#but unfortunately I missed them too much so here I am. drawing them still

[ministarfruit]

"my oshis graduated" outfit swap

[saltedpineapple]

So JJK is over and my LMK brainrot is back , added with the fact i am playing a MOBA game and am being blessed with delicious illustrations it prompted me to make this

Now i am going to ramble about this because this is the first time in forever where i kinda pushed myself to make a FULL art piece-

I will be standing for this-

Let me tell you, i had no confidence in this and the composition was supposed to be way different, but this still happened. This took two days because i kept procrastinating , walking around my room dreading drawing the background BIG ADVICE FOR BEGINNER ARTISTS Watch speedpaints. You will learn so much by watching the process and that was this for me I have the tendency to kinda burn myself out and finish everything in a day and then never actually finishing. Tried something different for this and made a cheap silhouette of a sketch, then drew over that and used greys and whites fort the shadows. Then i think i colored everything in a base color (and i finally used a palette) and then i tried to find the lighting and shadow colours. It was weird. And what im saying is that i planned most of it instead of diving head in withour a plan. Crazy i know-

I also just learned about dpi PROPERLY and unfortunately made my piece so big that it kept stalling paint tool sai-

let me just post the progress shots

I also fucked up macaques reference and fixed it in a whim somewhere. You can see it here. I honestly wasn't planning to follow the lmk at style but that kinda happens when you're starring too much at the references.

There's still a mess and i wanted to render it a bit better ,the way i normally do but i didn't. Anyways i did enjoy the process and i actually miss them so much and i might watch LMK all over again Especially Wukong and MK

Btw this was supposed to be a moving illustration and i just didn't

I have Live2D but no

(Btw please check out my profile if you have the chance and thank you for reading this! Love you-)

[asouefanworkevent]

another fall is upon us! another woevember is coming!!

what is it?

woevember is an asoue fanwork event week, that will take place from november 12th through november 18th, 2023. last year there was a different group of characters each day, and this year, each day of the week is dedicated to a different location for a series of unfortunate events or all the wrong questions.

what do i do?

the prompts will be revealed now, so everyone has time to make something. between now and the week of november 12th, you’ll create fanworks about the prompts, and then post it on the corresponding day during november 12th - 18th!

don’t forget to tag this tumblr (asouefanworkevent) in the post so i can find it and reblog it, and tag the post with #woevember !

what do you mean by fanwork?

everything! fanfic and fanart are of course allowed, but woevember has always been meant to be an event that is as big or as little effort as you want! fanwork also means edits, gifs, analysis posts, headcanons!! your cosplay!! your photography!! your photosets!! your web weaving!! your super short fics!! your sketchiest drawings!! your most ramble-y half-fic idea posts!! your wip scenes!! you merely saying 'lemony snicket, though. am i right?????' (and you are. you're so right.) whatever you are moved to make from the prompts! i want people to be encouraged to and be able to create even something small that didn’t exist before for the snicketverse, and share it with other people!

are there any rules?

to keep the event open and comfortable for everyone, no explicit content. also, as always, sibling romance and age gaps will not be tolerated.

do i have to make something for every day?

only if you want to! feel free to just make something for one day if you want :) the point of having a different theme for each day is so some part of canon that you like comes up eventually, and you can at least make something for one of the days. or you get struck by an idea you might not have considered before! i want to get people thinking about all the intriguing people and places in asoue and atwq and the exciting different ways we can interpret and create from the same idea.

what are the prompts?

the description under each prompt is just some ideas to get your brain going -- feel free to take them in another direction too!

november 12th - olaf's mansion

to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the bad beginning! what becomes of the house post-canon? was it olaf's family home? what sort of nefarious, or, perhaps, completely innocent shenanigans have occurred here, pre-canon? does this house also have a secret passage somewhere?

november 13th - the baudelaire mansion

did beatrice and bertrand build the mansion? what sweet pre-canon moments have we missed with the baudelaire children and their parents? what visitors came there? do people still think the mansion remains are haunted post-canon? what sort of new home do the baudelaires make for themselves when they return to the city?

november 14th - the clusterous forest

the wild and lawless place. what was it before the water was removed? what sort of beach or shore was there? where did the water go? does it ever come back? what does lemony, or anyone else, find in there? does another train ever come through after the thistle of the valley? do the stain'd-by-the-sea crew ever go in to investigate it? what sort of rumors might be created about a place like the clusterous forest?

november 15th - the hotel denouement

the last safe place! is it vfd-owned, or denouement-owned? what happens down in the archives? are the archives ever found? what sort of firefighter or firestarter meetings have taken place here? what relationship might they have with the preludio hotel? what were the denouements up to at the hotel? what hotel, or what sort of home in general, might frank and ernest create for themselves post-canon, with dewey's absence?

november 16th - the masked ball

the duchess of winnipeg's masked balls have so much potential! what happened at that last one, where lemony tried to contact beatrice? when was that? what happened at past balls? what is the duchess's relationship with the parties? (whether the duchess is jacquelyn or r or jacquelyn is r's daughter is up to you, dear reader!) what costumes do they all pick! or is there even a different masked ball you might have in mind?

november 17th - the reptile room

to also celebrate the 24th anniversary of the reptile room! what becomes of this house post-canon? how did monty come to own the reptile room, where does his herpetology career fit into vfd? why was the quagmire mansion connected to it? how did jacques get there and find quigley? what other moments with the baudelaire children in the reptile room might we have missed -- or pre-canon moments with the baudelaire parents? do not forget about our beloved, the incredibly deadly viper!

november 18th - free space!

there's tons of other locations, too! prufrock prep, heimlich hospital, 667 dark avenue, paltryville, caligari carnival, the city, the punctilio, veblen hall, the orion observatory, the opera, the sewers, the hemlock tearoom and stationery shop, the museum of items, the museum of bad breakfast, the snicket mansion, the quagmire mansion, the island, the mortmain mountains, lucky smells lumbermill, wade academy, killdeer fields, anwhistle aquatics, the queequeg? or do you care not for locations! use the free space to write about the character or relationship or thought of your choosing!

if you have any questions about anything, feel free to drop me an ask or a message!

happy creating, and i hope to see lots of you november 12th-18th!! ✨

[pspkisser]

⚙️ This laptop was saved from obsolescence! [10 mins of read]

Hello!! i am making this post here to raise awareness for PC and laptop upgrades, and how it should motivate you to do that same thing to preserve yours for longer or to give it the power you need! this will feature my history with mine, as well as the steps i took to be able to make him breathe life better! this is the story of his journey, and how it went to this current day.

his name is samuel, he is an asus fx570u and i bought him back in september of 2018 after i turned 13! he was brand new during that time and priced at 800 euros, offering only 6 gb of memory and an HDD as his specs. however he does have an 8th gen core i5 as his cpu and a geforce 1050 ti for his gpu. for something marketed as a gaming pc, it's pretty low and it wouldn't allow him to run fast enough, especially for highly demanding software and causing some compatibility issues. it wasn't severe, but as i was stuck with an hdd, that meant operating systems would run pretty slow on it, also leading to long software loading times. this is made worse by the fact that its bundled system, windows 10, isn't designed to work efficiently on hdd in the first place, but at least that means i have my hands on a windows key to be able to use some windows exclusive programs..

i mainly used him to be able to use advanced video editing software and customize the games i have on it for my own taste, because back then i loved making youtube videos and it was a passion i've had for years until i've partially retired from it. i rarely bought games on it and instead opted for free-to-plays, and overall had a good time with him.

unfortunately within only 3 months, his HDD broke down and i sent him to technicians for them to replace it with another one. it was a minor accident i've had but it formatted all my data, even though it didn't matter much since i uploaded most of it to the internet. i just had to be gentle with him by trying to not moving him around too much to stop that issue from persisting... but it was still low-end in terms of system performance. i finally used him for 1 year straight before moving on to a tower pc, feeling tired about his slowness and believing i couldn't do much about it.

i used that other (unnamed) pc for almost a year, starting from 2020! they seemed to work better since it had windows 7, but embarrassingly enough that version itself stopped receiving official security updates months before i started using it, even though i was careful while accessing the internet with it. its performances were also low, but didn't really matter much since i didn't take so much advantage from the power of samuel. suddenly, i had the foolish idea of installing windows 8.1 on the latter to try to deal with the performance issues on 10, but it led to even more compatibility issues since the drivers i used were meant to be for 10 only. only by early 2021, i got win10 back on him and started using him again to get more power again.

