#criticism very appreciated hh

[the-s1lly-corner]

Various HH characters x Artist reader

Prize 4/5 for @coldestcoconut

This post contains: Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, Angel Dust, Husk, Sir Pentious, and Nifty

Notes: Reader is GN

CWs: None

CHARLIE

Its canon that Charlie herself is an artist, she makes her own presentations and everything! Shes very open to sharing her supplies with you, though a lot of the colors she has are very bright and saturated. You might inspire her to have an artsy based exercise in the hotel, you... may get a few groans and looks from some of the other hotel residents.. whoops.. gushes and goes insane whenever you make something for her or really show her anything, she can go on for hours and hours about how lovely your work looks! Woukd put it on the fridge/hj

VAGGIE

Not at all an artist, and she doesnt... exactly know techniques and terms. She is proud of you and shes trying her best to show that, but... her compliments seem to fall a little flat when praising you thanks to her voice as well as her just not knowing terms. A lot of the time its comments like "oh, this looks good," whereas other characters can say WHY it's good. Though is that really that important when seeking validation? Keeps all the art you give her in a folder somewhere, neat and away from harm

ANGEL

It should be a given that hes going to ask if you can draw something... rather inappropriate. Were you really surprised? He might likely also ask you to draw fat nuggets, he even offers to pay you. Keeps some of your doodles pinned up on his vanity mirror on his room. Hes an artist, just not in the way you are. He has an appreciation for your work even if it's a different genre! It doesnt matter what your skill level is, hes going to be a little interested. He offers to pose for you if you need a quick reference, he can offer something interesting thanks to his flexibility! Free of charge, too!

ALASTOR

Similar to Angel, hes an artist just in a different way! Angel is a dancer and an actor, and Alastor uses radio as his medium! Hes.. interested enough in your work, though he can be a little more.. critical in his criticisms (but only if you ask for it, hes not rude!). He doesnt intent to fully stamp out your excitement, hes simply trying to get you to reach your fullest potential as an artist. It is balanced out by elements he enjoys in your art. Watches you like a hawk when you work. Dont try to be sneaky and try to draw him, he already knows what you're doing.. but he might just allow it, it's not like you're using a camera

HUSK

Hes indifferent, at least.. mostly.. he listens when you talk about your hobby and he makes sure you know hes paying attention. But you can tell that hes not sure how to keep the conversation going thanks to him just... not being into art. Sure he can tell when something has talent and had work put into it, but hes not the type to sit down and really dissect a piece. Though... his appreciation for art does grow thanks to you. Keeps the doodles you slide to him while he's working the bar- gets a little pissed at himself if part of the papers get wet from the condensation from the drinks

SIR PENTIOUS

NIFTY

She draws! As a hobby and when shes not warring with the bugs in the hotel! Sometimes the two of you sit and draw together- though Niftys more.. scribbling on the papers. Shes just excited is all! Don't ask where she got the red paint from. Hoardes the art you give her, very possessive of the drawings. Probably attempts to stab someone if they get too close to her stash

Hes a bit artistic himself, being an inventor and all! He draws his own blueprints and as well as his own designs. It may not be the same as the things you may create, but it's still a bonding point between the two of you. He let's you use his fancy pens and stuff, just please return them! Will praise you to heaven and back whenever you show him something, he knows some art terms and you can bet hes going to be using them to really push his praise! If you ever draw him anything hes going to keep it, likely framing it as well!

[mblue-art]

Sorry for that question but I really curious!

What made you fell in love with Cross and Lust?

Tell us more!!

😳😳😳 hhuh what rreally,, , ,,, 😳 u wanna hear me yap abt my sillies, my beloveds,,, (i appreciate the enthusiasm tho omg 🥺🫶🫶🫶)

i want to have the yuris with lust and the yaois with cross I I MEAN HWHWAT 🧍‍♂️

UM.

haha anyWAY,, (oh gog this ended up long)

🍫—

cross checks so many boxes for me it makes me go insane. too good to be true. versatile(??)— like it's somehow way too easy to put him in Situations. (he's bf and husbone material??? just -20hp me now; that already kills me) he's. hh. gawddamn there's reasons why he won a utmv sans sexyman poll.

he's like a crush that you can't get out of your head no matter what you do, i'm so freaking down bad for him it's not even funny anymore. ever since simping for cross i have not been the same since. the man has changed me. the attraction/simp feelings hit me like a bat out of nowhere and i don't understand why it's so intense— i. hh.

,,i like when ppl make him dorky. stupidly silly (absolutely love shitpost shenanigans and would absolutely LOVE to get into silly shenanigans with him and with/without his bestie epic). fun to be around when he's deemed you as a good friend. stars, he'd give good hugs. strong, solid, and warm, the kind of hugs u don't wanna pull away from so soon. a little endearingly cringe. fanon simp cross is adorable and fun to mess around with. tsundere cross is adorable and fun to mess with. cute anxious guy under all that intimidating aloofness. when i say his smile is an absolute treasure, i mean that. his blush making him look like a grape or a glowing bulb is adorable and makes me wanna tease him more. anime protag/character vibes so strong i wanna have a cute bl/shoujo manga romance with him type shit yk.

then there's times when he's The Hot Dude and i think it's illegal if he's all confident and smug and dom actually (/hj) cause that makes me wanna fucking fite him HELLO? SIR? ILLEGAL????? (<- the fight or flight response of a tsundere towards a milder tsundere LOL).

-hp every single time. mf gets successful d20 rolls w/ rizz on me and i get a critical hit every time. it's a 50/50 either i fluster to death and become weak or i wanna fite his dumbass

i'll. i can fight him. i'll lose but i can fight him for sure. (why is he so cool⁉️‼️💢💢💢RRRRRRR)

he makes me feel things. lots of things. (mostly fluster but when i'm feelin sooper soff i jst wanna shower his skull in keeses. ima kissy lil guy)

tired cross makes me just wanna take care of him. want him to come home to me without any worry because he thinks i'm his safe space.

when he's being stubborn i want to tell him to chill out for a little while, take a break and watch some funny stuff while drinking choccy milk or eating his fav foods and be cozy. bapping him if he's gonna try to get out of this too soon. he's gonna get the free time he deserves n relax n get cuddles n kithes.

the way he can gently hold my hand and look at me with a sincere look in his eyelights and say something genuinely affectionate feels like cupid shooting an arrow through my soul, but also feels like a balm. (a promise of loyalty and faithfulness.) (a kiss on the forehead? a cherry on top.)

well now i can't be mean to him with all the nice he's saying and doing. i just want nice things for him o(-< (even if he's a bastard sometimes lol<3 all circles back to the silly) (silly is always important)

💜—

i love lust. so so so much. the fanon interpretation of him, anyway.

(don't get me wrong, i absolutely adore the feminine slay content of lust; but am i wrong for yearning for more masc lust content?)

i like my lust sans respectful, goofy, sans-like, an absolute sweetheart, and a caring, wonderful life partner. under the flirty personality and charm(ing looks), is a sans behavior that made me fall deeper. (he makes me feel very gender too) (ohmygofd yeah no he actually makes me think of gender sometimes rauauagrrgh<3/pos). i don't have to worry about showing my cring, weird side to him, because he's also a gremlin,, o(-< he doesn't have to present himself all nice and pretty all the time (although he's always pretty in my eyes). he can be comfortably himself; with me 🥺

i want to be his safe space.

i want to see him heal and be happy and be happy with me and give him all the love i can give and care for him and make him soso happy i just want him to feel SO sosososo loved, he deserves so much more

he's the only one who's able to get a certain reaction out of me; to pull flowers out of my heart. to pull out words of love and devotion and appreciation, heart bursting with affection only for him.

for him, i would try. i would live for him. i wish someone like him (the him i've created from interpretations and headcanons) was real irl.

i want to not care i don't care if he's a gorgeous well-known person that people fawn over, or if he's a campus crush, etc.,

i want him to think i'm worthy enough to keep in his life. for him to know how special he is to me, for him to know how much i want him in my life as much as i want him to keep me in his.

my immediate reaction when i think of him is: 😊💕💜💜💜eeeee kicks and giggles and flaps hands teehee

i love him so much i get a heart-on for him (/silly but it is true sometimes; love him so much it aches (in a good way))

[chaifootsteps]

Howdy! Odd has arrived! ^^

Here is Viv practically encouraging/congratulating fans for pestering someone over a goddamm meme. Regardless if they presented a good argument or not, they very much mocked and flooded this person with their own opinions, took the meme too seriously, and so on.

Btw not all the fans were rude about this opinion, I would like to clarify, some were pretty chill and understood WHY the appeal wasn't to the individuals liking and pointed out a bad decision the person made, reasonably might I add.

But of course there were those who flooded this person with their opinions and treated it as though it is fact.

Some would even use the argument that HH was independent and had no funding from a company like SU and other shows and so should not get criticism or be compared to other shows.

Observe how bs that argument is

So yeah, that argument is trash.

I like how the person who made this meme specifically said not to harass anyone involved with the show, and Vivzie expressed her appreciation for this (while getting in another jab), but she almost never makes a move to call off her fandom when they're harassing someone. On the contrary, she encourages it.

[demiaroacejadeharley]

This post contains some spoilers from The Amazing Digital Circus. This post also contains critiques in regard to Vivziepop, Helluva Boss, and Hazbin Hotel. Vivziepop stans (as in the people who defend her work and her as a person) are not allowed to interact with me. Any Vivziepop fan who sends me asks (especially Anon asks) will be deleted. Any fans who DM me will have their message deleted and will be blocked. Finally, anyone who screenshots this post and makes a post tagging me in it to defending Vivziepop will be blocked.

I'm not trying to get people to harass Vivziepop and harass anyone who is a fan of her. And I'm not trying to stop people from supporting Vivziepop and not trying to make people feel bad about supporting her either. Watch whatever you want. Take this post with a grain of salt. And if you get somewhat upset with the criticisms I have for Vivziepop, then that's your problem.

Vivziepop antis and critical fans are allowed to interact.

Earlier today, I watched The Amazing Digital Circus, and these are my final thoughts.

Honestly, the pilot was really good, and I'm looking forward to it finally becoming a full-fledged series. And I'm looking forward to it expanding the Lore as well. I'm curious as to how Pomni got trapped there in the first place and other stuff like the void and the exit door thing.

What I appreciate it is that it didn't need copious amounts of swearing, unlike other comedy web series like Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. There were swears, but they were more spread out and brief on top of the swears being censored.

Even though Gooseworx has worked with Vivziepop in the past, I find TADC to be leagues better than HH and HB. I've seen a video about the drama surrounding Gooseworx, but from what I've seen,the stuff they have done is much more tame than the shit Vivziepop has pulled.

I hope to see more Amazing Digital Circus content to come out in the future. I'm interested as to see where the series will go. Unlike Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, it didn't feel like I was watching something that felt like it was created by an edgy middle schooler. The female characters had much more personality than the ones from HH and HB, despite it being just a pilot.

Another thing to point out is that the cast of TADC had a lot of fresh faces to the voice acting industry, unlike Hazbin and Helluva Boss, where Vivziepop relied on casting big name actors in order to garner more attention to her work. And I'm going to be fully honest, I find it really sus at the fact that the OG cast of HH couldn't return because they didn't unionize in order to get their roles back. A lot of them were fully new to the industry, too, which is the sad part. I wish that Vivziepop wouldn't rely on hiring big-name actors in her work and would hire people who are very new to the voice acting scene who are desperate to land a role as some of them rely on voice acting as their main source of income.

To end this post, I just want to point out that I'm not blaming Vivziepop for the fact that the original cast of Hazbin Hotel didn't get their roles back. But at the same time, that whole situation feels questionable to me. Until I hear the full story about it, then I'll decide if she should be held accountable or not. However, the whole hiring big actors thing has been a critique of mine for a while on top of the use of the r slur in Helluva Boss (even though it was only said once and was almost again, it shouldn't have been used at all as it's an ableist slur and I'm a disabled person who has been called the r slur many times in the past). I'm fully aware that HB takes place in hell, but using hell as a way to excuse the use of the r slur is ableist. It's still ableist to call someone the r slur regardless of the setting and the context. The r slur should never be used as a way to call someone stupid. I'm not sure if Vivziepop wrote the script herself, but whoever is in charge of the script should be careful of the type of language they use in the show. I'm fully aware that both Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are adult shows, but it doesn't mean it's an excuse to normalize offensive and bigoted language. It doesn't help that the shows poorly portray women (like how Millie is just reduced to being Moxxie's wife and likes killing) even though the creator of both shows is a woman.

