasting all the more natural and fitting to spring. starts baking strawberry cakes like every other weekend because he loves bringing it to picknicks you'd plan whenever the weather is warm enough and loves that you love it just as much as the other stuff he bakes :(. would DRAG you to some lake or a public swimming pool the moment it gets a tad warmer because he loves to be in the water when the sun hits the earth in hotter temperatures (it's be way too cold still, but somehow none of you would mind much if it was the two of you together.)

sᴇᴜɴɢᴍɪɴ

he's a determined and hard working boy but i feel like he'd LOVEEE to lazy around in bed in the morning with you, listening to those morning birds that only ever start singing when spring comes around. in general gets so much lazier with you, like he loves basking in the sun when it's out and shining warmly, not thinking of possible assignments or duties — loves just enjoying the starts of spring and early summer with you. is so excited whenever you go to a lake or someplace similar, runs around teasing you, splashing water even though it's freezing still and you end up soaked and falling sick probably but you'd do it all again </3.

ᴊᴇᴏɴɢɪɴ

mall dates all day every day!! he looooves shopping for new clothes that he can wear in warmer weather, especially with you!! loves getting fashion advice from you and giving out some himself, enjoying the teasing you'd confine into. you'd play a game of picking out outfits for the other, purposefully chosing outrageous ones and laughing about it when the other stepped out of the changing room, taking pictures to remember how silly each of you looked. would end up buying a couple matching sets (those that look cool together and not all cringy) and would wear both fits to the next date, be it going out for ice cream or seeing a movie and enjoying how after stepping out of the theater the sun would still not be fully set.

@leihey @happycandynoelle @hyvndee @cotccotc @etherealeeknow @linoskitty @unexceptional-h @rseanne @es-kay-zee @urcracksisx @jeyelleohe @yunkiwii @etheralsung @nyrasneedy @seochhj @spidercomics @chans-starlight @angelwonie @lix-ables @yvniek4ng @ppiri-bahng @sstarryreads @svintsandghosts @bokjaz @llunapastell @sensitiveandhungry @minniesvenus

[toskarin]

So, I don't mean this in a rude way, but I genuinely don't understand the appeal of Fear & Hunger outside the fetishistic angle, and I was hoping you might be able to tell me what you like about it. Everything I've heard and seen about it seems to not be particularly scary, but rather just a sequence of gore and sexual assault related scenes that everyone assumes make a horror franchise because Bad Things are happening.

Oh? You killed someone? Well, congratulations, pal, you learned the masturbation skill! You lost a fight? Whoops, looks like that genie is going to fist your anus until you die! You're fighting a guy who tried to sexually assault your character? Now he turned into a horrible penis monster and is telling you to choke on his balls!

I know those examples are all from the sequel, but my impression is that the first one is very much like that as well. I'm totally willing to believe that I'm wrong, but from the outside, it genuinely looks like the fandom is a bunch of people insisting to each other that this is Actually Very Deep, when it's ultimately just weird porn that's honestly kind of sophomoric in its delivery. Again, I'm willing to believe there's something there, but I haven't been able to find it in anything I've seen of the franchise so far.

And to be clear, I'm not coming at this from the angle of someone criticizing people for being into weird porn, and I'm by no means unfamiliar with or against the concept of sexual horror. If people are into games where the penalty for losing is their character getting fucked to death, more power to those people. I guess what I'm saying is that it just feels like at least a portion of the fan base isn't being honest about what they get out of it. Like, if someone is really into the considerable amount of horny stuff in Fear and Hunger, that's fine, but own it.

I guess I'm ultimately hoping for either some clarification as to why I'm getting the wrong impression, or, like, confirmation that a lot of the appeal is the sexual stuff.

ramble below the break

so, before anything else, it should definitely be clarified: even through the lens of ryona and eroguro, Fear and Hunger isn't actually very much of a fetish game. it's got lots of gratuitous violence, a lot of which is sexual, but the actual content of the game is more like a splatter film than a guro doujin

it's a very silly qualification to pull, but I've got more than a passing familiarity with the other side of things and don't really think the game has that going on (I tried the game because I thought that's what it was lol)

a lot of it comes down to the fact that not only are those scenes unpleasant, but you also know they're paired with material consequences. kind of like how playing survival games in hardcore mode gives them an otherwise absent tension. you've gotta make hard choices, and sometimes those choices make you miserable

most players don't want to see those scenes, which is why it ends up being an effective (albeit absolutely not tasteful, no argument there) horror element. it has to be taken along with the restrictive saves, the harsh atonal music, and the fact that everything you run into in these games looks disgusting

the end result is a game where you have a number of saves that most generously can be counted on one hand with room to spare and spend your time running around a world where nearly everything wants to kill you, do something horrible to you, or some baroque combination of the two