so the low-end performance persisted for very long. back then i never knew how to upgrade pcs, so i was only used to replacing devices with others which wasn't cost-efficient. after realizing i used windows for well over 10 years, i had the idea of switching to a mac and as a result, for xmas 2021 i got myself a cute yellow silicon imac, who goes by the name of sarah! but switching to macos posed new serious challenges, such as getting used to the lack of windows compatibility and the missing features that i was used to for a long time. most of the creativity i did with her was drawings with firealpaca and krita, and cgi with blender, which wasn't really much. still, she is pretty glossy and also powerful for many of the tasks i'm performing with her. originally i also intended to sell samuel, but that never happened (i low regret that decision so much i swear).

in late 2022, samuel's performance apparently had had a big hit... he now takes approximately 20 seconds to open any program and it seemed to me like something was wrong with him. at that time i also gained interest in linux since it's a libre OS capable of much more flexibility, essentially allowing it to revive old PCs. i finally decided to get linux mint to work on him via a dual boot with win11 (what was i thinking when i "upgraded" him from 10?). the performance seemed a little better from then, but programs still took very long to open. for that reason, he had often been collecting dust as he finally became unusable.

finally we've reached 2023. this is the year i decided to take on tearing down devices to learn how to examine problems inside of them. after checking samuel's performance again, i noticed that his HDD was having extremely low writing and reading speeds compared to my tower, which made me feel disappointed. but that's when i finally decided i could be able to replace his hard disk with an ssd, a new generation which is more durable, faster, quieter and energy-efficient...

but i still had a good wait until it was possible. suddenly with my money, i found an ssd which only costed €30, and it made me happy that this would be a quick way of healing up samuel! so i rushed to get it, and finally opened him to prepare everything... unfortunately, his keyboard has to be lifted up in the process, and there are flex cables connected between it and the motherboard. but taking out the hard disk thankfully only requires a few steps; removing some screws, then inserting the SSD inside of it. after that i quickly put linux mint back into him. SO SPLENDID...

for only the price of a high budget indie game, now he can open programs very fast, close to how fast sarah can do, and just about any task works perfectly well on him with way less bugs! thanks to that fast upgrade he's become viable for daily drives again, even though i don't have other desks suitable for pcs which makes me less motivated to use him. really wish id be able to since the architecture he has (x64) means he has a lot more software he's able to handle natively...

but then, i hadn't upgraded his ram. i said before that he only had 6 gb of it, and that meant he could only work with a few programs before becoming bloated. and as i like doing power tasks on him, that obviously causes problems. so one day, i went to a pc part store out of curiosity, and became shocked when i found small ram carts that could be compatible with my laptop. after some talk with the seller, i bought 2 ddr4 carts each containing 8 gb and clocked at 2666 mhz, more than double of what i used to have. after that it was time to take on a challenge to be able to insert them myself.

when the seller asked me if i needed assistance to have the carts inserted into my laptop, i giggled internally because of my past stories with learning how to open devices and trying to troubleshoot or modify them internally. i obviously declined it which saved me money, but also meant i had to do it all myself. after an hour of painful manipulations which required me to take out the entire motherboard from samuel, while that next step was also difficult i was finally able to insert the carts into it, before placing all his components back into place. and after such a long time of waiting...

i've finally done it!

Samuel is feeling very well right now!! despite his cpu and gpu dating from over 5 years, now he can do even more tasks at a time, while also being able to read them faster, a massive improvement compared to when it was stuck with an hdd and only 6 gb of ram. i'm guessing those low specs were for the purpose of saving manufacturing costs, but until you'd find use for the components that you'd remove, they'd end up becoming waste. and with a free os like linux mint, it adds up to an even more optimized experience than windows 10, which comes with so many unwanted stuff and can't be customized very well.

have you had a similar story to mine? did that pose you challenges? i took over 40 minutes to write this entire piece of text, but it should at least be very well detailed! on the best case scenario i hope it would inspire others to do some research on upgrading PCs to preserve their lives and especially save costs. Thank you for reading the entirety of it, don't hesitate reblogging it if you think it would interest your own audience! peace for all of you 💙

[catofoldstones]

hi i'm still here :) those things about fandom denying theorizing about jonsa just bothered me heavily since fans accepted almost every theory under the sun but hypothetical j0nsa is where they draw the line they accepted curtain of light theory and 3 heads of the dragons saving the world for years before a hypothetical cousin marriage/bethrodal that ties a lot of plot threads and themes together and resolves so much of the missing plot pieces from the show, i might not personally like it cause of the incest implications but im also consistent with hating all jon's incest ships and still keeping an open mind about j0nerys and j0nsa on a storytelling basis but j0nsa is a theory that intrigued me so much because it did make sense from the drafts,the fact that sansa will end up at winterfell with the vale army by the time jon wakes up and changes into who knows what (again fans straight up ignoring which stark is actually the closest to winterfell will never not make me laugh) to the many gothic literature and historical references george takes to especially the ashford theory thats so unavoidable i call fans extremely blind for being this in denial that it might happen as a plot point and since aegon is most likely going to be busy with dorne/cersei/dany or euron and most likely die in the south (rip son) i highly doubt sansa will tie into his plot unless thats the last targ suitor she's supposed to be betrothed with and again its kinda a big nothing theory to me cause sansa going south would be repetitive and its already been debunked with the AFFC draft leaks unless aegon wants a claim to the north which again im pretty sure he'll be engaged to arianne for martell points and allyship (also her being engaged to a secret fake bastard heir was already done with joffrey and it being completely reversed with j0n feels more complete as an end point to that theory/arc there's no way george would pass that up).

i also don't think this is all jon and sansa have to offer as characters,its what bothers me with other ship fans as well i like them as separate characters and i also feel like looking at the story, if it were to happen i don't believe it would be a fairytale romance or ending or be anytype of normal relationship, i might even be completely wrong and j0nsa might never come up (also feel like george would be wary of doing this now when media literacy is at an all time low but fandom toxicity is high as the heavens), both sansa and jon fandom theories have been through a rollercoster over the years im just happy that fans finally have theories that actually makes sense storytelling wise and not something for wish fulfillment but bias still runs amok in the fandom unfortunately and it still clouds a lot of convo about the characters and plot theories

sorry for rambling in your inbox again

Hello :3 nice to see you again

anon can I call you soulmate anon because every sentiment you’ve portrayed here is exactly what I believe too! I like jonsa too because it’s v compelling and it has good evidence to back it up, but I’m really iffed up because of the incest too. Well not because I’m a pearl-clutching puritan but because it’s not fair to Sansa tbh, as a teenaged girl in a deeply patriarchal society. If she’s the girl in grey who runs away to Jon for protection, it’ll not be as a friend who’s seeing another friend after a long time, it’ll be because she wants protection from her brother. Then comes in the question of her claim to Winterfell. If she marries Jon to smooth out the inheritance crisis, the North would still belong to Jon & not Sansa. They will not be equal in that marriage or as the lord and lady of Winterfell. However, there are far, far too many indications of a jonsa match, textually and subtextually, which I am right there with you anon, are so compelling! It would only be a blind man to not see them. And the fandom collectively vehemently denying jonsa is v funny to me because it sounds so much like

“Do you believe women are humans?”

“Yes”

“Do you believe women should have the same rights as men?”

“Yes, absolutely!”

“So you are a feminist.”

“Eww, no.”

Like, the text is glaringly pointing at something with air raid sirens and neon red lights, but what could it mean, hmm 🤔 Like c’mon guys my cat could figure out what’s going on at this point.

Though, I do believe that the Ashford Targaryen suitor could be Aegon VI for Sansa. While a lot of people believe that Aegon will marry/betrothe Arianne for that Dorne support but that doesn’t make sense to me because

1. It’s like Sansa would marry into the Tully family for support to take back the North

2. The Dornish are already burning to avenge Elia

3. Arianne is the heir to Dorne in her own right (and has had major plot around that), marrying the next King of the 7 kingdoms hardly makes sense for her.

BUT Aegon & Arianne’s plots are barreling towards each other and they very well might just get married to secure another plot point that I cannot think of right now. And I know that Aegon is doomed and Arianne survives (George, pls or else 🔪🔪) so that’s another reason why Aegon & Sansa can’t happen. And Jon being the Targeryen suitor holds so much more literary weight than a rando who has never had an impact on her or her emotions or her plot (apart from your brilliant points). Also, no I am not debating the “Dunk disturbed the Ashford Tourney so Sxn/dxr is the one for Sansa” because we’ve debated to death that even being granted the title of Maid does not mean anything like a betrothal in Westerosi society or has negative consequences (r + l & that whole war it started). Also, just because Dunk got in the middle of the Tourney does not mean that he got the girl in the end. Hope that helps. Moreover, Dunk’s asoiaf corollary is Brienne not sxn/dxr, so by their logic, briensa ftw!!!!!!!!!!