I'm just gonna stop here for now. I'm going to go back to waiting for more Amazing Digital Circus content to come out.

[whiskersz]

Matchup???

hihihihi, I’m Gray, yes like the color/colour. I’m Agender(afab) and use any pronouns, I’m ace and on the arospec (I think I’m lithioromantic?) Ive had 3 crushes, 1 fem, 1 nb, 1 male. If you’re doing romantic, I do tend to have a preference towards masc people.

I’m honestly pretty average, I’m very middle energy between chill and energetic, it fluctuates depending on who I’m with. I’m an ISFJ 9w1 if that helps. I am the therapist friend and sometimes the mom friend. I am very much a listener, if someone starts ranting I’ll listen intently through it all even if it’s for 4 hours. I have gotten so many hyperfixations that way. I have generalized anxiety disorder (gad) and im currently being tested for adhd.

I’m fine with romantic or platonic, if you want to you can do both

My hobbies include piano, I’m currently learning Duet from Omori, Art, I usually sketch characters don’t usually do big projects unless it’s for a class, baking, I tend to make brownies and cookies, though I can make other stuff like cake, and this isn’t really a hobby but sleeping, I love sleeping(which is weird because I either sleep really fast or I don’t sleep til 6am)

I like my friends, art, rain, comfy clothes like hoodies and sweaters, music, my favorite artists at the moment are Jack Stauber and Khai Dreams, dreaming, reading, puzzles, sudoku, plushies, sleeping, butterflies, Arctic foxes, kittens, fictional characters, and fandoms, some of those include dhmis, hh, interloper(arg), home safety hotline, etc. Some things I dislike are really tight clothing, being yelled at, harsh criticism with no compliment of what I did do good, being left out, feeling lonely, overthinking, my face, specifically my nose, mouth and forehead, pushing people away, ghosting people, and confrontation is a big one.

If you’re doing romantic, please don’t ship me with Angel Dust, I see him in a very brotherly sense. Similarly with husk.

I have listed characters before that I simp over and usually it’s either stoic and kind of cold or excitable and kinda babygirl vibes (I don’t know how else to describe it) and I already said above that I tend to have a preference towards masc

Something else that I could add is I do tend to have a trope I like? I don’t know if it means anything but I’m in love with rude or some other kind of negative adjective but has a soft spot for that one person and soulmate aus but that’s something else.

-Gray🦋

Hey Gray! So sorry for the delay, your matchup is finally here though! I decided to go with a platonic matchup c:

I match you with...

Charlie!

· You seem like a very wholesome person, so I personally think that Charlie would be a great friend for you, being equally amiable!

· She’s your number one supporter and she tries to help you ease your anxiety on particularly bad days; she reassures you that you don’t need to match her energy all the time, and that it’s okay if you feel anxious, she will try her best to be there for you and help.

· She might need some guidance as well, being in charge of the Hotel and all. This is where your mom friend side comes in; she greatly appreciates that you try to help her back, and that you listen to her in times of need. Sometimes she just needs to let it out to figure out what to do next, and you’re the person she goes to for it.

· You will also get to listen to her rants for hours! No matter what they’re about. They will mostly be about the Hotel and how she can improve the quality of life in it, but she will ask your opinions on it as well, and occasionally rant about her interests too. She of course loves listening to you as well, so don’t hesitate to rant back!

· Charlie loves that you like sketching, because she loves drawing too! You show each other what you make and she’s so happy to be sharing a hobby with you, where you can tell each other what you like about the other’s art and point out where to improve if needed. I feel like it’s more about the first thing though, as you both like doing it casually more than anything, so it’s a very positive experience!

· She also likes singing to the tunes of your piano; the others will stop by, mesmerized by your skill and her angelic voice.

· Charlie of course respects all of your dislikes; on your first day at the Hotel you inform her that you dislike tight clothing, and she makes you find a bunch of cosy and oversize clothes on your bed as a way to make you feel comfortable and welcomed.

· She also never makes you feel left out, and always includes you in every activity that she organizes whether it be with the other residents of the Hotel or as just a friend outing or hang out.

· She’s also not a big fan of confrontation, so she gets your dislike for it. If anything, you two can go through it together, and advise the other on how to handle it the best.

· She will also pull you out of your overthinking by coming up with some fun activity to do together; maybe you can give your favorite show a rewatch with her, or you can introduce her to all the plushies that you own- the possibilities are endless!

[onecantsimply]

New Idea Headcanons-

The idea here is Jack The Ripper x Nanami Kento Reader.

The reader is completely gender neutral, so no one has to worry about things leaning purely towards the woman or male gender. Anyways, onto the info- 

The reader is a natural salaryman who never felt appreciated and never believed their work had any effect on anyone. But in contrast, being a Sorcerer meant that this would allow them to build up small amounts of trust and appreciation from innocent people that were in need of saving. For the reader... it tends to be something that would allow them to live without regrets. Until they saved the wrong person, that is. (Jack was probably in the middle of his “Art piece” until he got attacked by a Curse. And now here you are, saving him. This man stalked you until you confronted him.)

The reader is capable of an ability called Ratio Technique, or 7:3. It’s an ability that allows the reader to mark their target’s body with lines divided into tenths. If the reader successfully strikes one of the lines on exactly the 7:3 ratio point, a critical point will occur, and delivers a heavy hit to the target. This allows them to deal a good amount of damage on tougher opponents, but may as well completely slice someone in half if they’re weaker than the reader in general. 

Being Nanami Kento does tend to be a firm match, maybe especially with his personality. The reader will adopt this into their own, sporting a reserved or calm personality most of the time. This makes them rather a bit too serious of their work, but the reader will know when to separate their time from work. Due to their seriousness, this can make them rather blunt and straight to the point, sometimes coming off as rude. They don’t very much happen to care for much optimism, or any questions others may have that depends on them to interpret what it means. Naturally, since they come off as rude at times, it would be natural for them to express their irritation without a second thought. It can be seen through their expression, words, or color. This happens to make it rather obvious that they hate going Overtime, and is very serious about not going a minute over their regular time. 

This of course puts them at an advantage against Jack somewhat, but who knows what that man could do, especially when it comes to him being utterly obsessed with you-? HH- 

Warnings:mentions of murder, long headcanons, spoilers to the Jack The Ripper Spin-off, and (maybe) out of character JTR.

Oh, right. About the real Jack The Ripper within the spin-off being Luke Evans, we’ll pretend that didn’t exist. Our Jack will be the real JTR for now-

Anyways, onto the content-

This man is worried for you just because of your job. He knows it’s a pretty crazy one from how strong those Curses are in general. It only increases his worry for you. Even if you’re strong on your own, there are still curses that are much stronger than you are- He fears the day you won’t come home. That’s why Jack happens to cling to you every time you get home. If you’re not going to come back home one day, he’d prefer your last moments with him to be in comfort. 

- At times where you do go out with him, Jack always does happen to stay close to you, always keeping you within his line of sight. As a Jujutsu Sorcerer and a salaryman, you do happen to be tired most of the time. (Which makes cuddle sessions easier.) But outside, Jack always does tend to stay cautious, especially when you’re like this. He doesn’t want you to kill any Curses during the time you’re off the job, so he’ll always pull you along when he knows you saw something like a Curse or not. 

- Both you and Jack tend to enjoy going to a cafe during your days off. Talking with each other for the entire time you’re with him always has him in a relieved state. To see that color of love swirling within your body each time you look at him, even if your expression may not show it all the time. It always does tend to be stoic or something like that. Except when you’re irritated. That tends to show very easily. But anyways, back to the cafe, the waitresses there happen to know your orders the moment you get there. 

Well, to fast forward to if you know if Jack is... the infamous killer in the area, I would like to think of it as yes. You may as well be the one to keep Jack in check, since no one had been there to do it before. Of course there’s the deal with genuine love, but there is also the point that you don’t want any more innocent people to get killed, even if Jack may think of them as “impure” or things like that. 

- Speaking of him being an infamous killer, some of his kills are from jealousy. Not only does he want his victims to feel fear, but he may have targeted them because of a color they may have had or something they may have done while you were out and about, doing your own thing. (Getting a sandwich from your favorite bakery, making your way to work, going home, on the Jujutsu Sorcerer job.) Jack does appreciate your loyalty when you make it clear that you’re married already. Now, time to brutalize someone- 

- Of course, since he appreciated your loyalty, and saw that the person had done something with you, that would have meant that this man stalked you. And damn, he does that on a mostly daily basis. He can be rather protective, especially when it comes to how you yourself are. You attract people, whether it be platonic or romantic. Jack’s just glad to be the one that had actually managed to catch your heart. It only has him more determined to keep it, and kill anyone that tries to go for it as well. You already belong to him, so why would others still be going after you?

Jealousy has now been ensured in his body. It’s honestly pretty irritating while you’re off to your own work. In the beginning, Jack had stalked you, seeing how you had done your work in brutalizing curses. Some in which you had used your techniques on, and some not. Now, Jack doesn’t seem to be particularly as worried as he used to be. But when you don’t get home by your regular time, that’s when he starts to get worried sick. I’m damn well sure he can see and hear that large rumble that had went on just a bit far away from London. 

- Yep. He’s going over there, only to find you with your tie around your hand. You seem to have used Overtime again. Just... thank Chidaruma you’re alright. Bet that Jack will accompany you home, making sure you’re okay in the process of doing so. It’s something he happened to learn of that made you rather warm. You always did love when he had checked on you, checking for any wounds. It’s something that Jack had carried on, continuing to do each time you seemed a bit different when you had gotten home. 

- Home... the best place for the both of you. A place you can relax and spend time with your husband. (If he’s not doing his own “activities.”) But when he is home, he always does tend to love doing activities like making tea for the both of you. There could also be cuddling on the couch or bed. Usually, you’re the one to keep him held close. (He’s now your bbg HH) Please make sure he’s tightly held so he can’t go outside for his activities- 

[dearestaeneas]

resisting the temptation to ask you every one of the questions from the writer ask game and instead asking: 2, 3, 7, 13 (i'm guessing i know the answer to this but consider this an open invitation to share some fun lore), 26, 29, 30

kicking my feet and writing your name in hearts all over my dream journal

2) my two newest ocs are Matt + Justin! i was working on a thing for a zine i want to submit to, and the theme was 70s/80s/90s campy horror, so i picked just two lame ass 90s boy names. it's a silly little queer slasher story that i didn't expect to go so in-depth on!

3) uhhhhhh. my biggest self insert is probably that John Dearheart character i post little blurbs about sometimes. i realized i'm probably gonna need to change his name if i post more about him, though, because i completely forgot he's a Discworld character. i've been rereading Going Postal lately and while i was waiting for the library loan to come in i was scrolling through its tumblr tag and got whiplash seeing his name. it is deeply humbling thinking you had an original name and not only seeing its an already-established character, but an already-established character from a BOOK YOU'VE READ BEFORE. outside of him as my vent character, i put myself into all my characters! i'm very vain! Branwen and Ardan are my two biggest ones from hh, and lately its been Branwen more just for the sake of story themes :3

7) Celeste and the Old God is actually one of my favorite pairs to write about, and it's wild to me that i don't have them interact more. i think what really gets me about them is that Celeste's entire deal is that she's...normal. she has a "normal," healthy relationship with religion, and criticizing it is included in that, i think. and for that reason, those two are the closest to being equals. having one character be a devout believer/her religious trauma being something you actively get to see be established throughout the story (branwen) v. another character who's extremely cynical to the point of numbness who doesn't believe in anything (ardan), and in a context where branwen is genuinely helpless vs. ardan having more control than he realizes/freaks him out when he does realize it, it's so fun to write Celeste as being on equal playing ground. it's important to me that her entire deal is "actually no fuck you, you need me just as much as i need you." and i think that equal playing ground is why they have kind of a begrudging friendship.

i also like writing branwen and ardan together because they are bisexual.