Fear and Hunger's horror works because, unlike a lot of splatter horror, it forces the player to be in a prey mindset just as much as the protagonists are. it's really scary when you're rationing your saves, think you're almost in the clear, and then the game asks you to call a coinflip

if Fear and Hunger were presented in any other medium, I wouldn't think it makes for good horror. it's extremely silly to read about and is frankly either "Berserk with the labels sanded off" or "Majora's Mask but fucked up" depending on the game. the user-hostility of the mechanics turns those incoherent masses of scares into paranoid nightmare simulators

the abstract dread of "this character is about to have their arms twisted behind their back and their organs pulled out of them" becomes very tangible when the player is actively trying to avoid a consequence. the tasteless sexual horror lands in large part because it's using the mechanics to force you to take the threat seriously

when you've got an infection on your arm and know that you could theoretically treat it but that it also might kill you in the time you're trying to find the medicine, you feel like a hunted animal asking yourself "maybe I should just saw it off"

or at least that's my read!

[katyspersonal]

Marika & Messmer are fascists but not the hornsent who chop people to small pieces and put them inside jars to achieve divinity because they believe they're "chosen" people and therefore superior to other races? Have you considered the possibility that sometimes both sides of a war can suck? This is why frenzied flame is the way🙏

Anon, I am going to scold you before I get to the topic because "have you considered [thing]" here should be reserved for a problem when someone is ignorant and in a bad, poor-taste way! Which I was not because obviously I "considered" this! You are referring to a silly post of me liveblogging how I got to Messmer, and so of course I addressed Messmer! I should not add long disclaimer about every other lore-relevant thing when I make a basically liveblog-ish remark to "demonstrate" that I do not let other culprits in the story "get away" either! 😣 For example recently I've been focusing on Fire Knights to express my hatred for religious purism, but later in another post about story of Abyssal Woods I've instead focused my vitriol on Hornsent Inquisitors! There is its own post and time for everything!

Okay back to the LORE with light heart now!! This is true of course that both sides are atrocious; the Hornsent basically pulled a mad cult crusade on the shamans, and very ironically long time after their folks were victims of also a religion-driven crusade! This is basically playing extermination ping-pong for generations and regardless of who "started it", none of the innocent people (children, those who disagree and simply belong to [race], distant descendants that did not DO anything etc) deserved to be exterminated by association.

To get more elaborate, one has to take into consideration just how long the conflict has been going on for, and everything else Marika has done besides the Crusade. The people being killed by Messmer's army are most likely generations apart from the people who hurt Marika's! I've mentioned that earlier where I questioned how Grandam and Hornsent (NPC) seem to not even know why Marika/Messmer went with war at them at ALL. Like, both are/were barbaric in their own way, but there's clearly a side that has suffered enough now. Like, this was such a disgusting conflict that even Marika, who was the one who had it ordered in the first place, felt the need to distance herself from it because it WAS the battle without glory or honor. There were the Hornsent, likely a cult or something, who murdered and mutilated the Shamans back in their time, but Marika was the one who started the war and kept it going even after it was clear that the Hornsent had lost, and ruined the lives of many people that weren't even part of the war in resistance like the Hornsent NPC! (One more nitpick about it is that her/Messmer's war was that of exterminating of all who have no Grace, as opposed to some insane idea on how to force them to be reborn to "join" her type of people hfhhhbhf)

Correct me here if I am wrong, but so far we can't know if ALL Hornsent accepted the practices of Bonny Village and their higher religious institution. The Greater Potentate Cookbooks that we find relating to hefty pots describe the author as having been "haunted by the grotesque practice of his village of birth". This guy didn't sound like he was very proud of what his people were doing, and it's coming from someone who was raised there! There's likely a lot of other Hornsent who found the practice just as disgusting, especially amongst those that didn't do it themselves, but we don't know that because most of them are dead and the ones who remain are understandably upset and distrustful of "our" kind!

🤔 It is also because of this why it's more reasonable to call the two leading figures of a cleansing war fascists than an entire race, because we can't just assume that ALL Hornsent are fascists just because their religious order and justice system is fucked up. We just don't have a key leader figure to redirect such sentiments towards, unlike with the Golden Order! Basically confirmed fascists are Marika, Messmer + Fire Knights + Black Knights + troops, various warriors and perfumers and what not who agreed to participate @ the Hornsent who are doing the potting, the Hornsent who did slaughter Marika's village, and remaining corrupt clerics leaders of the religion!

(On a side note, Frenzied Flame is definitely the answer but y'all shouldn't tell Melina on me hfjjchjgdh)

________

UPDATE 1 from July 4th that I wanted to add in the OG post instead:

I have nothing to add here, all of these are rather fair points! I am a little late with adding these screenshots but you've probably seen some more speculation on the Hornsent Inquisitors these couple of days by me and @val-of-the-north in my blog! Here if you missed these: ( x ) ( x ) The gist of it is that seems like Inquisitors are hunting their fellow Hornsent as heretics for serving the "impure" nobles, but regardless of whether it happened before Marika's mentioned "betrayal" or after, it is STILL horrible to harm people for association with those that didn't even do anything wrong :^)

Still applies that calling the whole race fascist doesn't work (heck, the Hornsent who choose to stand with Midra and Nanaya are confirmation of strong exceptions!), but the sentiment is certainly very strongly rooted culturally.