Anon, the way everyone ignored the affc outline just because it showed something the Sansa fandom had been (rightly) theorising for years now has me rolling on the floor 😂 the denial, the denial is so strong with these people, even the “neutrals”. Don’t even get me started on the BNFs. If something like this were leaked about xrya or dxny, it would have been front page news that breaks the asoiaf fandom containment lol.

Stark closest to Winterfell and takes north! C’mon now anon, don’t give these people a heart attack.

Yes well, there have been one too many people in this fandom (as is common in any other fandom *cough* jxnxryas *cough*) to reduce the characters to the ship but the block button is my lord and saviour. Shipping is so that we can bring out the best (or the worst) character traits in the people we’re shipping, not to water down the said character traits.

There’s a chance that jonsa doesn’t happen in the books or happens just in the subtext or whatever, and I’ll be fine with that as long as the stories for both Jon and Sansa have satisfying and empathetic progression. Though I would terribly like for it to happen just to dunk on the haters and the BNFs and the “skeptics” lol. I am trying to be a better person these days, but pettiness is my second daughter 🤪 and to add to this point, if jonsa doesn’t happen, that still won’t erase the heavy foreshadowing we’ve been seeing in the text till now. If some other ship had the Ashford theory, the Byronic connection, JONnel Stark marrying a girl named xrya or an ancestor Sansa Stark marrying a -whoever- in their lineage, the plot satisfaction, the narrative parallels, the textual connection, it would be considered canon by now. But no, since it’s Jon x Sansa and that is still somehow a pretty strong contender for breaking all your ships, they will close their eyes and call it a crack ship. Baby a crack ship is me and Oscar Isaac or Sasuke and Taylor Swift. But if Sasuke and Taylor had all of this evidence, it would, once again, be considered canon. Sigh, just take your Sansa hatred elsewhere man, we’re not in 2006 anymore.

Dude, I found older forums/metas a while back and there is nowhere that Sansa was mentioned w/o sxn/dxr. Sxn/sxn was just a given. It was canon, it was always going to happen and that’s just so reductive tbh. I’m v v grateful that the meta and fandom spaces (maybe just a small corner but that is enough for me) have evolved so much through the years otherwise I would get beaten here every day. It’s still toxic as hell though, with the level of trash metas that will give early asoiaf fandom a run for its money and at one point you just want to scream- you all realise that these are books, right? and we’re the readers! you’re not dxny or jon or tyrion or even fleabottom ragpickers! none of this is real 😭 i should not be coming here, armoured and with a sword, to defend my fav characters, i should be having fun here and exchanging stupid ideas 😭 but asoiaf fandom remains asoiaf fandom however well the ways of hating may have changed.

But please, always ramble in my ask box anon. I love reading your thoughts and it gives me a chance to ramble as well :)

[lurkingshan]

Step by Step Missed Some Steps

Welp, here we are at the end of this show. And it sure did have a finale! That was indeed an episode 12.

Look pals, I’ve been clear about the fact that this show went off the rails for me in the final stretch. The finale didn’t change my view on that, unfortunately — it was, in my opinion, not a good episode of television and not a particularly coherent ending to this story. The time skip served little purpose in terms of character development and as one final hilarious pacing joke, Pat is still somehow 26! But we did get some nice domestic fanfic vignettes and one last bed scene as a parting gift, which was cool of them. I am a simple woman and I was in fact happy to get 30 uninterrupted minutes of domestic relationship fluff. Would I have liked it if the fluff had a stronger connection to an ongoing emotional arc? Sure would, but with this drama I’ve learned we really can’t have it all.   

In the spirit of giving this show a fair assessment while also not repeating myself too much or belaboring my criticism, I’m just gonna do a quick rundown of what its attempted big themes were and how successful I thought they were with each major thread, now that we’ve seen the full thing. Shoutout to @waitmyturtles and @neuroticbookworm for talking this through with me and keeping me sane the last few weeks, as well as @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle, @williamrikers, @wen-kexing-apologist, @colourme-feral, @bengiyo, @colourme-feral and @sunshinesanctuary, all of whom wrote posts I have linked here. This is going to be a critical analysis so if you want to just vibe and bask in the cute feel free to skip reading. :)

The slow burn that never caught fire  

Let’s just get this out of the way. This show failed on the romance writing. They did a nine episode slow burn then fumbled the emotional payoff, tacked on a traditional four-act-structure breakup that didn’t fit, and had the wrong person apologize in the final reunion scene. There may have been a lot of sex, but the emotional arc for these two was incoherent and dissatisfying in the end, and I saw nothing in their reunion scene that explained to me why I was supposed to believe they would suddenly be a functional and happy couple. You gotta actually do that character work to sell it, not just tack on some cute epilogue scenes where they are suddenly healthier without showing me how they got there. 

But thank goodness for Man and Ben, because they still managed to salvage something out of this mess on the strength of their chemistry alone. I thank them for their service, and I will always treasure the bittersweet arc of those first nine episodes and the exquisite angst of Jeng’s lonely pining. That was good shit. 

Pat’s emotional maturity and character growth

Speaking of having the wrong person apologize in the reunion scene, this might actually be the thing I am most frustrated about. I’ve had a somewhat rocky road with Pat in this show, but I’ve wanted to believe in the arguments that his emotional inconsistency was intentional and leading us to some major character development for him. The show almost pulled it out in the final arc and got somewhere on this theme, but they blew it on the dismount. 

Because all the ingredients were right there on the table. In episode 11, we saw Pat finally come into his own, both at work and in his relationships. We saw him succeed at work, we saw him grow more confident, we saw him draw firm boundaries, and we saw him call both Put and Jeng on their bullshit. We saw him walk away from these toxic relationships that weren’t serving him, and we were on his side. The finale even opens with him thriving in his new business with Chot! It was a little weird that the show had him suddenly being besties with Put given where we left them in episode 11 (I could see a way for that to happen but the show, as ever, did not do the work and hand waved it away with a time skip, so no points from me) but that’s fairly easy to overlook as long as it serves his arc. When the finale opens our boy is doing well for himself—he has become a successful businessman in his own right—which you would expect to also come with some advancement in his emotional maturity. In those early scenes he seems like he’s finally got a handle on things. 

Except that crumbles the moment he sees Jeng again, and he instantly regresses into the same insecure, emotionally erratic, weak-willed youth he was before. We see him repeat all of his old patterns (to the point where it felt almost like intentional callbacks to his scenes from earlier in the series, but that would be such a weird thing to do in this context). He begins doubting himself, he loses emotional control and sobs into his dad’s shoulder, he gets wasted and makes a public spectacle of himself, he randomly decides to get back with an ex who wronged him, and he apologizes to Jeng for standing up for himself and ending their relationship when Jeng was the one entirely in the wrong and has done no work to change anything about his situation or earn Pat’s forgiveness.

And so rather than enjoying the reunion, I was mad when I was watching this scene. Flames on the side of my face. I have no idea what the writer was thinking when they crafted this ass backwards reunion scene, but it did double damage in that it put the final nail in the coffin for two of the show’s major arcs. Impressive in its own way, I suppose! 

Filial piety and Jeng’s family expectations  

This one truly just has me scratching my head. It feels like they simply…didn’t finish this part of the show? Because they’ve been telling me for 11 episodes that Jeng is broken and crumbling under the weight of his responsibilities to his father’s company (well, if I’m honest, they’ve only been telling us that explicitly for a few episodes, because for the first two-thirds of the show they were telling us he loves his work, but I’m trying to go with fandom interpretations of subtext here) but that he couldn’t simply walk away from this job because he is the eldest son and must fulfill his obligations of filial piety. And that a big part of the reason he fucked things up with Pat was because of that enormous pressure he was under, and he would have to face that and make things right.

So what happened in the finale to continue this storyline? Absolutely nothing! After a two year time skip in which nothing in Jeng’s work or family life changed, Pat randomly decides everything was his fault, actually, and he wants to get back together, and then Jeng simply walks away from this job. Casually strolls into his dad’s office and hands in a resignation letter like it ain’t no thing in a very short, very oddly toned scene in which his dad just kind of shrugs and then tosses the letter in the bin. Jeng even mentions in the next scene with Pat that his dad’s reaction was bizarre. And that’s it! That’s the end of that plot. We go through a bunch more time skips and Jeng did in fact leave that job, nothing else happens, the end. 