13) not really any of them i don't do that kind of stuff<3*

26) American Gods!!! And Slaughterhouse Five. those are the two i always automatically say when asked! i read If We Were Villains sometime last year and it rewired my brain, also. i found it because of The Secret History, which also rewired my brain. Both of those books fundamentally changed my brain chemistry, but secret history did it derogatorily, if that makes sense. great book. i never think i have feelings about it until i start talking about it. Donna Tartt i am nearing your location. (also Piranesi!<3)

29) probably Harry Potter? unfortunately? (also, sucks that i have to say 'unfortunately'. like most people, those stupid books were very important to me at one point in my life! mostly because of the stuff i did with my friends because of it! go fuck yourself, Joanne!) i deffo wrote fanfic, though. i had a huuuuge fic i handwrote with a bunch of my friends

not my first fandom, but i thought you'd appreciate: i was also a huge percy jackson kid. obviously. probably more so than harry potter. i took latin in middle school, and one year we had this pretty big multi-part project where we could pick different prompts for different parts. super cool and fun, had i been the person i am now who actually like, cares about things and puts effort into them! but i suffered from the disease of all middle schoolers where i Fucking Sucked. i didn't realize one of my parts was due one day, and during the lunch period i speed-wrote percy jackson fanfiction that i had to Read Out Loud To The Class and then hand in for a grade. i got a 100, but only after reading it out loud, having what i believe was my first out of body experience, and then going back to my seat where one of my friends leaned over and said "was that the fucking plot of Mark of Athena"

30) good!!!! we're actively getting a snowstorm and i'm hoping it keeps up so work is cancelled tomorrow! who knows how lucky i'll be but i can hope!!

*if i was normal i could have left 13 at that and just let myself be funny, but i am nothing if not verbose. obviously hh! in taking up your offer to share fun lore, there's one character who i have been avoiding talking about because i think everything about him is so integral to the plot that like, making goofs about him would be a spoiler (is that...full of myself to say? it would be, though). that said, since the idea of "equals" is so relevant throughout hh, he's been fun to write because he technically falls on the Celeste end of the spectrum, but he's using it for evil. literally. a lot of his deal is unintentionally "what makes a god a god" and how he's this sort of nebulous figure because no one can agree what his deal is. he is accidentally my Odysseus character, and it kills me to admit that. little pansexual freak who wants to kill god.

[retphienix]

@sont

(Even though I've little to add I wanted to make it a post since the replies are becoming lengthy)

(This is in response to a thread discussing just how significant the overhaul to HH in Rise actually is, and how upsetting this can be since you don't get to opt in or out, and how the Rise HH should/could have been a 15th weapon- and I agree and consider the context of just how big a change it was / how it's not optional in Rise is good for the discussion on Rise HH- both for the positives and negatives of it.)

(Side note, on the positive side for people who prefer non-Rise HH, there's like, literally no way my beloved Rise HH gets to continue on in the next monhun ;_;, but at least I still like classic HH and outside of Rise I've always been a GS main so I'll survive)

THERE IS SO MUCH POTENTIAL TO ADDING MORE SUPPORT WEAPONS AND SO MANY FUN HH DESIGNS THAT COULD BE ADJUSTED TO FIT IT!

I'm not particularly picky on how it'd be implemented (beyond gameplay, please let me use Echo 😔(Performance is fine too but...)), but I would love to see it attempted.

Not to literally counterplay you're proposal- just to BS my ideas because the overall idea is SO SICK- Maybe Flute can be all about being a DPS half support, aggressive moveset (as we know), and reliable uptime on their songs, but lower the efficacy of their songs.

So Flute could be in charge of all the generally unappealing or tertiary songs of monhun, things like (old, not elem res +10 version)blight resist, wind, tremor, maybe specific element defenses like Fire Res songs. And the understanding would be that it's a general DPS weapon that applies basic buffs and you can reliably have them up the whole hunt.

HH could have their songs efficacy improved even further potentially, from the 20%s of old to 30% perhaps. I'm not saying it because the sheer existence of Flute would require a buff, but just because I fuckin' love HH (old and new) so Capcom buff HH more for no reason lol

But truly, having HH's music library tilt more towards actually impactful songs- maybe (probably best to avoid overlap to grant identity to both) overlapping with Flute songs but better versions perhaps (Like Tremor + Wind (maybe even + Earplugs) on one song vs Flute needing 2 songs), mostly just the concept of HH bringing the damage boosting stuff and the VERY GOOD assist songs like Sharpness modifiers and Flute being the side-grade songs sounds cool to me.

Flute and Horn weapon designs being similar as if they are part of a band along monster trees sounds so fucking cool.

God, generally hype at just the thought of granting HH even better "Buff" songs and taking the 'fluff' and applying it to Rise HH- it genuinely sounds like a fun way to handle it.

Oh, and since I sadly don't have the most to add to the following discussion you shared beyond the usual "Yep, that's the thing" I'll simply say it and nod supportingly your way because that's valid arguin' on preference:

You're statement on how Rise's switch skills lead to some overwhelming experiences, offered unfair benefit and preference to certain weapons, and took away part of the appeal of mastering a weapon that stays the same from day 1 to 100 and only you improve- all valid takes.

There's a lot to be said on the spinoff's switch skill mechanic. Honestly, most of my takes are positive- but only under the guise of it being a spinoff. Like, if Capcom came out and said "Switch skills are staying forever!" I'd be WAY more critical of them.

As they are, they grant me a lot of variety and appeal to weapons I didn't appreciate as much before.

But.

It also entirely broke balance in this game lol. And it killed identity for some weapons, and it DOES make the game more complicated in ways that can be overwhelming, and it DOES hold some weapons back until you unlock the proper switch skills-

AND IT BECOMES TWICE AS COMPLICATED WITH SWITCH SKILL SWAP-

it does all that and more, but I like it in isolation for one title.

I arguably feel the way you seem to about Rise, about Gen lol

I find Gen overwhelming and messy with all the styles and arts, it's a god dang cacophonous mess of options.

But that's also kind of the point of Gen? So I'm not 'mad' at it, it's just not my flavor of monhun.

I spent all my time in base Gen playing Guild Style Great Sword, IE, I was handed a game with a billion options, got overwhelmed, became grumpy, and decided to just pretend it didn't exist lol

I kinda regret that, I wanna give GU more of a fair shake since it's obviously NOT the future of monhun- it's a one-off spinoff expressing its own unique identity, I can respect that.

Not to imply a read on how you feel about Rise, just to share my experience of feeling a previous spinoff "Was good at what it wanted to do, and not for me" lol

Overwhelming options are a thing, and can be annoying as hell.

ANYWAYS. MORE SUPPORT WEAPONS!

HUNTING FLUTE OR BUST, CAPCOM!

Also that Lance support idea I keep bringing up, come on Capcom, give us more support weapons because it's neat and grants the community some variety beyond "Which DPS stick do you prefer?"

[risottonendoroid]

please for the love of the gods read this and tell me if it sounds okay.

  Giorno woke up surrounded in warmth, as usual. Under the covers, his arm was wrapped around a small boy. On his other side, another boy was practically spooning him. He glanced over at the clock on the wall. 6:42 am.

  The sunlight began to peek through the curtains, though it wasn't very strong since it was just beginning to rise. Unfortunately, Giorno was stuck. If he did move, he'd risk waking up either of his boyfriends, and he really didn't want to do that. They were both sleeping so soundly.

  Gio always woke up earlier than both of them. He was an early riser by nature, and no matter how late he stays up, he always wakes up around 6:30, maybe even earlier. In all fairness, his dad was the same way. However, unlike his father, Giorno wasn't a vampire.

  He closed his eyes and attempted to go back to sleep, but he just wasn't tired. Narancia stirred slightly next to him, mumbling something softly in his sleep. The blonde couldn't help but smile gently at how cute he was. He rolled slightly over in his sleep and fell off the bed.

  A short yelp escaped Narancia's lips. Giorno peeked over the bed quickly, hoping he was okay. This wasn't the first time he'd done this, but Giorno was always concerned when Nara had done something stupid and potentially injured himself. Fugo slept through the yelp, but woke up when Gio moved.

  "Whats going on?" he asked, soft and sleepy.

  "Narancia fell again. Are you alright?"

  Narancia gave a thumbs up to Giorno. "Fine!"

  Fugo groaned and flopped back onto the bed. "Why don't you just get your dad to buy a bigger bed for us? He has a shit ton of money, doesn't he?"

  Giorno got off the bed and helped Narancia up. "I'd love to, but you know how he is."

  "Super scary and intimidating?"

  "Sexy as hell?"

  Narancia and Fugo (respectively) said at the same time, then looked at each other with slight confusion on their faces. Fugo shook his head and looked back to Giorno.

  "Look, if we're going to continue cuddling like this at night, we either do it on the floor or ask your dad for a bigger bed."

  There was visual discomfort on Giorno's face. He didn't dislike his dad, but he certainly didn't really get along with him either. He was overbearing and overdramatic, along with plenty of other things.

  Speak of the devil and he shall come, there was a knock on Giorno's door. The door cracked open with a slight creek and a gleam from the darkness on the other side of the door. A pair of pinkish glowing orbs gleamed into the room. "Giorno," said the eyes.

  He didn't say anything, but he meaningfully looked into the pinkish glowing eyes.

  "Vanilla Ice made breakfast. Please come down with your boyfriends." With that, the eyes faded and the doorway was empty once again. A cool breeze blew in from the opening.

  Giorno sighed and began getting dressed. He considered wearing his suit, but then decided upon something more casual for once. Black high-waisted skinny jeans and a striped shirt he tucked into the jeans. Fugo started to get dressed to, following Giorno's example and dressing casual. Ripped jeans and a baggy red and black t-shirt. Narancia never changed out of his regular clothes, but considered it'd be weird if he were the only one not wearing casual clothes. He changed into a blue button down shirt with little oranges printed on it and jeans.

  After everybody got dressed, Giorno and the boys headed out. The hallway was dark, as the vast majority of the house was. Both Dio and Vanilla Ice were vampires, so the whole house had to have as little sunlight as possible. Neither Giorno nor his adopted brother minded, but Narancia had a hard time seeing even with the sun, so he clung to Giorno so he could guide him through.

  A few meters down the hall, another door opened and low light temporarily flooded into the hallway. A tall, slim figure slipped out of the room and closed the door behind themself. Giorno recognized him immediately. It was his adopted brother, Pucci. He'd known Pucci for such a long time that he cant remember a time he wasn't there. In more ways than some, he's raised Giorno better than Dio or Vanilla Ice combined.

  He'd been stand-offish lately though. Giorno had always known Pucci to be kind and polite and somebody he could rely on, but as of late Gio had rarely even seen him. He'd been quiet. Giorno had heard something about his behavior in passing conversations he heard from his fathers. Something about the prison Pucci had been working in as the priest there. It didn't really concern Giorno, but he was worried about his brother.

  There was a slight shuffle of feet, signifying that Pucci was in his slippers and more than likely still in his pajamas. It was early, after all. Giorno, staying quiet, walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. Pucci seemed startled, but after realizing it was Giorno, patted the arms around his waits. Despite being in his early twenties now, Giorno was still rather short compared to the lanky man.

  "Good morning," Pucci said in a well-mannered voice. Giorno only hugged him tighter as a response. "Sorry that we haven't spoken lately. I hope you've been well." Pucci glanced over to Fugo and Narancia. Pucci started walking towards them as non-threateningly as possible, but Fugo was gripping Narancia's blue shirt sleeve.

  "You're Giorno's boyfriends, right?" He paused for a minute, as if waiting for them to confirm, then continued on. Pucci was honestly just assuming they nodded. He couldn't see much of anything in the hallway aside from their dark outlines. "Why don't you boys follow me downstairs? I'm sure you aren't familiar with the layout of the house yet."

  Fugo and Narancia each felt a warm hand on their shoulders. It seemed kind and inviting, just as Pucci had. They each made confirming noises. By this time, Giorno had let go of Pucci's waist and allowed him to lead the way to the stairs.