Sigh.. I am pretty sure there are people somewhere in the fandom that would fall into "hornsent deserved it" pit over this, too. Like "hey, even currently Hornsent culture is a rich soil for Shaman Villages 2.0 and 3.0 and 4.0 and so on to happen, so why not preventively exterminate an inherently dangerous culture?" (..if anyone here really thinks along these lines, please know that this is a dangerous line of thinking and you'll get ideologically groomed into excusing genocides before you know if you don't question what you're implying here) What they needed was more communication with other cultures and adopting more tolerant and humane principles. Seeing that various horn-ness species are just like them rather than sitting in the "we divine they filth" bubble if it is THAT bad. Maybe Marika even HAD the power to provide such change and bridge the gap while she was still a trusted figure to them during her "infiltration", and yet instead of putting and end to terrible traditions with careful planning and diplomacy, she chose the path of revenge..

Genuinely a depressing point to think about. And yes, absolutely doesn't do her a honor to choose ruin and hate.

________

UPDATE 2 from July 11th:

I also completely forgot to back it up that the fellow Hornsent were also facing execution through being stuffed in jars!

Yeah nah, definitely their people in power were so dangerous that should someone protest against the murder of Shamans and alike, they'd meet the same fate.. Having to swallow what your insane authorities do, with your own life in the line, is also something very real. This situation obscures the number of people who are against it from the superficial look.

I myself live in the country where people can't protest against the government unless they want to go to prison or face other dire consequences, so having to sit quietly for the sake of yourself and your own families for the outside world LOOKS like we don't care and ""'"agree""". :)))) Fun stuff. :') Here, anyone who would ask why Hornsent that disagree with their leaders don't express it would technically be in their right to do so, but most people will protect their own life first, especially if sacrificing it won't really avail anything. Again, Elden Ring is incredibly real with these topics. :')

[bookishtheaterlover7]

Hey Booky! Marketing anon here.

So I had thought and I wanted to share with you something that’s not marketing specific related. I confirmed that TMZ did indeed crop fish out of the post with Chris of stars at the CAA party.

So, here’s the thing. Since I’ve already mentioned I work in marketing and PR, and my role very strictly aligns with legal, you’ll notice why I choose my words carefully and even if people want me to bash Fish I don’t. Not because I like her (I do not) but because I’m well trained in my job. I only say what I feel has concrete evidence to support my arguments. Fans hatred and opinions while valid cannot be the source of justification. Unless there’s hard evidence I will stay away from saying anything direct…

Just like those shady fuckers at TMZ 😉

Pay attention to TMZ. ET, JJ, ENews, etc are all paid to push a certain narrative because that’s how it works. But the fact that TMZ continues to be subtly shady is very interesting to me. Two years in and it’s still this way.

“Chris confirms he got married” - TMZ. Why didn’t they just say TMZ confirms? Because…they can’t. Two kinda ceremonies and sometimes rings and alluding based on IG follows is not confirmation. He said it, yes. That’s why they can write he confirms. But they can’t confirm it was with her because he didn’t say it. And even if he walks around with her and they wear rings - lol, they still haven’t said they married each other. Do you see why TMZ has to refrain? It’s a little silly at this point because most ppl have come accept Occam’s razor, but it is Hollywood. What happens here stays here but also doesn’t but also can be anything and nothing at the same time.

TMZ knows this and they also know out of anyone the shit that goes down in Tinseltown. Don’t y’all find it odd they’ve been so reluctant on this whole SS - barely choosing to report and only doing it when they absolutely have to? I’m not saying that this means they don’t think the two got legally married, but I am saying they have reason to believe in reasonable doubt.

Look at TMZ’s website and IG. They’re basically deuxmoi most of the time. Reporting on Kanye’s wife wearing assless pants to an industry party??? They’re no better than daily mail. Except TMZ is founded by ex/lawyers if I’m not mistaken and they know how to cover all the loopholes. They can say with confidence Kanye and his wife because I think they found the wedding certificate. They can sit here and make posts about Timothee and Kylie and Travis and Taylor despite the very very obvious PR element because both sides have acknowledged each other publicly more than once, have been seen in public attending and pda-ing at industry events, and they’re honestly more entertaining to write about.

Chris on his own can be interesting and when something pertaining to him happens TMZ may report on it. But it’s painfully clear TMZ does not care about fish. I’m pretty sure this latest snub by them sort of confirms that so I can at least say that. I won’t say she’s blacklisted or anything because she’s clearly not. But I don’t believe she’s far from scraping the bottom of the barrel either. Oops

Again, TMZ is no better than the rest of them but they do know how to work their way around a legal loophole and make sure they cover their grimy asses. I’ll give them that.