And look, I’m on record as feeling like this version of Jeng that was so broken he couldn’t see his way out of this situation or be a decent partner to Pat emerged in episode 10 largely out of nowhere, but the show took us down this path, so they needed to stand by it and finish the story. But they didn’t bother. Jeng “I intend to improve myself” Kittipong Attajiranon did nothing of the sort (at least not on screen where we could see it) in either his professional or personal life. Instead his problems just magically solved themselves and we time skipped through him becoming more stable. What am I to make of that? Guess we’ll never know!

Whatever the heck that was with Jaab and Jen

I feel like for this section I should just insert that meme of the blonde lady trying to work out incomprehensible equations, because that’s what it feels like trying to figure out what the point of this storyline was. Jaab appeared on screen in this finale for about two minutes, and Jen didn’t appear at all. The show doesn’t even bother to tell us if they’re together already or if Jaab is going to Japan to try to win Jen back (even though they previously told us he’d be back from Japan by this time), and neither of them is even mentioned again.

For this, they ate up a ton of real estate in the penultimate episode? Make it make sense!

Perils of the closet and homophobia in the workplace

Let’s end this on a positive note, shall we? This is the theme I do think came through most clearly, and they almost pulled it off (but not quite thanks to the baffling end of Jeng’s work and family arc).

We saw Pat and Jeng and Chot all deal with various forms of the closet and homophobia throughout the show. We saw the way that Chot’s partner being closeted with his family hurt Chot, and the relief he felt when he was finally able to be fully open with his love. We saw how Put’s fears about being out with his career hurt Pat. We saw how Jeng’s parents did not fully accept him and how he consequently struggled to be his authentic self at work. We saw Pat express his discomfort with the way media companies exploit queerness for monetary gain. We saw Pat get caught up in an online scandal when his relationships with Jeng and Put were exposed. We saw how all of these gay men were put in the position of working for executives who saw their sexuality as a problem to be crisis managed and a bargaining chip to threaten them with.

And in the finale we got to see Pat and Chot flourishing in their own company, where their queerness was an asset and not a problem, and where they got to set their own rules about how they wanted to work and who they wanted to work with. We got to see Jeng focus on the job he loves most in a setting where he can be his authentic self. Everybody has found a better work life balance. And we got to see all of them happy and in love and thriving. And even though the way they got there didn’t always feel earned, at least we can say they got a beautiful ending free of those burdens.  

As a final note, I just want to say how fun it’s been to watch this show along with y’all. We didn’t always agree, but the discussion was always interesting and the experience brought me a lot of joy. The show yeeted itself off a cliff for me in the final stretch but I will always remember the watch experience fondly and y'all will have to pry Man away from my cold dead hands. Onward to the next drama!

[theredengineapologist]

From the ttte movies you seen, whats your fav?

✨THE GREAT RACE✨

The Great Race is THE BEST ONE! I may not have seen most of the other movies yet, but I'm very sure NOTHING is ever gonna beat this movie for me.

You're telling me they made a Thomas movie centered around what is basically a Train Pageant (tm) AND they made it a MUSICAL!!??? Hell yeah! Sign me up!

But then you actually get in to the movie and it gets even better.

EVERY SONG IS A BOP! EVERY! 👏 SINGLE! 👏ONE! 👏 THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE MISS IN THIS MOVIE! I don't know what they were on, but they were pumping out JAM after JAM!

Secondly, I think the Great Railway Show was a great way to introduce more foreign engines into the show in a way that made sense. Pity that we didn't really get to see much of them. But I also feel like we didn't really need to. I mainly just liked that we got to SEE them.

One of the things I LOVE about Brenner Era CGI Thomas is how the world of Sodor feels so much bigger. In the model series I get this sense that the Island of Sodor is this quaint little English countryside island where nothing much happens, and the engine's shenanigans are the most interesting things to happen in day-to-day life. Whereas I feel like in Brenner Era CGI Thomas, the world feels much grander. Still very much an English countryside island. But the island itself feels much bigger. The engines and the people living on it feel much busier. And in some ways I would say the cast itself feels more diverse once they gave the characters unique voices. I'm a sucker for shows that allow their characters to speak in different dialects, and giving Duck his West Country accent and the narrow gauge engines Welsch accents honestly endeared them to me more.

Anyway, main point I'm trying to get at is that the introduction of The Great Railway Show helped to expand the Thomas universe and show the rest of the world interacting with Sodor and vice-versa, even if only for a short period of time. It adds to the grandness of the world.

I also really like Thomas's arc in this movie. With how often he gets picked on for being a "little engine" over the course of the series, it's no wonder the guy's a little self conscious. If the narrator called me "short and stumpy" three times in a row I'd be pretty self-conscious too lol. But jokes aside, I did like seeing Thomas have conflict with this part of his identity. His verses in "You Can Only Be You" really made me feel for him, and I loved being able to see him finally come around at the end.

And of course, we can't talk about The Great Race without mentioning

HOW PRETTY JAMES'S DECORATIVE PAINTWORK IS!!!

LOOK AT HIM! LOOK AT MY PRETTY BOY! GAZE UPON HIS BEAUTY AND HIS SPLENDIDNESS!!!

And you know what? I'm gonna say it. James deserved to win Best Decorated Engine. Sorry not sorry RAJIV! But they don't call me the Red Engine Apologist for nothing! My pookie deserved to win!

One of these days I've got to do humanized versions of James's and Emily's looks from this movie. I can see it very clearly in my head but I also want to, um, draw other characters HAHAHAHA

Anyway, TLDR, The Great Race was an amazing movie with a killer soundtrack, great story, and a concept that appeals to ME SPECIFICALLY. I also genuinely think it would adapt very well into a stage musical (similar in visual style to the Spongebob musical). I have a clear vision in my head for what it would look like but unfortunately I don't have the money nor resources to make it a reality so it would just stay in my head. But just know that every time I watch this movie I am actively thinking about how I would hypothetically adapt this to the stage.

I''ve spent WAY too much time rambling about The Great Race but yeah, there's your answer.

Also if you're curious, here's every Thomas movie I've watched so far ranked from favorite to least favorite.

The Great Race (obviously)

Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure (Thomas had a great arc in this one, "Never Overlook a Little Engine" was fun, and visuals are spectacular. Solid movie but it can't beat the campiness of The Great Race)

The Adventure Begins (Solid movie. The other two are just more fun imo)

Tale of the Brave (It was a good movie and I probably would have appreciated it more if I watched it in High Quality. But unfortunately I can't stand Kerry Shale James and so I chose to watch a grainy upload on YouTube instead.)

Journey Beyond Sodor (I'm sorry to my one mutual (you know who you are) who said this was their favorite movie. But unfortunately, in my opinion, the songs do not slap as hard as in The Great Race)

[hmshermitcraft]

Y'know what? Let's add a Scott/ to the Etho/ranchers Esmp S1 Au (I am the one that sent that ask dw I'm not just adding this to someone else's au/ask)

After Scott learned that the Codfather was married, he was horrified as he has been subtly trying to court the Fishman, not knowing that he was taken. Scott obviously stopped immediately, he wasn't a homewrecker! Even if he was a generally flirty person and was very much crushing on the other ruler

Around two weeks after that meeting, Scott had been invited to watch (and maybe participate) the bi-monthly fighting festival that was in the Codlends. Scott of course went, even if he wasnt courting the Codfather now if he can help it, he still would have to go as he had been directly invited.

When Scott had flown there, he had been greeted by the short man that was with Jimmy in the beginning of the last meeting, the one with blond hair and red accessories. The man who he learned was named Tango and was The Codfather's other husband, had excitedly shown Scott around as Scott was apparently the first ruler to have shown up so far.

Scott had primarily watched the fights, after all the way that Codlends citizens fought was truely interesting and in a way that was so fluid. When Scott did participate in a few of the fights, he draw them out ever so slightly but still in a fast and Rivendell like manner. Each time he had stepped out of the sparring arena after he won, he had been shown a good bit of praise and flirting from the citizens??

Aka fighting and how strong you are is seems as a very important thing in the Codlends and the fighting festivals are used as ways to flirt and show off your skills to the people your trying to court. (Cause I hc that polyamory is very common in the Codlends lol)

Jimmy and Tango are both blushing like mad after and during Scott's fights cause wow they didn't expect that with how Scott was built- while Etho just zones in on Scott's fighting style cause it is very unique and not like any other Rivendell elves that participated in these.

related ask!