  A bit if light flooded in onto the stairway, just enough so that the people traveling up or down them wouldn't trip over the stairs or their own two feet. It was by this light that Narancia and Fugo were finally able to get their first glimpse of Giorno's brother. They'd heard stories of him, but never really seen him. The Brandos weren't really a family that kept photos or family portraits around the house. Giorno probably had a photo of Pucci in his wallet, but they had never thought to ask him about it.

  Pucci was indeed tall and slender. He was dark and well shaved. His eyes seemed to glimmer, even in the low light. He did seem tired, as evident by the dark circles under his eyes. His pajama pants and baggy white shirt didn't exactly help either.

  The boys already knew he wasn't Giorno's blood relative, so they weren't much surprised at how different he looked from Giorno and Dio. They didn't know the whole story, but apparently Pucci and Dio met in an odd way.

  Dio was hiding in the chapel Pucci was working in. Pucci tripped over him while he was under one of the pews. Dio claimed to be allergic to sunlight and asked to stay there until sundown. They had a short conversation and Dio said some cryptic stuff about gravity having a play in people meeting each other. Pucci was 16 at the time. A few years passed, Pucci got involved in some shit (but thats stone ocean spoiler stuff so i wont go into depth), and eventually found himself in Cairo to find Dio again. Which he did. He's been with him ever since, sort of adopted by Dio. They would read together and stay up late talking. They'd build

model ships and planes together. Normal father son stuff. Pucci, strangely enough, stayed devout to God, despite being taken in by a vampire.

  The stairs seemed to go on forever, but they eventually got to the bottom. It was still dark downstairs, but not as much ad it was upstairs. Dio had lit a few candles so that it would be easier to see. The path to the kitchen was lit up, which was really nice.

  Pucci took his hands off of Narancia and Fugo since he figured they could find their way to the kitchen by themselves. He still took lead of the group though, guiding them to the kitchen. Giorno took the rear. He was mostly keeping lookout for his father. There was a possibility he was lurking somewhere in the darkness observing him and his boyfriends.

  They eventually reached the kitchen. Unfortunately, the house was unnecessarily large. They didn't need such a big house, but all of the extra rooms that weren't in use as bedrooms were used for Dio's extensive library. He'd collected probably thousands of books in the hundred-fifty years he's been around. Some of them were research books, some of them were fiction, some of them were diaries he'd taken from the women he'd claimed. He claimed that he's read every book at least twice over, even if the book was dully written, as he was committed to it once he had started it.

  Vanilla Ice was seen at the stove, wearing a cheesy 'kiss the cook' apron with hearts on it. His hair was loosely pulled back into a bun. Lucky for the boys, he was actually be wearing pants for once. In one hand he held a plate with a tall stack of pancakes on it and in the other he held a spatula. Dio was sitting at the table reading the news paper, supporting his head with his free hand. He looked up from the paper and gave a warm smile to everyone walking in. Pucci pulled out a chair for himself and sat next to Dio. Seeing him in the light now, he looked like he could've still been asleep. Giorno would've suggested he took a day off, but he stayed quiet. He looked to Vanilla Ice and gave him a smile, then pulled out two chairs for his boyfriends, inviting them to sit.

  They hesitated. Giorno pulled out the two seats across from Dio. They looked at each other, them as if they both thought the same thing, Fugo sat in the seat closer to Dio and Nara sat in the seat across from him. There was one seat between Fugo and Dio which Giorno left for Vanilla Ice. Giorno made sure everyone was situated. He didn't sit quite yet, walking over to the coffee pot and pouring it into a novelty mug with Hello Kitty on it. Two sugars and a bit of cream later, he sat it in front of Pucci. Giorno then sat in the chair next to Pucci, who nodded as he picked the mug up and took a sip.

  Vanilla Ice set plates and silverware in front of everyone at the table, then began dealing out pancakes. He then placed the butter and syrup in the center of the table where everyone could reach. Before sitting down next to his husband, he gave him a kiss on the cheek, then smiled, pleased with himself.

  Breakfast was spent mostly in silence. The pancakes were light and fluffy, which Narancia made sure to tell Vanilla Ice. Fugo enjoyed the flavor of them, but couldn't finish his plate. Pucci still looked half asleep through all of breakfast. It wasn't until he had finished his second cup of coffee and his pancakes that he finally looked alive. Giorno and Dio seemed to be avoiding eye contact. Their eyes met every now and then, but quickly darted away. Dio looked down at his paper mostly, smiling at others misfortunes and pointing out certain pieces of news to Vanilla Ice.

  Pucci looked at the clock on the wall and quickly cleaned up his plate and area, then rushed out of the room after pecking his dads on their cheeks and patting Giorno's shoulder. They had exchanged knowing eyes before he left.

  Giorno looked back to his plate. It was covered in left over syrup. He concidered taking one more pancake to sop it up, but didn't want to over eat and feel miserable for the rest of the day. He noticed that Fugo had already called it quits, but narancia was like a bottomless pit when it came to Vanilla Ice's home-cooked meals. He had to stop himself from cooing over how cute his boyfriends were in front of his dad. He couldn't show weakness. He was fine with being soft around Vanilla Ice, but being sot around Dio was like asking to be bullied senselessly. He felt his dad glaring at him over his paper again, but he continued looking at the syrup on his plate.

  Giorno stood up, plate in hand, walked to the sink and rinsed it. Fugo tried to hand him his plate as well, but Narancia looked at Fugo with puppy eyes so he could get his remainding pancakes. Fugo sighed and passed his plate over, then sat there, resting his head on his hands. At this point, they were really just waiting for Narancia to finish up. After that, hey could leave.

  The front door opened and closed quickly. It sounded like Pucci had left for work. Giorno couldn't help but looking over at the door in curiosity. The door was always triple locked, but he was always worried that somebody would walk through one day. The house itself always seemed empty, aside from Pucci leaving every morning and coming home every night. Sometimes people would stop Gio on the street and ask him about the house, if it was just him and Pucci living there. Many people thought the house was haunted or abandoned and that Giorno and Pucci were living in some run-down dump of a house. The curious people on the street were what scared Giorno. He hated the idea of them getting caught up in the mess that is Dio Brando.

[bouncingkadachi]

Organizing some MHS2 headcanons in lieu of proper writing (oops).

In order under the cut because this got incredibly long: Kyle’s Family, Kyle, Astrea (Rider), Breakfast Team. Some specific focus on older Kyle and Rider because that’s what I’ve been thinking about mostly these days.

Kyle’s Family (featuring weapons I wish I knew how to play in the main games ahaha)

Eldest Brother (Lance)

Gunlance. Married a hammer user and they’re living their best life.

Wanted to follow in his father’s steps and pursue the Guild Knight route career-wise but accidentally overshot it and ended up being the first G-ranked hunter in the family.

The dourness of his Serious Face increases the closer he is in proximity to his family, a byproduct of years spent corralling them all in their father’s absence. According to his wife and hunting partners he’s a hoot to be with on hunts, but his brothers will believe it when they see it.

Good friends with Reverto, shocking as it may seem. They both rose up to G-rank at about the same time, making them the same cohort.

Second Brother (Gwaine)

Charge Blade (it looks flashy and I think he would appreciate it)

HR Hunter who really needs to stop goofing off if he ever wants to pass his G-Rank licensing exam. He’s got the skill set for it but very little desire to sit through the formalities.

One of his greatest joys as a child was coming up with increasingly outlandish dares for his youngest brothers to do because they were so incredibly easy to trick.

Before his elder brother became defacto caregiver in the early days of navigating life without their mother, they were thick as thieves and two trouble-making rascals. They’re still closer to each other than the younger three though.

Third Brother (Owen? Hmm)

Hunting Horn

Spent a lot of time looking after the two youngest boys once his elder brothers started taking Hunting more seriously. Sits somewhere comfortably in the middle of enabling shenanigans and enforcing the rules, which were already fairly lax in their household.

Extremely popular with the neighborhood aunties and grandmas. Was always coming home with extra sweets and treats in his pockets. Naturally, the palico he eventually ends up with is a gathering type.

I personally think he would enjoy the Kamura style of hunting with the HH, especially Earthshaker. The months following his return from his trip abroad were a bit rough with him since he missed the wirebugs.

He’s got an incredible head with numbers. Had he not decided to become a Hunter, he would have been a merchant.

Fourth Brother (???)

Long Sword

Feels like he needs a frat boy name to match Kyle idk. Is Kyle a frat boy name? ????

Has an extremely volatile relationship with Kyle. His older brothers theorize that it’s because he was all set on being the official youngest in the family until Kyle was born, as their parents had seemed happy to stop at four children at the time. While the bitterness between the two has faded as they grew older, the propensity to devolve into squabbling six-year-olds who are seconds away from biting when their (tragically identical) tempers flare has not.

Possesses the most flexible battle mind among the brothers but doesn’t quite have the skill yet to back it up, making him prone to rush and botch up critical steps while on the hunt. Frequently goes out on missions under Gwaine’s tutelage which is yielding mixed results—while his skills certainly seems to be improving, Gwaine is prone to purposefully setting off his younger brother’s temper and then gleefully sitting back to watch the train wreck unfold.   

Dad

He’s trying his best and he misses his wife

He had bigger Hunting aspirations as a younger man but the death of his wife caused him to give his career some serious consideration. Focusing more on the Guild Knight path was initially planned as only a short-term solution which would allow him to stay relatively closer to home when all his sons were still fairly young. He adapted to it better than expected, though, and remained on even after his two eldest started Hunting on their own.

He met his wife when she worked as a Guild Receptionist and it was Love at First Sight (for him. Not for her).

Had genuinely not intended to bring Kyle with him to Hakolo Island for the Razewing Investigation. While it had seemed harmless enough on paper, he had felt that his youngest son was still too green with a personality too biting to be tactful on what would be one of their first major visits to a Rider village. It was not until later that he realized that the investigation papers had been doctored by the very subordinates who had been Kyle’s main advocates for his joining the mission.

Is exceedingly proud of all his sons, but is perhaps most fond of his middle son for his striking similarity to his late wife. Similarly, is perhaps more easily prone to setting higher expectations for his youngest son than all the others, since Kyle was so dead-set on following him and taking up the bow.

Kyle

Seeing as he threw himself off of Ratha at like 500 ft above the ground just to get a better shot I refuse to believe that he won’t come up with some whacked-up method to do Aerial Aim even without wirebugs

Tsukino accompanied each of the brothers on their first major mission, but it just so happened that Kyle’s first ended up being the entire Razewing Ratha fiasco. It was silently understood by the entire family that following that job, Tsukino would be Kyle’s palico. Nearly destroying and then saving the world really does wonders on the bonding experience.

There’s a thin scar on the left side of his face slicing from his ear across his cheekbone, right under his eye, courtesy of a run-in with a poacher. For a time, there was serious concern that he would lose the eye, but thankfully it never got that serious

That is not the only scar that he picks up in the course of his career, but it is the one that he is most particular about. If he must go in for a hug, he always leads with the right. There is only one notable exception to his iron-clad “no touching” rule in regards to that scar

Begrudgingly picked up a lot of tips and tricks about monsters to pad out his Hunting knowledge, such that he’s inadvertently found himself carving a niche position for his career: he has, against his best efforts, become one of the most sought after Hunters to take on for extended research expeditions. It grates on him mostly because he’s intent on hitting G-rank promotionals, and that is difficult when most of his time is being taken by lengthy investigations at behest of the Schriveners.

It does make him very well-traveled though.

He’s methodical in his hunt preparations but he is also one of the fastest amongst the brothers to abandon his plans entirely and just go for the first hair-brained scheme that crosses his mind in a pinch. According to his grumblings it’s a bad habit he picked up from spending too much time with his Rider best friend. In truth, it’s a combination of that and a life-long arms race with his immediately older brother, skewing more towards the latter.

As he gets older, he settles into a routine that sees him spending a week or two between most of his longer missions on Hakolo Island. He does keep a set of lodgings in Lulucion, but if you can’t find him there and he’s not on a job chances are high he’s on the island. His niece thinks he goes there to bum on the beach, much to his chagrin.