Bye love ❤️

They're smart.

No wonder they're extremely opinionated 😆 they're founded by ex/lawyers 😁 and how they manage to stay afloat, even with their words.

And the way they do it is mighty impressive to me. Plus, they win points for the shade.

And Marketing An🫶n, you're doing great! Anyone who's read your messages can attest to that. It's why we look forward to your replies 😌 helps us see and learn something that we didn't understand before you told us.

So, once again... Thank you 🥰

[torterrachampion]

Because I haven't said anything insane in a while I'm sharing one of my most absurd theories. I've shared it before (just never on tumblr) and I'm not even sure I believe it. Nonetheless we proceed.

The basic gist is this is not Faustina in the tank but Jeanne.

We know that after the original Gévaudan incident Jeanne was placed into an induced slumber by Ruthven and now ~100 years later she's allegedly been reawakened.

When Ruthven put Jeanne into slumber he said he would wake her after the war was over. And the funny thing about that is... the war was already over when he put her to sleep. The war ended in 1702 by Chloé's recount, long before the original Beast incident. Meanwhile Jeanne's slumber started sometime around 1767 if we use the actual historical Beast of Gévaudan incident as a landmark.

By this we can assume when Ruthven mentions war he doesn't mean the one between humans and vampires that he helped end. So either the "war" he's referring to only ended recently or, potentially, it's still being fought. Within the past few years the only major events that I can think of that could have signalled an end to Ruthven's war would be Luna or Faustina's deaths (if what happened to Faustina even counts as a death or was recent to begin with). But for my purposes continuing this post I'm working under the assumption his war isn't over.

At the very least Ruthven isn't acting as though he's content and they're living in peacetimes with all the scheming he's doing behind the scenes. My main point is we have reason to doubt Ruthven's criteria for awakening Jeanne have been met, and because speculating about his motivations is too difficult I will say no more about him.

Moving on, if I may invoke Occam's razor the simplest explanation for who is in the tank would be that it's the only character we know has been tanked. Assuming it's Faustina makes things more confusing not less. We already have two competing explanations of what happened to her body with Loki saying it was smashed contradicting the apparently intact body in the bed.

As for physical evidence of my claims my kind of silly argument is the hair. It looks more similar in texture to Jeanne's than Faustina's in my opinion, and almost identical to how baby Jeanne's was drawn when she started out in her tank. Tank girl's hair just doesn't look as wavy as Faustina's. While it does look longer than Jeanne's I'm willing to argue it could've grown during her sleep. It's certainly not the most insane thing I'm arguing here today.

In the below images I've marked pictures of Jeanne with pink dots, Faustina with red dots and mysterious tank girl with blue dots for ease of comparison.

Additionally, the depiction of Jeanne from memoire 4 when Vanitas talks about her induced slumber shows her hair as incredibly long. Longer than we've ever seen it. During her Hellfire Witch days it came down the length of her back but this single panel shows it reaching down past her knees. Perhaps the inconsistency is because Mochijun had not yet fully settled her character design for that time period but what if we entertain the idea that it's intentional? It looks about the right length to match the girl in the tank.

Looking at hand sizes it's hard to say but I'm willing to concede that tank girl's hands look a little smaller than Jeanne's. It's not so different that I can claim they're 100% not Jeanne's but it's worth pointing out. Ruthven's hand can kind of help scale but it's not super clear how big his hand is compared to Jeanne's in any panels I can find so it's hard to make an accurate comparison.

And I'll admit there is good evidence that tank girl is indeed Faustina. Most notably she reacts when Noé yells at Naenia in Gévaudan. Indeed my own arguments against this are at best wild speculation and grasping at straws. But grasp I will.

We know there is some relationship between Jeanne and Naenia so perhaps it isn't so unusual. Naenia was with Jeanne in Gévaudan just before Ruthven came and subsequently put her to sleep. It's possible she did something to Jeanne/her body in that time and that some connection between them now exists.

It is mentioned that Jeanne is a 'vessel' and one would assume her body has the potential to be both filled and emptied of consciousness if we take it literally.

Although, whatever else I may say, our current Jeanne definitely doesn't have any mental differences from pre-sleep Jeanne. She has all of her memories as far as I can tell, besides a few that have been tampered with. So even if I claim Jeanne's body is in that tank I'm not sure I can say the same of her consciousness. And I don't exactly have an explanation for who/what our Jeanne is if I'm working under the assumption any of my claims are true. Really any belief in this nonsense creates more questions than it answers. Yet it compels me.

Look, my main point is the person in the tank does not look like Faustina to me and I'm suspicious of the gap in time wherein Jeanne was asleep.