Scott was trained to fight from a very young age. His parents - ever so diligent - ensured he had a number of tutors from a wide variety of different places. Scott may not be a master in any of the styles he's familiar with, but he can switch between them as needed without missing a step.

It's a skill that has, unfortunately, been useful through the years.

And he has to make sure he puts on a good show for the Codlands people. He's here to represent Rivendell. Scott knows elves are often underestimated as being soft and too haughty to fight. He hopes he's put some of those rumours to bed today.

What he doesn't realise is that he's started a new wave of gossip. Jimmy hasn't stopped talking about Scott's fighting since they retreated into the royal box. Tango feels like he may just melt where he stands. Scott had been so put together when he showed him around earlier! He didn't expect that from him.

Nor did he expect Scott to look so good when slightly dishevelled, pushing long strands of blue hair from his face.

Etho finds Scott fascinating. He did during the meeting as well. He'd like to learn more about the elf, and Rivendell royalty in general. It seems like it's changed a lot since his time.

[quickhacked]

bones please spare some isaac facts...tell me about the vibes and lore and everything you want. also what's his fave blood type to drink if he has one perhaps..(i'm taking notes)

HEHEHE THANK YOU SM i have so much to say about this man. but also he hasn't existed for very long in my brain yet so there's still many things missing from his lore currently. but here is a start for you :^)

isaac is a couple centuries old by now and from a (currently unnamed) bloodline that's a bit different from other bloodlines. all vampires have double fangs, their puncture fangs which are the regular ones they use to draw blood with, and their venomous fangs, which only come out when they want to change someone. for isaac's bloodline, the venomous fangs are a lot smaller which makes them less painful to extend and the process is quicker; but at the same time, even the smallest mistake in dosage could kill a victim rather than change them. this is why his bloodline is very small in comparison to others and changing a human into a vampire is always done in a big ritual rather than on impulse, to make sure they get the right dosage. this is how isaac was turned into a vampire :(

his bloodline is also more likely to have their feral sense (uncontrollable mode in which they hunt for blood until they're no longer feral) activated which is why they have to feed regularly and CANNOT miss any meals unlike other bloodlines who can usually miss a meal or two. their feral sense can sneak up on them without a warning and it will cause them to go feral until either their hunger or their "urge" (something vamps get sometimes when they want to change other humans. it's like a vampire ovulation) is sated. this is why many vampires of isaac's bloodline are pretty rich or important people who have other vampires working for them to provide them with enough blood so they'll never go feral by accident

isaac is VERY different from his bloodline though. he grew up in a modest family somewhere in the east of the united states and after he was turned he hid himself away in an old abandoned chapel for many many years, feeding on wildlife and the occasional unfortunate soul who wandered too far into the woods. he ended up hunted down by heavenly, my other oc for this story, who is a vampire hunter but at that point was still very young and on his first ever vampire hunt without his father; heavenly was unable to kill isaac and let him go, after which isaac moved to jericho :]

jericho is a big city on the west coast of the united states and it's essentially a vampire hub, in the sense that the government knows about the existence of vampires but isn't telling the general public but the general public tends to also know about the existence of vampires but it's also not uncommon to come across people who've never heard of them. but at the same time it's also not a huge shock to find out that vampires exist. and in jericho there's many of them and it's like a safe haven for them. am i making sense here

anyway isaac runs a church in jericho now! it's less used as an actual church and more just a homeless shelter and general shelter and community center and food bank AND blood bank all in one, for humans and vampires alike, and he's a very important member of the community he lives in :^) he really wants to help people and improve lives despite the reputation of his bloodline

it's at the same time pretty dangerous for him to be in such a lively place because if he misses a meal even once he could go on a murderous rampage. but it's a risk he's willing to take, knowing he's making a difference and not wanting people to lose their stability in life because he decides to leave or something like that

i don't have much for the story yet but the idea is that heavenly shows up in jericho give or take 2-3 decades after first meeting isaac and they reunite :^) heavenly ends up helping isaac with the blood shortage crisis and also ends up as his personal blood bag because he's a freak and a weirdo who likes getting his blood sucked by vampires. and also he's gay for isaac. and i get him. me too

[rohirric-hunter]

Oh yeah and this is the shortlist of my OCs/stolen canon characters that are going to Umbar:

Leonys. Leonys is getting to Umbar in an unconventional manner and will not be involved with most of the Epic.

Hathellang. I know the devs aren't reading my fanfic because that's illegal*, but I honestly do find it hard to believe, after they wrote the perfect foil for Hathellang in Nakasi. And it's a delightful challenge because while there's a fair chance I couldn't do so well myself, there's a 100% chance I wouldn't have. Like this is not something I would have thought to write, regardless of how perfect it is. And that's always fun to play with!

Indarant. I mentioned at some point the idea of multiclassing her "back" into Loremaster, but wasn't really sure what I would do with that. A really good setup is a sorcerer antagonist who makes a big deal out of drawing his power from nature. Make her face head-on what scared her so much about the power way back when. Also Kholtekh is going to come up to her like, "I think maybe Thorongil might have possibly become a king. What do you think of that?" and she's gonna fully look him in the eyes and say, "He did. What about it?" Like in public. Woman has No Tact. I am still figuring out her in-universe reasons for going, though.

Dahlia and Ferelin. I may or may not have mentioned on here that their big motivation for leaving the Shire was to track down their missing father, who, being a Took, had gone off on an Adventure, as Tooks do, and then never came back before they were born. So they've actually never met him. And spoilers technically but I don't really care -- they do eventually find him, one of the oar-slaves aboard a Corsair ship in Pelargir. Pretty quickly after the Black Gate he goes back to the Shire to see their mother. The twins, dealing with mixed feelings about All That, stay behind and go adventuring with Leonys and Hathellang some more. They need to see some of the things their father saw, and also have some conversations with a certain old friend going by a really stupid name and playing at being a bounty hunter assassin. For character development.

Helegdil. Helegdil is my mariner alt and is specifically being developed to stop this from happening again. Leonys and Hathellang weren't even supposed to go to Gundabad, let alone Umbar. They need to go home before I have to rewrite major parts of Blood of the Covenant on account of it happening years in the future. So the next time the Urge strikes me to throw them at a new questline I am going to do my level best to throw Helegdil at it instead. He's a new character and hasn't told me much about himself yet, but I've got a strong base with some wibbly themes that I can work into whatever stories he ends up in, probably. Heavily inspired by many indulgent fanfics set in post-war Gondor that I read as a kid.

I am putting Candaith in this situation. Candaith has an arc in Blood of the Covenant that I think will benefit from this sort of adventure.

I would really like to put Boromir in this situation too. I don't know how feasible it is from a logistical standpoint, since Imrahil's very good reasons for not going would also apply to him I think. But I have this vague fuzzy idea for what to Do With Boromir post-war and I think this would lead into it very well. That's the trouble with writing an AU that saves characters that die in canon. You have to Do Something with them, especially if, as in this case, parts of the shape of the story after their death are defined by their absence. It can be a lot of heavy lifting.

*It's not illegal actually I don't think but their lawyers will tell them not to do it. For this specific reason. If I was of a less agreeable sort and could produce evidence that they were reading my fanfic then they run the risk of getting sued. I wouldn't win this particular case, I don't think, but getting sued is expensive. And this has happened in the past I think with some TV shows. So unfortunately no fanfic for writers while they're actively writing for a property.

[nights-at-crystarium]

Fragments - episodes 1-3 author notes

A sort of an analysis post, rambling about the stuff I’m trying to imply in my comic. Read and see how much you’ve noticed or missed :>

Starting with the obvious parallels.

Raha’s expectations vs reality.

Our Warrior is, indeed, unfortunately, not what he seems.

^ In this scene Vivi’s genuinely enjoying himself, getting that sweet revenge on the owner of that disembodied voice.

In this scene, however, he’s not only amused, but also overplaying a bit out of sheer pettiness. “Oh it’s THAT guy again, let’s show him his place”.

It’s not too important to point out in the comic, but the laughter scene does stretch on for long enough to consider that Vivi may not be 100% genuine here.

It goes unnoticed by both parties, but Vivi’s less-than-valiant behavior effectively shatters whatever wall could’ve initially been between them. Now they’re equal.

And not only Raha doesn’t feel any reverent tremble before the hero of Eorzea anymore, he all but hisses at Vivi, scared that he’d go around telling everyone about his shame.