The entire Mizutsune family is a bit of a landmine for him.

Some hurts die slowly—even years later, and despite all brash appearances, Kyle is very attuned to his own thought process and the potential consequences of his actions or inactions. He never wants to be in a position where he’s capable of being easily manipulated ever again, and to that end, he’s learned to throw his own weight and experience around, despite or even in spite of potential opposition from other Hunters.

Astrea

A winter child, born at the height of storm season.

It took a lot of time for her to consolidate her feelings for her grandfather and work through the ball of love and grief and hate that his death and the subsequent journey brought about.

It took even longer to understand and empathize with why Ena had kept Red’s Kinship Stone for four long years after his death, instead of returning what was arguably the most important piece of kit for a Rider to the bereaved family.

Despite everything (or perhaps because of everything) Ena is the closest mother figure that Astrea’s had in a long time. It comes with its highs and lows, and was a steep learning curve for both of them.

When Red was still alive and Astrea was very young, she used to dream about leaving Mahana Village one day and carving out her own little corner of the world. Now that she has the ability to do so, she’s found that she prefers to stick close to home. This is mostly because she didn’t really have a choice in the matter of leaving the first time, and that’s become incredibly important to her: she wants to know without a single shred of doubt that when she leaves it’s because she chose to, and not because she was forced to.

Had an incredibly busy time around her twentieth birthday and coming of age. Naturally, the village threw a huge celebration, and then Ena and Alwin insisted on her stopping by Rutoh to which they piled her with additional presents. She ended the whole affair with a visit to the Pit of Remembrance, two weeks after her birthday, toasting to her grandfather with a bottle of fruity Mahanan liquor.

Has come to fold a lot of Hunting techniques into her own work due to spending so much time on the job with Kyle as a partner. That does not, however, mean that she has a head for endemic life, as evidenced by the Stinkmink Incident.

Because Kyle is terrible, he brings up the Stinkmink Incident without fail every few months, usually when they’re driving each other up the wall with their combined snark

Neither she nor Kyle are above manhandling each other out of the way oncoming hazards. This tends to involve a lot of flailing elbows and kicked knees and straight-on getting bowled over by a Monstie.

Because Astrea is equally as terrible as Kyle, she makes it a point to greet him in the traditional Mahanan way whenever the opportunity presents itself, regardless of Kyle’s notorious distaste for it. Because she is not that terrible, she lets him go easily the moment that he’s decided that he’s tolerated enough affection.

The poacher incident had a significant impact on both of them. Sometimes, she’ll find herself running her thumb along the scar when she’s got his face in her hands. Sometimes too, Kyle will reciprocate by keeping her hands there.

Breakfast Team

Ratha

Learned to navigate storm gales the winter after everything was Over, when Alwin and Ena came to stay for the season. It should have been Red and GR doing the teaching, but Alwin and Shaulk did a pretty great job of it, if they do say so themselves.

Has a tendency to steal fish from Juice’s jaws and then fly tauntingly out of reach to safely roast it.

Never quite warms up to flying to or around Lulucion, so they usually stop there for a quick pit stop or an overnight stay at the most while en route to other destinations.

Omelette (Kulu Ya-Ku)

Most Valuable Chicken

Does a lot of the patrolling and scouting with Astrea. As such, he’s extremely agile and capable of turning on a dime, as well as being the Monstie that is most prone to charging directly into the foray in the event that Astrea gets knocked off the saddle and they need to run.

Gets a large delicious egg twice a week as a treat and knows exactly when those days are.

Jam (Nargacuga)

An extremely judgemental cat if your cat was the size of a tank and could kill you with a swap of its tail

Skills include search-and-rescue.

Hobbies include stealing weaponry and holding them hostage until ransom is paid either in treats or specific behaviors performed.

Can purr and does so to great effect on clear camping nights

Fish (Tobi-Kadachi)

Essentially an extremely large dog with the ability to glide great distances and discharge a lot of electricity

Is small for his species

Extremely friendly... to other Riders.

Enjoys a good scratch under his chin and behind his cheek and will roll over for a belly rub.

Gets along famously with Soup. Astrea often works them together as a set.

Juice (Lagiacrus)

Knows the sea routes favored by Mahanan traders by heart now and frequently accompanies them as a seaside escort.

Often turned loose in the sea to mind his own business, where he’s been trained to keep clear of the fishermen’s nets lest he disrupt their catch. Heeds to a special whistle.

Guides the boats back in the advent of storms like a portable beacon.

Soup (Soulseer Mizutsune)

His personality does not make his appearance any more endearing

Was an entirely accidental acquisition. He had been stalking Astrea and Fish (to eat them or steal scraps or whatever), and all parties involved ended up with much more than they bargained for.

Is rather attached to Fish for some odd reason. You can frequently find the two of them napping in a pile on the sand in the village.

He and Kyle do not get along. Then they ran into a poacher.

[velveetacrackncheese]

I remember you talking about Angel a little bit ago and how you didn't think he was as bad as everybody else was saying. What makes him appeal to you, I can't really get behind him in all honesty.

So I keep getting asks regarding to clarify my stance on Angel, and while I don’t mind this despite getting asks about it even now from HH fans and non-fans alike, receiving charitable and uncharitable asks and takes simultaneously from both, I might as well answer because I’m getting a bit tired of it. Not on here that often and every time there’s a new ask regarding it and I don’t understand why people want my take on this, despite me having already given one, or the clarification. That being said, my mind has changed a bit on the subject, and I kind of wanna give a small analysis on Angel and how I feel about him now, so here we are.

 Firstly, the debate surrounding Angel Dust is off-putting to me because while I seemingly see both sentiments, I also feel as though they’re both simultaneously wrong. The positions are usually “Angel Dust represents a harmful stereotype that contributes to our marginalization and is a literal walking sex joke and nothing else.” and “Angel Dust is a hooker. A sex worker, prostitute. He’s supposed to be in hell. He’s supposed to be bad and awful. Moron” and really, I dislike both of these takes for rather similar reasons. Reason being is that I feel that it’s addressing the wrong thing here, which is the characterization of Angel, and not really what the over-arching narrative and well, show itself has to say about Angel, and I also feel that the issue here isn’t homophobia as much as it involves vilifying sex work potentially.

My issue with the first take is that obviously, we’ve barely scratched the surface with this character. I will say that the way he was introduced in the pilot was left to be desired. Not that he was offensive or meant to be a major middle finger to the gay community, but simply because we typically see big, larger, main traits of a character in a pilot. In Angel, we primarily see him embodying those things that many of the “HH hate crowd” disliked about him. Upon first introduction, he genuinely does come off as a stereotype, something that was written solely for the purpose of being “the gay” and nothing else admittedly. While said analysis is probably inaccurate, I don’t blame anyone for initially feeling that way, and coming to their own conclusions. Recognize that everybody’s opinion on Angel is all pretty much based on first impressions, because we only have so much to say about him at the moment. There isn’t even a show. It’s the pilot. Things even now can still change greatly. However, Angel in the show, being a prostitute, and a sex worker, seem very much rooted in his character primarily because many of his own personal struggles also lie in the fact that he’s someone who’s also victim to sexual assault, exploitation, which obviously has connections to his occupation. We can say that many of his actions are rooted in not only his job, and experiences, but also the mask he wears to hide his pain. I feel like to simply look at that and say “Fuck Angel Dust, he’s harmful.” is simultaneously neglecting a silent minority in the gay community that genuinely deals with the hardships of sex work in real life. You don’t see that type of humanity brought to the forefront in regards to gay sex workers in media. They’re usually there to be mocked at, and while you could say Angel comes off that way initially, additional context in the comics and Addict suggests otherwise. He’s not Alastor. He doesn’t have all these special abilities aside from being able to manifest guns and bombs, and probably shoot webs out of his anus or something. Angel is in pain, and in a situation where he feels stuck. He feels like he’s on a leash and only copes in the way he knows how, that being hedonistic actions and such. As to what the general narrative and world of Hazbin might have to say? We don’t know, and that could vary. We don’t have a conclusion as to what the world of Hazbin has to say about Angel, and whether or not he needs to be “redeemed” which is an issue I take on its own. I will get into that shortly.

I take issue with the second take for similar reasons as previously stated, but it has less to do with the analysis coming from the people who say this sort of thing, and more about what it reveals about the people saying “He’s a prostitute. He’s supposed to be in hell. He’s baaaaad.” Because it shows a type of reactionary sentiment that justifies the villainizing of sex workers, and also goes to show that they probably appreciate Angel’s character for the same reason those who despise Angel, are critical of. They find him funny potentially because in their mind, Angel is something to be mocked. Because he’s a “freak” in the sense that he’s this awful, slutty monster, seemingly missing the intentions behind writing Angel the way he is, as a way of potentially showing a sign of sympathy towards the livelihoods of real life sex workers. Instead these people probably don’t think too highly of people who work in that industry and view them as a circus act, the same way they might view Angel as the funny token gay man, and it shows that people appreciate this character for very different reasons. Not to mention, this take is not a very good defense. Does someone being in hell necessarily necessitate them to be “offensive?” A very non-offensive, non-confrontational, seemingly polite person could be the most awful person when the optics of civility are stripped away... Like a politician.

However, I end up pondering about what the narrative itself has to say about Angel needing to be redeemed. Because of the pilot’s highlight on his hypersexual manner, I end up asking myself what he needs to be redeemed from. His sex work and sexual nature certainly doesn’t make him a bad person. His violence probably does, but there’s so much emphasis on the sexual side of him and not the “gangster” side of him, and suggesting that people who are exploited by the industry they work in need to be “redeemed” almost insinuates like they’re doing something wrong. As if it potentially shares the same reactionary sentiment about sex workers that those who view Angel as a laughing stock do. Now, if “redemption” is a euphemism for “rehabilitation” then I would view this differently. However, in the pilot, the term “rehabilitation” and “redemption” are both used, seemingly interchangeably, despite both of these terms having different meanings. In terms of Hazbin, since we’re in hell, which is based on the Christian mythos (most likely also inspired by other cultural interpretations of a bad afterlife) “redemption” here is probably referring to the absolving of sins and what have you, although we don’t really know what Hazbin’s criteria for being worthy of Hell is, and said criteria is also never questioned. We just know that everybody there in hell is supposed to be bad as the latter say, and that’s that. They’re all “sinful”, all worthy of being considered bad people despite some clearly not being so... awful. Vaggie isn’t so awful. She’s a bit angry, but for a good reason. Why is she in hell with literal murderers, homophobes, gangsters, etc? Of course we don’t know much about her yet, but she seems substantially more innocent than say Alastor, who’s a literal serial killer. But according to fans, she’s in hell. So she’s bad. Bad people go to hell, and hell is where the bad people reside in, and all are in need of rehabilitation or “redemption” in order to achieve/attain heaven. (obligatory jojo reference heehee) Issue being that what’s good and bad is subjective, and despite nobody being morally perfect, they’re just in this place together with no real chance of redemption, while being told by the dominant structure and culture in hell that nobody really even wants to be “redeemed”, despite nobody wanting to be there, and probably housing some regret, only to be chained down by a culture of doubt, and many of these inhabitants probably not even really needing to be “redeemed.” There are people who are there for probably very irrational reasons, like stealing some stuff from a grocery store or something. Hell, even if someone is a murderer, what if they murdered in self-defense? Or trying to protect their family? Are they, a sinner, in need of being absolved, and to confess their sin of wanting to survive? Many “sinners” are probably people who come from unfortunate circumstances, and are forced to adapt to certain conditions that force them to do things that are considered “sinful.”

Of course, this is all very assumptive. For all we know, Hazbin could very well go into detail about this type of thing, and I’d be all for it. I feel like a lot of the former critique I’ve mentioned would be cleared away and people would be able to actually make a formed opinion on characters like Angel instead of the typical surface level takes I usually see. I’d be highly disappointed if the writers of Hazbin didn’t go down this route and question the very nature of this Heaven and Hell dichotomy and the moral code and structure presented. I have to clarify though. I’m not “behind” Angel. I acknowledge his character and how he’s written, and honestly thought the way he was shown initially was sub-par, and still believe that. My irritation revolves around fans and non-fans alike thinking they have a finalized idea of what Angel is, when they don’t, and then you have Youtubers making videos pretending it’s flawless while making statements about how stereotypes are apparently not harmful at all while making the assumption that every harsh criticism is a result of people wanting to ALL destroy Vivienne’s career when that’s just as reductive as saying that Viv is evil for shit she did years ago.