I know I wanted to say more but I forgot and I'll probably only remember after I post this so... Thanks for coming to my crack theory. Don't take it too seriously orz

[juni-ravenhall]

sso and "its just a kids game!", "its not that deep!"

ive been thinking a lot about how there are things you really can and should excuse sso for "because its a kids game". those are things like the silly tone in serious situations, when carl and a DC goon just want to eat ice cream instead of doing villain things, or when mr anwir says "so anyway back to my evil speech", or when avalon/druid says :O, or when katja puts on an evil playlist and we change it to a less-evil playlist during a not-really-canon event quest. the goofy tone of the game makes it less scary despite having some dark and scary elements in the story.

(the goofiness shouldnt mess up the logic of the story, though, which i think the dark riders and DC really have an issue with, but thats a bit too much of a tangent.)

or things like making sure you know that nobody died when you and the soul riders did a thing, or seeing someone blast off in a goofy way after being struck, so you dont feel bad about it, or take away the lesson that killing bad guys is fine. making sure to spell it out to you if theres a lesson to be learnt sometimes, or shoving the magic of friendship in your face (although in a shallow way).

or having non-punishing and laidback gameplay (except economically) to suit the youngest players, like not having to lose anything if you fail, or giving the player very clear instructions for quests, or having NPCs not be very hard to defeat compared to games targeted to older teens and adults. (but accommodating young players that barely read and have never played a game before, or players with disabilities that can't always play in the most hardcore gaming manner, and so on - accessibility - shouldnt in any way relate to having bad or clunky gameplay or game design. sso doesn't actually do a good job of being accommodating, it would be much better if there was genuinely fun, well-designed, challenging gameplay for those who seek it, while allowing those who dont to take their time and play the same thing at their own pace without failing - having properly designed races and champs and overhauling the scoreboard system and testing every race until they're at the quality they should be; having rewards like more js for reaching higher scores while still allowing players to earn okay js if they aren't aiming for the gold medal times or highscore boards. having fun and challenging gameplay mechanics with different difficulties. etc. the concept of "adaptive difficulty" is also interesting.)

theres things that are very reasonable to excuse in kids media. theres just also parts that i dont excuse and dont think its appropriate to excuse. when ppl do the "its a kids game!" thing, its not always about what i described above.

should you excuse low-quality game design and gameplay functionality just because its a kids game? no, not at this price point, anyway - there are kids games for free or for a couple $€ out there that might be validly priced. however, this is also *especially* bad in "girl games" (fuck gender and sexism, but society exists). girl games are notorious for being low quality and not comparable in quality to "boy games" at the same price points. perpetuating this - trying to get girl game audiences' money without providing quality girl games - is a problem of misogyny and exploitation. not excusable.

should you excuse bad writing just because its a kids game? i certainly dont. i dont like badly written kids books, or picture books, or cartoons, and i didnt prefer low quality content over high quality content when i was a kid, either (but quality means different things in different circumstances and to different people). your ability to tell if something is crappy or great improves as you age, but even if its definitely possible for a kid to enjoy the hell out of an objectively low quality piece of media, there are problems that often arise from bad writing and bad design... because where low quality writing comes from, there is often also a lack of care for important issues and topics, and a lack of respect for the target audience.

should you excuse racial or sexist stereotypes, or fatphobia and harmful beauty standards in general, or ableism, or cishet normativity, lack of diversity, just because its a kids game? isnt it *even more important* in a kids game, since kids are still learning so much about the world and starting to form perspectives and opinions and feelings about it for the first time?

if you think "but sso doesn't have much of that!", i think you might have played the game with a very different perspective than i did. what about how courtney, the summers sister, is framed as a joke because of how she looks - you're supposed to find it funny (and sweet though!) that carl franz thinks she's beautiful and perfect, because that's not how the game assumes you reacted to her. the brothers obviously also are meant to be seen as goofy looking but i don't remember if it was handled in such a direct way as with courtney. the game also assumes that you find xin scary or strange-looking when you see him without his mask (it's in ydris' dialogue); which is especially fucked up since he's a person of short stature (and also part of the "circus freak" stereotype!), but also always fucked up regardless - people just exist, man. we are born looking some kind of way. it's fucked up to think xin or courtney are ugly. it's fucked up that we were supposed to find a disabled little girl scary during an old halloween event (i think her back was hunched and she walked differently?). it's fucked up to think pi is ugly, or mrs holdsworth, or the GED workers. i want the world to stop thinking of normal human traits as "ugly" no matter how unusual or usual those traits are, or how symmetrical or not, or how popular or not, how old or young you look, how sick or healthy you look, or whatever the fuck. its all ridiculous and should be stopped. we should think of people in terms of kindness, in terms of shared interests and shared joy, in terms of healthy relationships, in terms of caring and loving and making the world a good place to live in for everyone.