Which never happens!

Everyone around them is confused by Vivi’s sudden outburst and their cryptic exchange of? Threats? Promises? Whatever that was?

Again, they don’t notice that yet but you’re allowed to know that they’re kinda on the same wavelength, sharing one braincell. By “don’t you-” Raha means “don’t you fucking tell them about me landing in the river”, and “shh, we’re good, I’d never” from Vivi is a reassurance that he didn’t, and won’t. A shared secret’s still a bonding material, even if it’s this ridiculous.

Their exchanges overall are rather short during the entire ARR arc because, take it or leave it, they don’t have much in common yet. Not much to talk about. However their sass and mischief are colliding in explosions.

A bit of a break from the lyrical mood, look at these defeated ixal. I’ve looked up their refs, rolled up my sleeves and then decided to just not x’D

I’m incredibly proud of this frame.

Like seriously it turned out so good composition-wise. Also the lance! You won’t find it ingame, not in this game at least - it’s a guild wars sunspear. A bit of an easter egg and a cheeky reference to the sun, Azem, yadda. Vivi doesn’t keep this spear for too long, I’m not even sure if I’ll draw it again. Next time he carries a weapon on-screen it’s a new one, completely original because I don’t like any ingame lance :’>

Also a random semi-related fact: Vivi’s gridanian! So Raha unknowingly chooses the worst possible matchup. Pretending an elemental or whatever he thought he sounded like, should I even mention hiding in the GREEN TREES as a REDHEAD.

The first scene takes place on a summer night.

Not sure if I could convey “summer” somehow but it’s not that important. I just wanted to go all in on the ShB foreshadowing. And I personally associate Vivi with a summer night. Midsummer. Fae. Wait, it’s way too early for that-

Thank you for reading the comic, I’ve been working on it for over a month now, with maybe one day off per week, that’s how excited I am. This workload could be unhealthy in the long run, so I’ll try to keep the updates within 5-6 pages/10-12 frames from now on. Still quite an amount to dish out in one week, but otherwise I wouldn’t reach their “endgame” even in 5 years. Well, I’m just starting out and seeing what works best for me. I took this month off work to fully dedicate to the comic and see where it lands me money-wise, but I’ll have to go back to adoptable-making in September. My monthly needs are ~$1400, comic currently makes ~200 ;w; But again it’s too early to judge, I’m hoping that more people join patreon or kofi.

[putschki1969]

Hello beautiful Sarah, I would like to ask you an unusual question. Today I want to ask your opinion on what you think about people who fall in love with their artists. In this case, let's talk about the Kalagirls. I tell you that I have never dated anyone nor do I pay attention to people in that sense (if I explain myself) but when I was 16 years old in 2016 I began to notice how charming Miss Wakana is, what attracted me the most to her. It was that beautiful smile, I feel that she is a person with beautiful feelings and I like her not only physically but also as a person because of the little she lets us know about her life, I like how fun she is, I like that. She fights for her dreams, I like that she loves nature and animals, etc. She is very charming. It must be very nice to know her or work with someone like her. Maybe it seems ridiculous to you but that's how I feel and I know that unfortunately I will never be with her but I am happy for all the good things that happen to her and I always wish her the best. Sorry for telling you this, maybe I'm boring you hehe, I just want to know your opinion about the fools in love with their singers.

Hi there anon! No worries, you are fine! You are not boring me at all. Sorry it took me so long to write this reply, the past few weeks have been crazy.

Hikaru's Q&A video from earlier today finally motivated me to make this post. One of the questions she received was from a fan who proclaimed to love Keiko and they wanted to get some advice from Hikaru on what to do in such a situation. The topic immediately reminded me of your ask which was still in my drafts.

I personally struggle to relate to this particular feeling since I am not the type of person to fall in love with someone else. I have never been romantically interested in anyone and I most likely never will be, I just don't have that particular desire within me to connect with someone on that level (and that's coming from someone who is getting closer and closer to the big 4-0 XD). Of course that's not to say that I don't love the girls with all my heart. As we all know, I am very much devoted to them. But I guess I am doing it in a very detached manner.

Generally speaking, I think it's perfectly fine to love an artist (or rather, the idea we have created in our minds of said artist) and to feel some sort of attraction towards them. Looking up to our idols and aspiring to be like them can bring out the best in us and make us better people. It can become problematic however, if the emotional attachment is too strong to a point where the fan no longer knows their boundaries. If a fan starts wanting too much or showcases an intense possessive attitude, I don't think that's a normal behaviour anymore. The issue of parasocial relationships comes into play here, I have actually talked about that topic a few months ago.

I will say though that it is a very common thing for teenagers and young adults in particular to have crushes on "celebrities". It's pretty much a part of growing up and most people eventually grow out of it so I don't think we should outright condemn those feelings. As long as the person knows where to draw the line and recognises that there's no chance they can ever have a relationship with their crush, it should be no problem in my opinion. I am not sure this is what you wanted to hear, hopefully I didn't discourage you. Your feelings seem genuine and it sounds like you do not overstep any boundaries so there's nothing to worry about.

Last but not least, we should all try to follow Hikaru's advice. The best thing you can do if you love an artist is to support them with all your might. So let's all continue to do that

＼（○＾ω＾○）／＼（○＾ω＾○）／＼（○＾ω＾○）／

[factorialsotherfandoms]

xcom tallulah? what horrors has my girl been through?

(also her hybrid traits if you have ideas for them, because ooo glowy chayanne i want to draw more eggs)

@becauseplot I am very amused the both of you are asking the same. And absolutely no you are not being too much it's just getting to dinner time here (please feel free to keep sending me eggs or even characters I love this)

Also by living target practice I mean living target practice.

And yes, glowy Chayanne!!! Tallulah's I'm still working out :/ She does however have little non-functional allay wings, however. And bits of her skin have dark purpley-blue, insect-shell like "armour". It is tougher than natural skin, but not by a lot, and it doesn't heal quite the same - there's a piece on her shoulder which clearly has crack-shatter from being shot with a bullet, looking a bit like if you shoot glass. Also very bright yellow eyes. it's not all her skin with the insectoid plating - not even most of it - but she has it. Whereas for Chayanne just all his skin is purple and his hair white (though he absolutely is with A1 on team steal hair dye. Unfortunately the ship has a lot of pink and not much yellow or black. Makes sad faces at his godfather until Tubbo makes him some, once he learns that's a thing he can do)

Right now Tallulah... Hopefully shorter than Chayanne, but we'll see...

TW once again for child abuse, injured child, child sickness, and child murder! Also Tilín and Flippa are here a bit.

Tallulah is one of the younger eggs. She's from the same batch as Pomme, but problems with her... let's call it incubation mean that while she was supposed to be finished before Pomme, she was actually released after.

Which. Was only the start of the problems. Having clearly had problems developing, she was immediately subjected to a great many tests. Her hearing problems were therefore detected within hours of her 'birth', and should have been sufficient to have her immediately glooped down back into raw parts - just like what happens to kidnapped humans. When they tried to drag her to the reprocessor, however, it became apparent that she had full communication telepathy with one of the other eggs - narrowed down over the next few days to Chayanne. As she realised what was happening she screamed along the psionic bonds between the eggs, and it was very obvious to the psionically sensitive aliens handling her that she also got a reply. This... made her much more useful. If at creation she had full telepathy with one egg, then maybe she could be trained for more. She was for one of the lower Elders, anyway, if she could get short-range telepathy then what need had she of ears?

Training was hard. Psionic training involves heavy mental discipline and is incredibly physically taxing. Lots of meditation and fasting, but for periods longer than a child should be meditating messing her up somewhat - especially with punishments for not sitting still or asking for food. She developed some abilities, but not the ones they wanted from her.

It also made her asthma, missed during the initial checks, suddenly much more obvious with the increase in physical stuff. This was... more of a problem. Already imperfect with her hearing, the asthma was a step too far.

But she was also older, now, more expensive to melt down and, well, the Hunter got through his targets quickly. And once he'd killed an egg, he'd give them the corpse and then they could melt them down anyway! The Hunter, one of the Elder's darling Chosen Children, would be happier, and they'd get the corpse to melt down soon enough. This way, everyone is happy! Except Tallulah and all the eggs connected to her, but they aren't real people to the Feds so who cares.

So Tallulah is given to him.