Aside from this, there’s still other things about Hazbin too. Vaggie even now I still can’t really see how she’s in anyway offensive or purposely off-putting. She’s angry because she has to react to a world who wants to take advantage of her, and her girlfriend. I’d be pissed too. She isn’t angry because she’s written to be the angry latina (despite Viv’s dumb tweet about “I’M A FIERY LATINA TOO WEE”). Alastor is a subject of discussion too because of the whole voodoo thing despite him passing as very, very caucasian and white, while also claims of cultural appropriation due to the certain iconography used when Alastor exhibits his power while playing into that “spooky voodoo” stereotype. I don’t have much to say on this because I’m simply not that familiar the religious practice aside from it having origins in Western Africa, and the Caribbean. Some say Alastor is biracial but that isn’t confirmed I don’t think. Some people say Hazbin is bad because of a Jeffery Dahmer joke, and saying that Katie Killjoy is proof of homophobia despite her being pointed out as an actual piece of shit with zero standards.

It’s all crazy. I look forward to what the Hazbin crew do with Hazbin, Helluva Boss, and especially Zoophobia. My mind is still open.

[chaifootsteps]

You know, I think one reason why HH remains as popular and successful as it is (aside from the very... Interesting mentality the fandom has) is that a lot of fans have tricked themselves into thinking the story has certain depth to characters and writing that it just... Doesn't? Critical fans will acknowledge this, that the ideas as a stand alone concept are good or interesting, but the execution is lacking. But most fans? That's blasphemous talk! The rest have convinced themselves that all the fan theories and headcanons (which some of them are genuinely quite good) are entirely thanks to Viv, and it's... No? *You guys* wrote all this. *You* did all the work of extrapolating further personality and plot and lore and worldbuilding from this show. Viv gave you a sandbox, but you made the castle.

Anyways. Thanks for weathering the storm that is this fandom, it's certainly tough but I respect it.

I appreciate the thought. Some days are tougher than others -- the Shay stuff is tough -- but no storm lasts forever.

I think a lot of it comes down to how alarmingly young a lot of these fans are; they just haven't ingested a whole lot of other media and this is the first "grown up" thing they've ever seen. Also, fandom culture is loud and angry and "us vs them." I genuinely don't think a lot of them realize that it's okay if Viv's not a good person and it's okay if the show isn't all that great -- that it's okay to enjoy it and find it fun, and it's okay if it resonates with them.

[the-luckiest-man]

Would you mind sharing your thoughts on the Honest Hearts Reborn mod? I've never played it, don't know much about it specifically, but have heard it's a real mixed bag and am just dying with curiosity about what it all entails (though not curious enough to actually play it myself, ahaha)

Yes and thank you!  I first thought that I was the only person on tumblr who’d played it but have since seen some criticisms of it which are all pretty fair, I’d say.  HOWEVER, I....liked it?  Maybe that’s too simple a way of putting it; I liked some things about it very much, I found some things (mostly technical things) annoying, and I disliked some things very much.  Overall, I still preferred it to vanilla HH, so here we go.  One note before I get into it: there’s really no way for me to talk about HH Reborn without basically spoiling most of it, so if you’re of a mind to give it a try and don’t want to know what’s coming, you might want to stop here.

First off, about vanilla HH.  For me, it was boring.  Like, real boring, and when it wasn’t boring, it was offending me with its “knock-off Native” characterizations and its “Joshua Graham is the great white savior” crap.  I’ve read Sawyer’s response to someone asking about the racism in HH, and I appreciate it, but the way that the “tribals” were sort of half-implied to be Native (kinda obvious with Follows-Chalk’s accent, among many other things) while not doing any kind of interesting or validating research into that really ticked me off. (for those who haven’t read it, Sawyer acknowledges that they did not show sensitivity in writing the tribes, but also states that the tribes weren’t meant to specifically be Native American). I also thought that, for all his hype, Joshua Graham was very two-dimensional.  His backstory alone hints at this very complicated man and I feel like we see almost none of that in HH.  

So those were my kind of basic observations about Honest Hearts, and the reason, in fact, that I was so interested in HH Reborn.  The trailers for it promised a deeper Joshua backstory, and seemed to imply that the tribes would get a makeover as well.  I had fairly high hopes.

Those hopes weren’t all disappointed, by any means.  First off, I have to say hats off to the mod author because they basically entirely rewrote a full DLC, fully voice-acted, with enough side-questing and twists and turns to the main quest that it actually kept me occupied for a while, unlike vanilla HH.   So creating this whole new DLC, basically, was no mean feat.  Kudos for that; it was obviously quite the labor of love.

But let’s talk about some of the downsides.  It becomes pretty quickly apparent, as you play the mod, that the person who wrote it is Very Mormon.  The premise of the mod is that the New Canaanites are still present in Zion Valley, and that Joshua Graham, having been so brutally excommunicated from the Legion, has returned to Zion hoping to live in peace and is struggling with the reality of their presence -- whether to wipe them out, re-join them, or in some other way get them to leave Zion.  Which, okay, fair.  From what we know of Joshua Graham’s story, this part makes more sense to me than the original storyline of HH.  However, Mormon characters -- and the whole concept of Mormons in Zion in general -- are treated very lovingly....a little too lovingly, for my tastes.  Many of the dialogue options and other information the player can gather seem to be indicating a conversation less about in-game Mormonism (and how various parts of it would/would not make sense in a post-apocalyptic setting) and instead drawing you unwillingly into the author’s own struggles (?) with real-world contemporary Mormonism.  And I just don’t care.  You can’t force me to care.  Yet they try.   It’s annoying.  Tangent to this is the still-very-much-there racism.  Although there are mitigating aspects to this.  The “faux-Native” naming practices are still there, though at least in some cases, they are treated as tongue-in-cheek, and the tribes, significantly, are coded as NOT Native, but rather, as Sawyer mentioned in his reply, a mixture of people of various ethnicities (I’m just gonna say, mostly white) who are trying to live a back-to-the-land, faux-Native lifestyle in Zion.  That being said, the *reaction* of the “Western-Civ” coded characters in the story is still very much one of missionaries sent to bring God to the heathens.  Granted, this aspect is one that actually receives textual criticism in the story, but the overall feeling is still one of “innocent, well-meaning missionaries.”  Barf.  The teeth-gritting comes to a real head with the character of “One-Tenth,” who purports to be a “witch doctor” (OMG) but actually turns out to be a white woman former missionary named Amy.  There’s a lot to go into with her but suffice it to say that a) she, like literally every other NPC in the story, has a boner for Josh Graham and b) she perfectly encapsulates that offensive mixture of “why can’t we all live in peace like the simple natives” and “I deserve a place of esteem with the simple natives because of my Advanced Western Knowledge.”  Hhhhhhhhorrendous.

There is also a side-quest which brings up some pretty fucked-up ableism, in which your mission is to find a “cure” for an NPC’s Downs Syndrome. (RIGHT??? RIGHT!?!?! I choked, too.)  The only plus side is that this “cure,” should you find it, is never shown going into effect.  Also, I should note, that I personally don’t find it offensive that there is a character with Downs, only that she is voiced by a non-Downs voice actress, and that it’s implied that her disability is somehow more of a “burden” in the Wasteland, necessitating some shitty “cure.”  (Cue barf emoji)  I actually love the character herself, though, and I will fight you to the death for her. 

These are really the major themes of my beef with Honest Hearts Reborn.  There’s a lot more detail to be discussed in each of them, but that could take literally three more posts of this size, and it’s already getting to be kind of a doozy.  The other issues I had with the mod, outside of these storytelling aspects, were more technical in nature.  It’s hella buggy (though obviously not unplayable) -- for some reason, Josh’s headwrap didn’t appear for me, though apparently you can fix this if you have access to GECK -- some of the voice-acting is pretty cringey (as in, just objectively bad, not necessarily offensive), and there was a pretty significant glitch for me at the end that prevented me from ending it in *quite* the way I wanted to (a character that you have the option to spare had to die in order for the game to end, for me).

So let’s look at some positives.  First, like I said, it’s a huge, in-depth mod with a much more interesting (IMO) Joshua, a better general story arc, and decent side quests and characters.

HH Reborn Josh Graham is not your usual Josh Graham, which I actually liked.  In HHR, the effects of his incredibly traumatizing experience are visible, not just in his obvious burns, but in his physical condition otherwise (you’re not just gonna get horrible 3rd-degree burns over what, 80%?? of your body and NOT have that affect your other organs and  your health in general, okay?)  So I liked that it shows him as much more of a broken man, struggling with the remnants of his faith (which it does seem like an ex-Mormon would do), and actually *needing* your help more than just “let’s go fuck up some tribals.”  Obviously, the voice-acting quality is lesser than the OG Josh, but for me, the added complication of his character made up for it.  (and it’s not actively terrible, just, not as profesh.)  The main quest -- which people have perhaps rightly criticized as being annoyingly spelled-out for you in wall-of-text fashion -- is nonetheless far more engaging, to me, for these reasons.  You get the feeling that you are actually here to make a difference, not only in this one man’s life, but in a greater sense for Zion (and maybe yourself, if you get woo about it) as well.  I wouldn’t say that the moral choice-making is particularly difficult or complex, but there is enough there that it doesn’t feel entirely rail-roaded.  (asterix: I’ve only played through once, though I took a lot of time with it, so I can’t say exactly how other choice-making would play out).

Then there’s the world-building.  This Zion feels much more present and significant than in vanilla HH.  As mentioned, the New Canaanites aren’t merely a thing of the past, they exist here and you interact with them as part of your mission.  While, again, the mod leans hard on the Mormonism, there is no specific narrative pressure for your character to accept what they’re doing or what they believe, so it wasn’t as much of a hindrance to gameplay as I initially feared.  You get companions in this mod, too, both annoying for different reasons (one textually, one because again, I’M NOT MORMON, mod author! Idgaf about Mormonism!  I get it! She’s a sweet missionary gal from wherever-the-fuck Utah and she’s a “good guy!” OKAY!)  Anyway.  The first companion is thrust upon you by the storyline’s unique opener, and the other reason why THIS Zion feels much more significant: the Legion is here.  They have heard that Joshua Graham is still miraculously alive, and they’ve come to...well, that gets into the weeds of it and I’ll try to spare y’all *some* spoilers, though you can probably guess where that’s going.  In fact, the story opens with you being forced into spying on Josh for the Legion commander, and goes from there.  So to me, from the beginning, HH Reborn was already 500% more interesting than vanilla HH.

There is also an emotional theme to the story that appealed to me, personally, both as a human playing the game, and as the Courier who has already suffered at the hands of “mysterious forces” and whose sojourn in the Mojave is full of tough moral choices.  The basic tale of a man seeking redemption -- both forgiveness from the world and from himself -- and ultimately, peace, seems more resonant, to me, than the far more hollow version presented by vanilla HH.  A lot of the storyline through this mod is uncovering human connections, and how a man as supposedly devout as Joshua once was could become the Malpais Legate.  What was the true, emotional story of his friendship with Edward Sallow?  How did things go wrong?  While the mod doesn’t propose an exact, definitive answer for the latter, the little bits you can uncover throughout your quest paint a much more three-dimensional picture of these characters that we basically only know from reference.  Aside from the Josh-centric storyline, the mod also lets you peer into the motivation of the “tribes” of Zion in ways that vanilla HH did not.  All of the tribes are renamed for this mod, but they occupy vaguely similar roles.  Some seek peace -- and through character dialogue, you get to see why; some want power.  These motivations are at least given a decent nod and more exploration than in vanilla HH.  In fact, some of your side-questing puts you in the position of trying to convince Salt-Upon-Wounds (reimagined here as a female tribal leader) to change her tribe’s ways, all of which can obviously be criticized through the lens of missionary/Native dynamics, but which also at least allows you a bit more meaningful interaction with the tribespeople than I feel you get in HH.