and thats just the aspect of beauty standards and shit. i havent even gotten started on the shallow idea of diversity they executed in the production of this game. on how there were lots of random npcs of colour suddenly, but without bringing poc in as important key characters with interesting and engaging continuous presence in the story. how the dark riders feature the most buff and masculine female character, a physically threatening and masculine woman of colour. how they were going to have 3/4 poc in the dark riders while the soul riders are 1.5/4, and the remaining dark rider appears to have albinism which makes it another harmful ableist stereotype. how so many of the important characters were designed as white - yes, its a swedish game, but the game is not from the 1950s, is it? when sso was released, sweden's population was more than 10% foreign-born. today it's even higher. can you guess if there is a class issue and if rich white game studio owners and directors didn't really think about people who weren't blond and light eyed and white?

or the lack of body diversity in anyone else than 40+ year old characters. sure, it's good there was anyone fat or beefy or differently shaped at all. and it's understandable that they didn't have the resources at the time of release to make the player character more customisable (doesn't excuse the lack of diversity in skintones though) and went with their typical fatphobic misogynist 2000's cartoon look they'd already created before sso (dont get me wrong, i love the old art, we can enjoy aspects of things while also criticising them). but they already *did* create npcs with different bodies and faces on and off - especially the 40+ yos - and there was nothing stopping them from spending a little more time on creating a fat young adult npc, or one with an androgynous body, or a beefy female npc, or other diverse bodies and faces, rather than spending it on putting together 10 more generic skinny background npcs (have you ever thought about just how fucking many random unnecessary npcs are in this game?).

those are a lot of things that are pretty serious and that you have to kind of be woke and analytical to think about in the first place (most players - esp if they themselves dont feel especially oppressed irl - arent ever going to really think about these issues, or might actively be *for* some of the issues, such as in the case of fatphobia directed towards the player model update). other things like the game design and quality of the gameplay, inconsistent writing and design and graphics and so on, are things more players might notice since it can make the game just feel more boring or frustrating compared to other games you play, even if you dont think too hard about the whys and hows.

but the fact that kids might not realise that theres ableism or racism or fatphobia or misogyny or that theyre being pushed into spending money on something that isnt really up to the standard - thats not really a reason to excuse those things. and if someone says "the writing is really bad" or "this makes no sense" or "why did they design these characters this way" or "this horse game sucks and is boring and inconsistent", rather than just saying "its just a kids game", "why do you take it so seriously", "its not that deep", maybe its worth considering this, that there are things you absolutely should excuse kids media for, and other things you really, really shouldnt.

[bonefall]

i like how you show how abuse can warp someone’s judgment and make them do things they don’t really believe in gray wings arc in this feels much better then in canon and actually sets out to show him how they intended too

It's easy to sympathize with victims of abuse and products of toxic families when they're "innocent" and blameless. There's this idea, spoken or unspoken, that if you ever lashed out, or begged your abuser to stay, or went on to hurt someone in a similar way, that you're LESS of a victim

People get locked in those cycles, thinking that their abuser, or their toxic family, is the only one who will ever "tolerate" them. Sometimes people don't want to believe they've been hurt, or that their family could be toxic, because confronting that is painful. Sometimes it's just love. Sometimes you really can love someone too much.

Sometimes you REALLY fuck up and hurt someone else. You do stupid, mean shit. Abuse isn't logical and pain isn't either. There are times where you realize it too late, and only realize it when you're staring at the smoldering ash of a burned bridge

And I want to write that. People who are hurt and hurt in turn, people who perpetuate those cycles, people who break them. You deserved better, and the people around you do too.

Sometimes I legitimately worry about the writers of these silly cat books. They keep writing the realest, most harrowing depictions of toxic family/abuse I've ever seen in my fucking life and then turning around and saying, "and then it was all fine :)" like... are they okay?

Gray Wing would mean a lot to me if this was intentional, but he's RIGHT in the end in canon. "Ohhh he wasnt greedy he was just scared and had too much responsibility :))) i dont have to reckon with anything i said ever :)))". Clear Sky's "redemption" drags the entire arc down with it.

So I am here. Furiously writing foe fiction. Feeding myself.

[starrzies]

★Meet the Artist 2024★

I might have forgotten to post this </3

Hello there!!

I'm Starrzies, but I also go by Rodimus!! Of these two names I prefer my nicknames (Starrz/Roddy) more than the formality of my full username/chosen name!! I'm 19 and a full time college student! (I want to become a Forensic Pathologist!) My pronouns are He/They ONLY and my chosen gender identity is Demiboy! I'm also Aroace, my specific labels being Cupioromantic/sexual!

I'm just a silly little guy trying to do his best. I am a hobbyist artist and writer and I love to share what I come with in the hopes that other people will enjoy it as much as I do! I tend to post art related to my own characters, art I've done for other people and - more rarely - fandom related art! I also stream on Twitch!!! Usually it's art streams (especially for Art Fight!) or me playing my games - either solo or with other people! I do have a Discord server full of my friends, mutuals and people interested in my stuff and community! Feel free to come join :) I'm on basically on every platform (maybe not active, but I'm there!)

My special interest (been into it for as long as I can remember) is Transformers!! It will almost always show up at some point! I'm also super into Lego Monkie Kid, Overwatch and Genshin Impact!! (The last of the 2 I on and off play!) I tend to reblog content form these 4 fandoms! (They're the main 4 but I may branch out!)