Now. There are 10 eggs which are considered full successes - Dapper, Ramón, Leo, A1, and 6 who are not canon eggs and are dead-because-of-possession. Trump could also be considered successful, but because his Elder died before he was old enough to be possessed, he's treated as a corpse. For every successful egg, there are 10-20 failures. A lot of these are noticed as defective early, and turned back into gloop. Some are cut open and used to determine what went wrong - especially when a whole batch fails, or most of one. The majority, though... The majority are given to the Hunter.

See, the Hunter isn't like the Warlock or the Assassin. He isn't training Eggs, he's using them to train himself. He does not consider non-living targets suitable practice, as even a good robot just does not react like a person.

See, the Hunter is, well, a hunter. He releases the eggs are released into a carefully managed environment, and every so often he goes and hunts them down. Stalks them, snipes them, scares them and makes them run to practice hitting moving targets from absurd ranges. Snipes them in their sleep, and so forth. Some sneaky eggs survive a little while, but he finds them eventually.

So, Tallulah is thrown into the next delivery for him. There's a couple of other eggs there. None of them last very long.

When they are released, Tallulah has the sense to run. She immediately hides herself, and waits to find out what is going on.

She discovers pretty quickly when she sees some of her nearby siblings die.

Her asthma does not let her run much, but she is very good at hiding - much better than most. There's bugs in the environment - a little bit of forest blocked off on all sides by thick glass - which she learns to eat. There's a stream for water, though going to it is dangerous - the Hunter when he hunts knows to find them there, and he does not give warnings when he is about.

Somehow, she lasts a week.

And then two weeks.

And then she finds more eggs. These two have been there longer than her, carved out hidey holes well hidden all over the map. They are the best of friends, and each other's only friends - Tilín, and Juanaflippa. Those two had been sent together, and managed to evade him for months. Flippa wants to steal his gun and shoot him back; Tilín would rather use it to shoot the glass and escape. While nervous around a new egg they take a liking to Tallulah, and the three team up.

It's hard - it's so hard - now Tallulah is watching not only for herself, but for all three of them. Chayanne does his best to help, but he isn't there, and he only knows what Tallulah tells him and very strong emotions - he talks her through panic attacks, encourages her to keep running, lets her know if the Hunter is visiting the Assassin and so she and hers have a little bit safe.

Flippa is their ringleader, the loudest and brashest of the three. Tilín is a little snarky, but extremely anxious. Tallulah... she isn't sure where she fits in. But she is there.

Food is both harder and easier with three - the other two have worked out which berries are edible, and Tallulah knows all about the bugs. Flippa won't eat bugs, says they are her friends, but the three manage. They just about manage.

Starved of psionic energy none of them grow, and all of them are sick, but they survive.

They nearly don't.

One night, Flippa and Tallulah go down to the river to get water. It's usually safer, usually better to go at night. Sometimes the Hunter goes hunting in the dark, but he tends to stick to the light - night vision is not his problem.

Not that night, though - that night he hunts in the dark.

There's a trap set at the river. Flippa triggers it. With Chayanne talking her through it Tallulah gets Flippa out, but by then the Hunter is coming for them.

Both girls run. They run and keep running, doing their very best to escape. It's not possible, not usually and not with Flippa's injuries from the trap, but they try. They run and they run, and then the Hunter shoots at them. It's dark, and it's late, and their buckets are abandoned and they have no water, but they're small and it's dark and the Hunter is a long way away.

He shoots, and misses, and misses, and misses and-

And Tallulah never knows why she moves like she does, only that she has a terrible fear, and throws herself behind Flippa.

A bullet, aimed right at the shorter Flippa's head, hits Tallulah in the shoulder. She screams as it hits the carapace she has in place of skin there, cracks shattering outwards across the whole of it. It is agony, it is horror, she hears Flippa and Chayanne overlap - Chayanne inside her head and so louder - both screaming. She's grabbed, and pulled and somehow, somehow they get away.

They get back to Tilín, hidden away deep and dark in their current cave. He heard shots and hid himself even more than usual, tucked far away and barely visible.

None of them get much sleep after that. Tilín does his best to patch them back together, digging the bullet out of Tallulah's shoulder - it was a just bullet, thankfully, not weird tech, but it still goes deep enough to damage the muscle beneath. They don't have water, and bandages are only a concept they know about because of Chayanne. Flippa's ankle has giant metal teeth marks in it from the bear trap, the bone beneath broken. It's still easier to treat, however, than shattered carapace. It does clot, but Tallulah does not molt, not like a real bug. Instead it grows more like bone than true insect carapace, alongside her.

It doesn't heal like it, though - just clots, and the waxy layer extends over that clotting. It remains an obvious weak point, but also proof of survival; once with adults who care she makes sure to pad it, protect it from further damage, and then covers the entire area with long sleeves and high necklines.

But that is not yet - not even Chayanne has been rescued at that point. It is another year or so before help comes - Chayanne wanted to ask his parents to go for her sooner, but he didn't know where she was either, and once they did find the Hunter's base... he knew it was already top priority, they just couldn't do it.

And he apologised to Tallulah every night for failing to ask, promising that she's strong, and she'll be okay.

By that point the bushes have mostly been destroyed, the Hunter back to trying to bait them out. The bugs are also sleeping - Flippa takes the hit hardest, but both Tilín and Tallulah are also sick.

And then, one day, the glass breaks.

Sick and in pain and terrified the trio still sneak out. Tallulah watches their backs while Flippa steals weapons and Tilín pretends to know the way.

Flippa has a gun, and she intends to use it.

From Chayanne they know about how the Chosen respawn, and even how to get into their chambers; the three put their sneaking skills to use, breaking in.

Flippa tries to set up a shot, Tallulah and Tilín pretend they have confidence in her - she's seen the Hunter do this a lot, after all.

And then there are adults, one grabbing Flippa and taking the gun away. The three are terrified, expect trouble, but Tallulah recognises one - Philza - from Chayanne. She calms the others down a bit, already sick herself.

The after she doesn't remember, just waking up in a strange place, with a man playing a guitar at her bedside. He says his name is Wilbur, Philza - his dad - asked him to watch her while he works. Flippa and Tilín are already up, about and causing trouble, and Chayanne has been forced to get some sleep. He tells her she was very sick, but that she's safe and she's okay now.

And Tallulah... She wants to believe him.

She looks at his guitar, and thinks of Chayanne's happiness with his parents, and with bad hands writes if he will be her papa. Wilbur... Hesitates, says he wouldn't be good at this, that he's not reliable and she deserves better than him.

But he's gentle, and he's kind, and Tallulah is starving for something she does not know, but knows he can give her.

Her dejection seems to convince him, but he makes her promise to wait a few days before bonding to him.

She does, and finds she still wants him, and Wilbur relents.

She is haunted, but she is loved, and is that not what matters in the end?

Much later, when they are sure it is safe for one person to have multiple eggs - proven by Cellbit and Memory - she will also take Philza as a parent. But not until after the war, when Wilbur returns to traveling. It's not safe to take her with, but she'll get sick without a parent, and Philza is looking after her anyway, so... It makes sense, in the end.

[phoenix-flamed]

So. On this episode of, Where Has Vonny Been? Or rather, Why Hasn't Vonny Been Replying To IC Stuff, because I know it's been a while since I've done IC posts consistently.

I'm almost always under some kind of stress. I may not actually do much during the day, comparatively speaking, but my sister and I are caretakers for our disabled father. He's not too bad off, not like our mom was -- but he still needs someone here at all times to make sure he eats, gets his meds, etc., and most importantly, doesn't fall, because he can't get back up on his own.

Tied into the first point, no, to be entirely up front, I don't pull my weight around the house. I'm struggling hard with mental health issues, and a few physical health issues, that make it harder than it should be just to function enough to exist on a daily basis. I know, not an excuse. But rest assured that I do have a psychiatrist, am on medications, and speak with a therapist.

To again be upfront, I have Bipolar II, ADHD, Depression and Anxiety, and some level of agoraphobia, on top of the fact that I just generally overthink constantly. I am, at the time of posting this, still unable to get my hands on Concerta for my ADHD due to manufacturer backorder.

I have very limited energy. Like, seriously, I can't stress this enough. I have very limited energy to work with on a daily basis. Which makes things infinitely harder to get done, both IRL and on here.

My creativity is in the negatives these days. I used to draw and write/RP CONSTANTLY in my younger years. Then I started trying medications in order to help with my honestly-really-awful-while-untreated mental health issues, and my creative energy tanked. It's been almost a decade, and this still hasn't changed, unfortunately. Equally as unfortunate is the fact that while I desperately miss drawing and writing, because they were my creative outlets AND some things I'd wanted to do as a profession, I need my medications in order to function. So I can't exactly just... stop taking them and hope that creative spark reignites.