There are also other tidbits, like a crazy dream-sequence in which you watch first-hand some of the dramatic story of Sallow and Graham first starting to embrace what would eventually become the ideals of the Legion; a community of hilariously weird giant super-mutants; a trippy side-quest into a vault that contains some really interesting musings on memory, knowledge, and the fallibility of the human quest for them; a freaky cult that has sprung up around the legend of the Burned Man; and lots of swimming, if you’re into that.

The last part is a pretty big spoiler, but I’m gonna talk about it anyway because it was one of the things that I liked most about the HH Reborn storyline, but in a very complicated way. 

The main baddie of HH Reborn is a Legion commander named Livius, and it is he who sets you initially on the quest of finding Joshua Graham and reporting back to him about his whereabouts, etc.  Now, I’m enough of an old-school gay that most of the representation I got growing up was in the form of the villains of the story, so I’m not gonna lie when I say that, despite my hatred for the Legion, I was feeling pretty DTF this sultry-voiced handsome Daddy of a Legionary, but I really wasn’t expecting that they’d go full-textual.  Yet they did.  Turns out, Livius had (or thought he had?) a relationship with Graham in the past, and in typical nonsensical gay-villain style, wants either to have him or destroy him.  You discover this only really at the very end, in a reveal that, again, to be honest, contains some of the most dramatically poetic lines in the whole mod, maybe in all of FNV.  Jury’s still out.   It’s all very tragic, and very gay, and of course made me feel pretty conflicted.  On the one hand, I am naturally a sucker for Gay Drama, including the tragic kind.  On the other hand, it’s the 21st century and maybe we should be moving beyond the sad spurned-lover-as-megalomanaical-villain trope.  On the other other hand, way to go mod author for plugging some seriously textual gayness into a mod that probably was written by straights, and also is probably going to mostly be played by straight dudes, just statistically speaking.  So it’s weird, and I’m not sure I will ever decide exactly how I feel about it, but I think that Tragic Gay Drama -- as much as it is rightly panned these days -- wins out for me.  As I said, I’m old-school.  That’s probably bad, but something about Sad Spurned Lover who has sublimated his feelings into villainy and then comes clean at the last moment by declaring his love in heart-wrenching poetic monologue is always gonna get me.

So...that is my review of Honest Hearts Reborn.  There’s a lot there; there’s some of it that is distinctly Not Good, there’s some of it that is quite good and interesting (in my opinion), there are small annoyances, there are funny moments.  Overall, I liked it more than vanilla HH, as I said, but it is obviously also flawed.  I think it took the HH story in some good directions, for all that, and in an ideal world, the Honest Hearts DLC would get a full re-write, possibly incorporating some of what the authors of Honest Hearts Reborn set out to do, and correcting some of what was worst in both of them.

Thanks again for the ask!  Sorry you got a whole novel in response. ;)

[tarot28]

MONTHLY FORECAST FOR AUGUST 2020

I’M SO EXCITED!! Also this is posted on my instagram (hh.tarot) in a more condensed form.  Like it’s not a big chunky paragraph like we’ve got going on down below.

for better quality, enlarge the pics or check out instagram :)

HERE WE GO!!

What cards went where bc the pic is so small :) 1. King of Pentacles 2. 2 of Swords, reversed 3. 7 of Pentacles 4. Death, reversed 5. Justice, reversed 6. 8 of Swords 7. 8 of Pentacles, reversed 8. Page of cups, reversed

The theme card, King of Pentacles, seems at odds with the rest of the reading at first glance because he’s usually recognized as a harbinger of financial success and security and the rest of the cards read mainly about self work and development.  However by working on yourself, you can achieve more tangible success and increase your self confidence to a point that more important and daunting matters seem less so and you’re able to handle things with increased ease.  As things become easier to deal with (due to you being more equipped), you can move your focus to matters that can bring you happiness and success.

During the month of August, the Two of Swords (reversed) highlights the sense of stagnation or the feeling that you’re plateauing.  You may be able to see where you want to be and it might feel very far away, but by viewing things in a big picture sense, you can set our sights on the long term and notice that you’re putting in the time and hours now in order to receive those payoffs and benefits later.  Maybe by looking at the bigger picture, you’ll be able to notice a detail or aspect of your approach that is neglected or has been receiving too much attention. The Seven of Pentacles calls us to look large and appreciate that you’ve been working through the contributing details and tending to what needs tending in order to get to where you want to go.

In July, you might have been noticing attachments that didn’t feel as fulfilling or useful as they have in the past.  Death (reversed) calls us to embrace this change and let things go. Anything that you’re clinging to could hold back the growth and development that needs to happen for you to be successful.  This change might feel like a lot or it might seem highly personal, but it has the potential to be incredibly transformative.  Justice (reversed) also indicates that you might be reluctant to let go of those things, thoughts, feelings, relationships, or people.  You might know that their time has come to be released but you might not be letting yourself let them go.  You’re accountable for your happiness and more aspects of your life than those attachments are.  

At the beginning of this month, Justice and the Eight of Pentacles call for you to really take a step back from yourself and look without emotion on your situation.  Be honest with what is holding you back and needs to leave.  It’s hard and it’s scary, but lying to yourself and holding on to things that no longer serve you can be far more detrimental to your future.  The Eight of Pentacles also calls for you to find a balance between what you think would make you happy and what could actually make you happy.  In your journey to find happiness, make sure you’re finding balance and moderation between what is happiness and what is perfection.  If you’re seeking perfection because you think it will make us happy, it could result in your detriment or stagnation rather than forward progress.  

Once you reevaluate what will make you happy and how you can get there, the second half of August is the time for action.  During the last two weeks of August, The Page of Cups (reversed) urges you to be more comfortable, confident and open with your creative side and your intuition.  This is the time to work through any doubt and start to phase out the self critic in your head.  Begin to release old habits that don’t serve you or contribute to your success.  Implement behaviors like positive self talk and notice the difference that it makes.  The Eight of Swords is telling you that forward progress will come easy once you become open to creating and setting in motion positive change in your life.  

End scene lol that was long but I felt like it was thorough which is what I wanted.  Please lmk if you have any feedback or questions! I was super impressed with how accurate it seemed to me and I hope everyone else feels the same way

<3 hh

[theprettysetterclub]

hi i've arrived to kindly rq a matchup for hq & free!🦦 i'm female, 175cm (5'9), straight! i'll split dye my hair soon and i almost exclusively wear black clothes. i have two minimalistic tattoos and a nose ring! personality wise, i have pretty bad rbf and i always speak my mind. i'm a perfectionist but never really follow through with my plans/ambitions. i get super nervous around new ppl/ppl i haven't seen for a while and i start stuttering, i'm witty and sarcastic and a great listener.

sorry this took me so long skljsdj that uni workload caught up to me,,, but here you go! free! matchup is just under the cut

so, for haikyuu!!, i choose... 

sawamura daichi! 

✧ i love him so much,,, i’ll do my best to stop this from turning into a daichi appreciation post but i make no promises,,, oh, and he’d adore you– 

✧ daichi’s got great people skills, and i think it’d be very easy to get to know him despite your nerves? he’s very patient and accommodating, so being around him would just be,,, easy. until you catch feelings, of course, and then you’ll be stuttering for a completely different reason dslkfdjs 

✧ he’s quite the hard worker himself, so to some degree he understands your tendency to be a perfectionist? i wouldn’t call him one himself, but he knows where that desire to succeed comes from, and he’ll be very supportive of you.  

✧ but, it means he’ll absolutely kick your ass into gear. he’s going to do his best to motivate you, because he doesn’t want to watch you waste your talents. and, he wants to see you flourish in your ambitions. yes, he will whip out his glare if necessary– 

✧ you’d have surprisingly good banter? i feel like daichi’s sense of humour can be a little dry sometimes, so he’d enjoy your wit and sarcasm. he usually has to take on the responsible role, so he enjoys being able to relax a bit when hes talking to you. 

✧ he’s a great listener! and he wants to make sure you feel heard! he’s observant, so he notices how you let other people rely on you like that, and he wants to make sure that you never get overwhelmed. and, it’s one of the ways he expresses his gratitude; sometimes, he has a lot to get off his chest, and he knows he can come to you. he sincerely hopes that you feel the same!

✧also, i love the visual contrast of you looking all cool with your nose ring and your (soon to be) split-dyed hair and daichi looking like he’s just walked out of church alkjdslj 

✧ you’re about the same height as him, but please let him be the big spoon, it’s all he wants,,, he likes feeling like he can protect you? curl up and cuddle into him and you’ll make him supremely happy kljddlkj

✧ i feel like you two would just be super comfortable in each other’s company? you can truly rely on and support each other, which daichi would appreciate quite deeply. bless you guys salksajd

other matches! 

✧ kozume kenma: he’s got a very different vibe from daichi, but i think you two would get along really well? i think he’d be easy to spend time with because he also gets nervous around new people, and that might balance out into mutual understanding? and i think he’d find your sarcasm pretty funny; he doesn’t outwardly laugh at much, but you might be able to get him to snicker every once in a while. the general gist is that i feel like you two could properly relax around one another, and that’s something kenma would take a lot of comfort in. 

✧ tsukishima kei: you had him at ‘sarcastic’, tbh. he’d likely enjoy your company because of your wit (he likes clever people, after all), although he’s definitely doing to tease you for getting flustered so easily. he makes a bit of a hobby, to be honest. but, i think there’s room for an interesting dynamic between your perfectionism and his apathy; you two could have plenty of interesting discussions with one another, and i think it could incur growth in the both of you. i nearly changed him to be your main match, but daichi’s just,,, too powerful,,, 

and now, from free!, i match you with...

matsuoka rin! 

✧ you’d be a visually intimidating power couple akldkljsd you’ve both got that resting bitch face and i think that’s iconic– 

✧ but on a more sincere note, i think you’d find him pretty easy to get along with? he’s got good people skills (he wasn’t an effective captain for nothing), so he’d be pretty good at facilitating the conversation. and honestly, he’d find your stuttering pretty cute hhh 

✧ listen, he loves it when you speak your mind! he’s attracted to that confidence, and he feels like it indicates a strength of spirit. he also appreciates it when you’re straightforward with him; he’d like you to call him out every once in a while (because he really does need it sometimes)

✧ rin’s also a perfectionist, so you’d be able to bond over that. he expects a lot from himself, and some people might have trouble wrapping their head around that; but not you. he’s glad that he can talk to you about those sorts of things and know that you get it. 

✧ but, he’s definitely the type to push you, you know? he wants to see you achieve your goals, and he wants you to flourish. so, he’s going to kick your butt every now and then. but, the fact that you can provide each other with constructive criticism provides a strong base to your relationship! 

✧ on a more light-hearted note, he loves that you’re witty! i think rin would flourish with a partner who could make him laugh, because my goodness does he need it,,, he just loves your brain, you know? 

✧ also, the sarcastic banker? chef’s kiss. you two are always going at it, trying to out-do one another and get the other to crack first. sometimes sosuke will join in too, and it’s just one big circle of getting roasted gjkfj

✧ but, rin has a lot on his shoulders, and he really appreciates that you’re a good listener? he’s still learning how to share his feelings (it’s a bit difficult after Years Of Repression hh) but he’s getting there! and with support from you and his friends, he feels like things are going to be okay 

✧ i just think you’d be a really great couple? and you could help each other go further in life, while having a safe place to come to whenever things got overwhelming. 

other matches!

✧ yamazaki sosuke: another powerful visual couple,,, like rin, he’d appreciate your witty, sarcastic tongue, and i think you’d have a good rapport. and like rin, he loves that you speak your mind – he also admires your perfectionism, and would also push you to follow through on things. he’s got hangups because of that shoulder injury, so he’s not going to stand by and watch you squander your potential. but that aside, i think you could have a lot of fun together? even if everyone else is terrified of you guys because you have The Most Powerful rbfs ldsjlksj

✧ tachibana makato: he’s quite different from the other two, i know,,, but a bit of contrast can be quite fun! i think that makato can have a little bit of trouble when it comes to speaking his mind, so being with you could really help him there. since he’s just,,, so nice, i feel like he’d make you feel less nervous? and while he’d find your stuttering kinda cute, he wouldn’t point it out. makato’s also the type to remind you to look after yourself, and to rely on other people every now and then; like you, he’s a good listener, so you can bet he’s going to offer you a shoulder to lean on. 