I try and be super friendly! Really, I don't bite, but I do have a very limited social battery! So conversations may not last very long when it comes to talking! I also sometimes just don't have the energy to reply. If I don't reply then it's nothing against you, I promise!! That being said I AM TOTALLY OPEN TO BEING FRIENDS/MUTUALS!! Please note, if you are younger than 18 I will NOT be your close friend, close mutuals at most. This is just due to safety! (Pre-established friends before I became an adult are still a nd will remain my friends.)

Pets! I own,,, a few. Just a small little amount. They're all my babies though and I adore them. I do my beast to take proper care of them and give them long, happy and fulfilling lives! Hiraeth and Ravage both came from litters I've raised! (Hiraeth being an accident and Ravage from a foster litter.) Ember was my sibling's cat but became mine because she just,,, likes me more? My other pets were 100% intended! All of these guys are spoiled rotten,,,

Silly little notes/explanations!!

Cupioromantic/sexual; someone who doesn't feel/feels little romantic/sexual attraction but desires a romantic/sexual relationship

Demiboy; someone whose gender identity partially identifies with masculinity, but is not entirely binary

I've been in relationships before! However, I generally only feel platonic love for people around me. I genuinely love (/p) all of my friends and you'll see me make that very clear! I am NOT interested in relationships, especially after this most recent one. Things have gotten complicated AF and I don't even want to bother entertaining anyone.

I have a Decepticon Insignia Tattoo on my left wrist! My first tattoo ever and I LOVE it so much! I will be going back in October for hopefully, my second tattoo!

I own a 2001 Ford Mustang!! It's a convertible too! I ADORE my car so much and there is so much I have planned for it!!

I own 4 dogtags! They are NOT military related at all though! They just have special meaning to me and I've been wearing them since 2018! I did actually let someone borrow one of them for a decent amount of time but it was returned to me! I don't think I'm ever going to let them go again, they mean too much to me.

Ravage is named after the TF character! :D He was my little gaming buddy back when I was fostering a litter of kittens for my senior project. I ended up keeping him, I got too attached. Now he is best friends with Ember!

Hiraeth was a TOTAL accident. I was supposed to just have her mom but she was pregnant much to our surprise! (Someone was getting rid of her, probably because they knew she was pregnant, and gave her to us without telling us that lol) I was allowed to keep Hiraeth but none of the other cats were allowed :( They all went to loving homes though!

Discord is my main, preferred way of communication!! I always have it open on my second monitor so I tend to respond really quickly on there :) You should totally add me on there! I'm under the same username ;)

Feel free to interact with me!! Just be aware of my boundaries and DNI! (Very basic btw!) I'm always happy to chat and meet new people :)

I want to make a comic!! I have so much more planning before I can work on it though :( One day! You may see little teasers to it being posted on my socials!!

This blog is my SFW blog!! I do have,, other accounts but those will remain unnamed! If you are curious and have your age visible feel free to ask me about it in DMs!

WHEW, I think that's enough personal info that I'm putting on the internet LMFAOOO I'll be sure to redo this next year as well ;))

Quick Reminder!!   I DO NOT allow people to reupload, repost, claim, trace, reference or use my art without my Permission! If my art is posted anywhere else other than my accounts it’s not mine! If you like my work, consider following me or commissioning me!! (This does not count if the art was made for you! Please remember to credit me though!!)

Art Trades are Open! Commissions are Open!! Do NOT ask me about Requests!! Do NOT; Reupload, Repost, Claim, Trace, Reference or use my art without my Permission! 💜

You can Dm me Questions or Concerns! Like my work? Check out my Carrd for where else you can find me!

[adobe-outdesign]

So what are your thoughts on the Frigibax line? Personally I’m... not too keen on them

While I'm admittedly not big on this line either, I will give Frigibax points for being hilariously dumpy. It looks like a rejected Muppet, and that does make it endearing right off the back.

Silly appearance aside, Frigibax is alright. The yellow accents pop nicely against the gray and the simple color palette works in its favor. I do, however, find the tiny diamond of ice by the mouth distracting. I guess its there because both of its evos have ice on them, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the design. I might find it less distracting if the underbelly wasn't there. I'm also not big on the quills; they're weirdly floppy and don't read as quills in the slightest.

Frigibax's inspiration becomes a lot clearer when it evolves. It's based off of Concavenator dinosaurs, who lived in the area of Spain in the past. This is why it has the quills on its hands, as well as the sail on its back:

Arctibax is considerably less goofy than Frigibax, but it does at least retain an interesting body shape, especially when taking the sail into account. I do question the quills being orange (I think they were trying to transition them into being red, but that raises the question of why they change to red to begin with) instead of just being yellow to match the eyes, but otherwise, it's fine.