I know. A lot of very useless, very personal info that no one asked for, but here it is anyway. I know, RPing is a hobby, so there's no need to apologize. But where I do feel the need to apologize is that we are all here to write, at the end of the day. I don't want people to think that my inability to keep up with anything is because of lack of interest, or dislike for them or their muse, because I'm trying to snub them, etc. The truth is that I can't even keep up with remembering to eat lunch most of the time. So while I understand that people can, and have the right to, get fed up with waiting, I at least want to assure everyone that my slowness isn't personal against any of you.

[ladamedusoif]

Chimes at Midnight, or an EoY Ramble.

(divider by @saradika - thank you so much for your incredible work)

Who can cling to a ramblin’ Rose?

Good question. But cling to me for a few moments, as I ramble my way through an end of year post - of sorts. Personal shenans ahead.

I have no great wisdom to impart. No life lessons, no affirmations, just reflections and observations after a year where my entry into this fandom brought me much joy, kindness, love, and strength - and, unfortunately, some upset, hurt, and pain, too. 

But then, such is life, and while many of us use this space as an escape, the dynamics of just being human can’t help but filter through here, too.

I (and my 120k and counting words of fic - correction, my “ethical porn for nerdy types”) am here because of an alignment of events in early 2023. Here is my origin story:

I was stopped in my tracks one day by a friend’s Instagram story - or, specifically, by the twinkly-eyed, crinkly-eyed, smiley handsome man being interviewed in the video they’d shared. And something fired in my brain (bear in mind, a reaction like that is highly unusual for me).

Around the same time, my divorce process began. After a day of crying in my office and/or on the street, my sister sent me a message with some advice: You need something distracting and comforting. Watch The Mandalorian. You’ll like it.

(This is all her fault.)

I can only blame traumatised soon-to-be-divorcée brain for the fact that I didn’t quite immediately put the twinkly-eyed handsome smiling man together with the tin can dad with a voice like melted chocolate and an adorable green child that reminded me of my toddler niblings. Whoops. 

(Sorry, P. Divorcée brain!)

Long story short: it clicked, eventually, and with a hop, skip and a jump from “hey there, handsome” to “I love him a normal amount” via SNL, I ended up here. 

People often compare Tumblr and fandoms to the purest form of childhood friendship. Oh, you have a Bluey backpack? I like Bluey too. Let’s be friends? And it’s a perfect analogy. It was a joy and a comfort to realise that, after a lifetime of feeling like I had to hide and be ashamed of the things and people who made me happy, there were other people just like me who didn’t feel shame, and who helped me realise this was…normal? And good? And, though this might seem like a contradiction in terms, healthy?

I rediscovered the pure joy of shared fangirling (gn). I read other people’s beautiful fics and, overcoming my fears and anxieties, rediscovered the person I’d been until I went to college and only wrote academically/professionally - the person who always made up little stories for herself, who tapped out “novels” on her mother’s 1970s portable typewriter, who never went anywhere without a copybook for writing and drawing her stories, who dreamed of being a writer. I started to write Visiting, and people actually read it. 

And through that, and reading their words and talking/flailing in their DMs, I connected with people who in some cases became close friends. People who seemed to like me for me, for the me I was re-learning how to be after an incredibly traumatic period in my life. And that meant - and means - the world. 

(Not all of those connections or friendships were sustained, and I still don’t really understand what happened to end them - in some cases, abruptly and without explanation. All I can do is remind myself that people need different things at different times, wish them well, and allow myself to miss them.)

Gratitude sometimes gets a bad rap as a practice but it can be freeing and healing. So, putting aside the hurt and negative experiences and focusing on the good:

I am grateful for the affirming, kind, supportive relationships I’ve built through a mutual love of one (1) man. 

I am grateful for the way my presence in this community, however marginal and irrelevant I might feel, is kept going through mutual support and silliness. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to rediscover writing as creative practice and fun, rather than just something I have to do in my line of work (and which is bound up with anxiety in that respect).

I am grateful for the people who take the time not just to read but to respond to, share, and love on my work. (You’re amazing and I love you all!)

I am grateful for the people who showed and show me love even though they’ve never met me in person, and in myriad ways. (These ways include personalised birthday poems and fancams, sending me a copy of Esquire out of sheer kindness and surprising me - and my neighbour, who took in the package - with a talking Dinjamin figure. You all know who you are.)

I am grateful to my friend for her thirsty Instagram story and to my sister for her unwittingly consequential TV recommendation. 

And some general observations and reflections about my presence, experiences, and work here that I want to carry forward into 2024:

Popularity is definitely not a marker of quality.

You are entitled to have opinions and share them, even if they don’t follow the prevailing wind. Arguably, especially then.

Your feelings are valid.

Trust your gut.

It’s okay to want people to read and interact with your work, and to wonder why it doesn’t get picked up, no matter how many ‘write for you!’ posts you see from the Big Writers.

Speaking of which: if there’s room for everyone and everything, then there should be room for everyone and everything. Not just the chosen few and a handful of tropes.

Responsibility is a two-way street.

You’re worthy of love, kindness, and respect.

The love you take is equal to the love you make - or, in other words, give love and be receptive to it, whether in affirming messages, positive comments, or a simple flailing, excited reblog. 

Carry your little light, however fragile, into the new year.

With love, Rose. (And my Ben, below - print by the incredibly talented Alyssa Gonzalez)

[iwant-fuitgummi]

Sumeru Headcanons pt. 2!

(part 1 here!)

Kaveh

he/they/she

Genderfluid, Bisexual

Unofficially Dating Alhaitham

Family: None

Best Friends: Alhaitham, Faruzan

Carpal tunnel from drawing and writing so much. He has to wear wrist braces to help, along with pain medications.

They know sign language! They mostly learned it to talk to Alhaitham when he can't hear them (headphones), but now they just do it subconsciously. They talk with their hands a lot, so they end up signing while speaking without thinking.

She adopted those desert foxes from the Interdarshan Championship btw. Their names are Aida, Jalila, and Khalisa. They sleep in her bed and she makes food for them <3

He loves soup! Unfortunately, he doesn't make it for dinner often since Alhaitham hates soup. Sad.

They spend so long getting ready in the morning it's ridiculous. They get up like 2.5 hours earlier than Alhaitham. And Alhaitham gets up at 6:30, so. 4:00 am Kaveh wake up real.

She's got ADHD and always needs to be doing something with her hands. Alhaitham constantly buys silent fidget toys for her so she doesn't click her pen constantly.

All of the local stray animals come flocking as soon as they see Kaveh. He feeds and plays with them regularly, so they see him and are like omg! Food is here! And pets! Yay!!

They always see the best in people, no matter what. Their motto is "I'd rather trust a thousand bad people than miss the opportunity to befriend one good one."

She has schizophrenia. She often hears music playing when there is none, and will see and speak to people who aren't there. Alhaitham often has to tell her that she's talking to herself. She'll still talk to the hallucinations, she'll just keep in mind that they aren't real.

He and Faruzan are 100% gossip buddies. They share designs and tell each other rumors.

Dehya

she/her

29

Cisgender Woman, Lesbian, Polyamorous

Dating Candace and Dunyarzad

Family: Kusayla (Father), the Blazing Beasts (Found Family)

Best Friend: Dunyarzad

Her right arm is a prosthetic. That's why she was so willing to get it cut off. She knew it wasn't gonna physically affect her.

She has nerve damage in her hand from using her vision so much.

She is ALWAYS training when she's not busy. Either that, or she's practicing doing makeup on Candace, Dunyarzad, or Nilou.

She's in a polyamorous relationship with Dunyarzad and Candace. She was with Candace first, but gradually developed feelings for Dunyarzad. Candace gave her the go ahead to ask her out, and she now has two amazing, beautiful girlfriends who she'd die for <3

Dehya's honestly awesome there's not much more to say. She's so cool and I love her.

Dori

she/we

12

Family: Layla (Sister)

Best Friend: Nobody (She's a scammer)

Okay Dori's difficult for me. I'm a white American, so I don't have any say on her design and character. I've seen Turkish people say that it's bad and that it's good, so...yeah.

Anyways, I gave her darker skin, mostly to match with Layla. I also covered her arms because I can't think of a single kid who would wear that top. I also just overall darkened her color palette so that it wouldn't clash with her new skin tone.

I don't have many thoughts on her at all tbh. She's pretty controversial so I try not to think about her too much.