[brainpickings]

Updating Some Fascist Bullshit on the Trump Pandemic

The following timeline has been posted on several fascist website as proof that Trump has been doing a good job in protecting America from the Trump Pandemic or COVID19. By my account and research I believe that 54% of it is false or misleading. So I went though it and added some key missing information. The original postings have the American date stamps and my research and comments are in italics and European date stamps

Here is the factual timeline for the Trump administration's handling of COVID-19. Might want to keep this handy...

Dec 31: China announces they are investigating a “pneumonia outbreak” in Wuhan

1 January 20 – CDC to check flights from Wuhan to downplay SARS rumors

3 January 20 – CDC is alerted to the Wuhan pneumonia

3 January 20 – Trump learns about COVID19 from intelligence officials

3 January 20 – Trump holds a rally in Miami

4 January 20 – Trump plays golf

4 January 20 – WHO reports on social media that there is a cluster of pneumonia cases with no deaths in Wuhan

5 January 20 – WHO publishes a technical paper on what China has reported about the cluster

5 January 20 – WHO begins to monitor the outbreak

5 January 20 – Trump plays golf

6 January 20 – WHO reports that China tells them there is no evidence of human to human transmission and that SARS is not virus

Jan 6: CDC issues travel advisory for Wuhan. (this is wrong it was a travel NOTICE) (There is a difference between a notice and an official advisory.)

Jan 7: CDC established an Incident Management System (just 7 days later) (The CDC can do this without a president telling them to)

8 January 20 – CDC issues an official health advisory about COVID-19

9 January 20 – Trump goes to rally

10 January 20 - Former Trump Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert warns that we shouldn’t “jerk around with ego politics” because “we face a global health threat…Coordinate!”

Jan 11: CDC tweets about corona related “pneumonia outbreak in China” Jan 14: WHO Tells Everyone Don’t Worry Because China Says Coronavirus is NOT Contagious (This is false WHO warns that this new virus could spread and warns hospitals worldwide.)

14 January 20 – Trump goes to a rally Jan 17: CDC sent 100+ staffers to specific US airports to screen travelers who have been in Wuhan (only to three airports in NY & CA)

18 January 20 - After two weeks of attempts, HHS Secretary Alex Azar finally gets the chance to speak to Trump about the virus. The president redirects the conversation to vaping.

18 January 20 – Trump plays golf

19 January 20 – Trump plays golf

19 January 20 – first US case is confirmed Jan 21: CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center (just 3 weeks later) Jan 21: First case in US for someone who traveled directly from Wuhan.

21 January 20 – China confirms human to human transmission of Wuhan virus, WHO announces emergency meeting.

21 January 20 - Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease at the CDC tells reporters, “We do expect additional cases in the United States.”

22 January 20 – a reporter asks if there are “worries about a pandemic” Trump’s response; “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s – going to be just fine.”

22/23 January 20 – WHO Emergency Committee tries to “assess whether the outbreak constituted an” international “public health emergency. Independent members from around the world could not reach a consensus based upon the evidence available at the time.” Jan 23: WHO again says NO human to human transmission outside of China. (Completely false, see January 21 statement)

24 January 20 – Trump tweet: China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out will. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi! Jan 27: WHO raises alert level but is still saying China has it contained. (No creditable sources for this statement, no major newspapers or the WHO timeline carry this statement however at least six fascist websites carry this statement)

27 January 20 - Top White House aides meet with Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to encourage greater focus on the threat from the virus. Joe Grogan, head of the White House Domestic Policy Council warns that “dealing with the virus was likely to dominate life in the United States for many months.”

28 January 20 – Trump goes to a rally Jan 29: President established Presidential Task Force--BEFORE THE THING EVEN HAD A NAME (It has a name, see trump tweet on January 24, what it does not have is an official scientific name because science takes time.) Jan 30: State Dept issued a Do Not Travel warning to China. (still less than ONE month after initial announcement from China). Jan 30: WHO announced the Coronavirus is a public health emergency of international global concern. In short, BEFORE the WHO even announced its “global concern,” the administration was working on his response for almost a month, and had already established a Presidential task force.

30 January 20 – Trump goes to a rally in Iowa saying; “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment – five…we think it’s going to have a very good ending for it.” 31 January 20 – Trump issues his Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus Jan. 31: To the left's cries of “RACISM!”, the President proactively suspended entry of foreign nationals who’d been to China in the last 14 days. (The proclamation does not apply to, lawful permanent residents, alien spouses, alien parents, alien children, any alien traveling as a nonimmigrant, or any alien coming at the request of the government, therefore only Chinese citizens coming to visit America will be restricted. So yeah, it’s a bit racist because it doesn’t quarantine everyone who needs to be quarantined.) Jan. 31: The president issued quarantines, and through Secretary Azar, declared a public health emergency for the entire nation.

1 February 20 – Trump plays golf 2 February 20 – Trump tells Fox News host Sean Hannity, “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” Feb 4: President Trump talks about coronavirus in his State of the Union address; Pelosi rips up every page. (I read the speech twice and never saw one mention of the virus.) Feb 5: The Senate votes to acquit President Trump on both articles of impeachment, 52-48 and 53-47. (I thought this was supposed to be a Trump/COVID19 timeline) Feb 5: House Democrats FINALLY take up coronavirus in the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia.

5 February 20 – Democratic Senators propose emergency funding bill  to prepare for the virus, Trump’s administration says no thanks. Feb 5: Chuck Schumer in a tweet continues to call Trumps’ travel ban from China “premature.” Feb 5: Democrats, media, Biden calls Trump xenophobic over reacting racist starting war on immigrants, fear mongering

7 February 20 – Trump praises Pres. Xi response to the virus and predicts that China will stop the outbreak. Feb 7th Both Pelosi and Deblasio calls Trump racist for ban, encourages people to go to Chinatown, use subway, and go to concerts. Feb 7: White House’s Coronavirus Task Force gives press briefing. Feb 9: White House Coronavirus Task Force meets with all governors regarding virus.

10 February 20 – Trump goes to a rally Feb 11: WHO named the virus COVID-19. LET THAT SINK IN.(One more time for those on the short bus, science takes time, a virus knocks on the door and then science checks it, double checks it, triple checks it and then tells the world. Then the world starts checking it and until a international consensus is reached it doesn’t get named.)

The Trump administration’s first response --- a week after the initial announcement---was when the virus had NOT even been named by the World Health Organization yet. It was NOT named until Day 42.  Meanwhile, the CDC, NIH, FEMA, FDA, HHS, the DOD, and All the agencies of OUR scientific community have already been working feverishly to sequence the RNA of the virus to get its proteins, its messenger RNA sequenced, and get a vaccine going. Feb 12: CDC waiting for approval from Chinese for CDC team to travel to China... China says No (Gee I wonder why? Could it be because Trump has been extremely critical of China multiple times? For no reason other than political gain.) Feb 12: HHS announces partnership to develop vaccine.

14 February 20 – Trump tells the Border Patrol Council; "We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape."

15 February 20 – Trump plays golf

19 February 20 – Trump goes to a rally says “it’s going to work out fine”

20 February 20 – Trumps goes to a rally in Colorado Springs Feb 21: Italy identifies its very first case in their country. (wrong just wrong, Italy confirms its first death on this day) Feb 21: CDC tweets that it is working with States for preparedness. (correct)

21 February 20 – Trump goes to a rally Feb 24: Trump sent letter to Congress asking for $25B for virus effort. (wrong, the request was for $1.25B) Feb 24: Nancy Pelosi made a stop in Chinatown and encouraged people to “please come and visit and enjoy Chinatown.”(At this point, so fucking what, there is no national stay at home order & San Francisco won’t issue such an order until March 16th.) Feb. 24: The President unveiled the initial plan. (Redundant read the second statement up)

24 February 20 – Trump tweets: The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me! Feb 25: There is still no reported community spread in the US!!! (Per CDC tweet.) 

(The full tweet; “Currently there are very few cases of #COVID19 in the US & no reported community spread. But as more countries see community spread, successful containment becomes harder and the CDC is preparing for community spread in the US. (in other words…it’s coming motherfuckers)

25 February 20 – Trump at a news conference in India says that the virus is “well under control” and that there are very few people with it.”

27 February 20 – Trumps says “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

28 February 20 -  Total countries with confirmed cases 56, total number of cases 84,090, deaths 2,874

Yet, according to the leadership of the other party, Our President has failed us. Following OVER A MONTH of response—they’re accusing our president of failing us. Yes, TDS is real... Feb. 26: President Trump appointed VP Mike Pence to head the whole of government response. That appointment is in keeping with the 2015 Obama-era Blue Ribbon Panel on Biodefense.

26 February 20 – Trumps says “Within a couple of weeks it will be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” Feb 27: First community transmission in US. (actually it was on the 26th) Feb 27: Trump appoints Pence to coordinate efforts. (I thought he did that yesterday?)

28 February 20 – Trump goes to a rally Feb 29: 60 days after the Chinese announcement, the US sadly lost its first victim to COVID-19.

2 March 20 – Trump goes to a rally in Charlotte

9 March 20 – Trump tweets: The fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, “the risk is low to the average American.”

7 March 20 – Trump refuses to talk with Pelosi, so she works with Mnuchin to craft a relief bill

7 March 20 – Trump says; “No I’m not concerned at all. We’ve done a great job.”

7 March 20 – Trump plays golf

8 March 20 – Trump plays golf

10 March 20 – Trump says; “and it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” March 11: WHO declares COVID-19 to be a global "pandemic." 11 March 20 – Trump in an address from the Oval Office FALSELY says that the health insurance industry has “agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments.” In reality, getting tested would be free, but treatment would not be covered. This is the first time he admitted that COVID19 might be a problem.

13 March 20 - 121 countries have confirmed cases totaling 142,095 with 5,373 deaths

13 March 20 – Trump declares COVID19 a national emergency and says “No, I don’t take any responsibility at all.”

18 March 20 – Trump declares himself a “wartime president”

29 March 20 – Trump says; “If we have between 100,000 & 200,000 deaths we’ve done a very good job.”

So, 53 days BEFORE the US lost a single life to this disease, The Administration was already working diligently to protect our country... (Diligently? Perhaps the deep state government was working diligently but not Trump at best he jumped onto the bandwagon on March 11, 2020. Also this post begins on December 31 and ends on March 11, 2020 so unless my math is wrong it would be 62 days before the first US death.) Sadly the U.S. WILL lose lives to this virus--but as noted by an Obama appointee and former director of the CDC Tom Friedman, “had the President NOT responded so quickly, we would not have been prepared as we are, and more lives would’ve been lost” (I cannot confirm this quote to either Thomas Friedman the NYT moron or to Dr. Thomas Frieden the actual former CDC director. Dr. Frieden it must be noted has been very critical of the Trump administrations response to COVID19. I have however found this quote on several conservative blogs leading me to believe it’s a bullshit quote.) It is helpful to look at the actual timeline. All of this happened BEFORE the 1st death in U.S. (wrong, the first US death from COVID19 was on March 1 in Washington state.So not all of this happened before the first US death but most of it did like 86% of it.)

most of this info are from CDC tweets so anyone can look it up to check for accuracy. (most of this information is not from the CDC tweets, I read them.)

There were many more actions in between, I just took some highlights. Fact check it to see how accurate this is. Nobody's excusing anyone, just checking the timeline.

 Brainpicking Notes: Most of my sources where: CDC twitter account, CNN Coronavirus timeline, thinkglobalhealth.org, vox news, Politifact.com (verified with second sources), WHO timeline, covid19-archive.com, whitehouse.gov

 On March 30, 2020 Trump told Fox News that “We inherited a broken test" for COVID-19.” Really? How? Since no test existed before this virus jumped to humans and every country in the world entered a race to develop one who in the fuck could you have inherited it from?