I think this line's biggest problem is that it's not really clear what it's going for. It's a Convaenator, sure, and it's ice-type, but what's the visual focus? There's not really a single element that jumps out at me. The quills are brightly colored but ultimately incidental to the design. The sail is interesting, but is no more emphasized when it evolves (in fact, it's less emphasized). The ice-y areas feel fairly generic. If they had tried to integrate the ice idea into more of the key elements (for example, giving it a snowflake-like sail, or extremely long icicle quills) the design might have more of a "catch" to make it memorable.

Baxcalibur tries to add a bit of a theme by having a Godzilla thing going on with it, but A) we already have a Godzilla 'mon in the form of Tyranitar (not saying we can't have two, just that it doesn't stand out as a unique theme) and B) it doesn't do much with the idea other than having a similar body shape. Which, if anything, feels like a downgrade; I would've loved to see it retain a body shape more similar to the dinosaur it's based on, as we don't have many 'mons that look like that.

Visually, it's harmless enough, but there are a bunch of things in the design that don't work together. The red quills are okay, but they feel at odds with the yellow eyes (once again, why not just leave them yellow?), and throughout the line nothing interesting is done with them despite their visual emphasis aside from adding a quill for each evo. The shape of the quills kind of matches the ice areas on the face and sail, but the hexagonal areas don't fit with anything, and nothing matches the diamond shape on the back.

It also doesn't help that Baxcalibur is nearly as stiff as the old-school Godzilla suits it's based on. Sometimes an unfocused design can make up for it by having an interesting personality, similar to Frigibax up there, but Baxcalibur leaves no impression at all.

Also, side note: Baxcalbur's signature move, glaive rush, involves it flipping upside-down to attack opponents with its back sail, which totally looks cool and not completely ridiculous and improbable.

Anyway, overall: this line isn't terrible, but it mostly suffers from a lack of clear focus or direction. The designs are fairly generic and don't seem to have a single focus point, while the theme isn't clear until the last stage, and even then nothing is done with it. Could be worse, but could also be way better.

[the-s1lly-corner]

How about Itward x Reader where they are the parent figures for Fran?

Itward and reader raising fran together!

LOVE this idea Imma be so real i was fighting so hard not to skip all the requests that were sent in before this so I could answer this sooner but that wouldnt be fair to everyone else <\3

Hope you like this ! I must admit

I was a little stumped on this

Anyways keep sending in the itward requests I'm having so so so much fun with this man

Lets make one thing clear; fran, at least for now within the recent events of the game, does not want you or itward to replace her parents, so please don't expect her to call either you her mom/dad/parent. Guardian, sure. But it would be a long while until she calls either you or itward a parent. The death of her parents is just all too fresh for her, and honestly she needs time to properly grieve and to come to terms with all the information she gained by the end of chapter 5

I like to headcannon that Fran grows up in Ithersta, so until KMG disproves that..!

A child in Ithersts mentions a school. While we don't see it in game, imma take that kids word for it. So fran goes to that school! As well as this I think itward home schools Fran, or at least teaches her some stuff that likely wouldn't be covered in the school!

You and itward take turns walking fran to school, as well as walking her home

Itward makes a home for you all in Ithersta, I think. Small little cozy home (I promise its not just the flying ship I pinky swear he didnt just upgrade it to make it more homey I sweeeeeeaaaar (grins))

You two working together to make sure this kid gets the best life after everything and preparing for what's to come brings you and itward together

Before you guys were just playing into the parental role but like

Guys

I dont think its pretend anymore

NOOO because imagine literally everyone else picks up on it and they're just "oh my lordy lord these two losers are in love. They're in love right in front of my salad. And they're both denying it"

Cue silly hijinks that border on tropey sparked by Fran and a few others teaming up to try to bring you and itward together

Okay back to the raising Fran thing

You tuck her in, itward reads her a story. I think that will be a ritual between you three for a while

Mr midnight curls himself up at the foot of her bed every night, too

You guys split chores

Itward helps keep the house that totally isnt an upgraded flying machine in the best shape, you guys take turns cooking dinner. Whoever doesn't cook that night does the cleaning that day. As mentioned before you guys take turn walking Fran to and from school. You also work together to help her with any homework. While itward keeps the house in working order you tend to go out and get stuff you guys may need that you cant provide for yourselves

You see itward is a bit of an introvert and likes keeping to himself, and in my personal hc I like to think that he tries to be as self sufficient as possible, so!!

You guys have a garden together!

Ponders

You guys have family game nights. Sometimes you offer some friends to join; like palontras or cogwind! Sometimes ziar or the great wizard will stop by!

Overall you three are doing your best to make sure fran grows up to have the best life she can have given the circumstances

I think itward would stop and.. assuming he can cry, tear up a little when Fran calls him dad the first time. His bones rattle a little. Bro absolutely collapses when Fran leaves the room. Hes not upset! It just took him off guard! Please rub circles into his back

Ohoh also you four go on semi frequent adventures so fran can get that sweet sweet enrichment and experience