#goes for all of my characters even grubs

[binibininghermosa]

Breakfast in Sunny

Prompt: Sanji's wife makes breakfast for the crew to give him a break. Set after the time skip.

Warnings: Tooth-rotting fluff. Chopper being cute and the baby of the group.

Reader's Name: Mc (Stands for Main Character but made it look like a name)

Note: This moment takes place in the future from my "Giving Him the Love He Deserves" series. It can be a standalone, but it ties in with the story I've written before, especially the revelation of Mc's powers.

Note: I wrote this while thinking of pancakes for breakfast. Well, I'm off to cook now!

The Thousand Sunny basked under the golden morning sun, its vibrant deck alive with the cheerful banter of the Straw Hat Pirates. As the crew prepared for the day's adventures, Mc, their talented singer and Sanji's beloved wife, approached them with a warm smile gracing her lips.

"Hey, everyone," her voice, melodious and inviting, rang out across the ship. "How about I take over breakfast duty today? Ji deserves a break, and I'm in the mood for some pancakes and waffles. What do you all think?"

Luffy's eyes practically sparkled with enthusiasm. "Pancakes and waffles? Count me in! That sounds amazing!" he exclaimed, his excitement contagious.

Nami, the ship's navigator, nodded in agreement. "I'm in too. As long as there's coffee with those pancakes, I'm a happy woman."

Usopp grinned from ear to ear, his anticipation palpable. "I can already smell the deliciousness from here! I'm in for sure!"

Chopper, the ship's adorable doctor, couldn't contain his joy. "Yay! Mc's pancakes are the best! Can we have extra syrup?" he asked, his wide eyes pleading.

“Just for you,” Mc replied playfully, brandishing a whipped cream bottle. "But what do we do with this?" she added, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

Chopper giggled in response. "I’ll take both, please!"

Robin, the wise archaeologist, nodded appreciatively. "A delightful choice, Chopper. I'll gladly indulge in your cooking," she said, placing a calming hand on the young reindeer's back.

Zoro, the swordsman with a perpetual green headband, smirked confidently. "I'm not picky. Just make sure there's enough for seconds," he said, his eye on the prize.

Franky, the ship's flamboyant shipwright, struck his signature pose. "Super! I'm always up for some good grub! Everything goes well with cola!" he exclaimed, his enthusiasm infectious.

“Of course!” Mc chimed in, her voice carrying the promise.

Brook, the charismatic musician with a skeletal grin, added his own flair to the conversation. "Ah, a feast for the eyes! I'm looking forward to it, my dear," He paused to laugh, "Even when I don't eyes!" he said theatrically, his bony fingers gesturing grandly. "What a wonderful way to start the day, Yohoho!"

Sanji, ever the gallant gentleman, couldn't help but interject, a playful smile gracing his lips. "Stop ordering my wife around, gentlemen. I'll take care of your drinks," he said, his tone light yet possessive. His heart swelled with pride and affection for the incredible woman he had married. The morning had begun with him cuddling her pillow, a comical realization that brought a smirk to his lips. His wife surely did it on purpose.

Seeing Mc in her apron, serving food with that serene smile, transported him back to the days in Baratie. He chuckled softly, reminiscing about the times when they had experimented with her singing every weekend. The sheer beauty of her voice had once lured men like a siren, causing a chaotic frenzy. Now, her controlled and soothing voice became a source of comfort for everyone on the ship. "You're not cooking breakfast. Just helping out with drinks!"

With a heart full of love and pride, Sanji nodded at Mc, his eyes softening with affection. "Sounds wonderful, my darling. I'll assist you in any way you need."

And so, in the heart of the Thousand Sunny, amidst the laughter and camaraderie of the crew, Mc set to work. Her voice intertwined with the sounds of sizzling pancakes and waffles, creating a gentle melody that added to the ship's lively atmosphere. The tantalizing scent of breakfast filled the air, promising a feast that would be a testament to the unbreakable bond shared by the crew, bound not just by friendship but by the profound love Mc and Sanji had for each other.

══════════════════ Thank you for reading! If you're interested in the series here they are: Giving him the love he deserves: part 1,  Part 2.

[loadedberetta]

Berry baby🖤

I hope you're doing well and *remembering* to hydrate.

I was just talking with a friend and i find i slip into other languages expressions while I'm speaking or even typing - I'm a polyglot (I know a good few languages) including South African Sign Language. It certainly takes alot of people by surprise since it's not something I go around speaking about.

How would TF141 + Alex Kelle react with this given they never were explicitly told about this skillet before hand?

I hope you enjoy your festive season and find yourself surrounded by the most peace and happiness Love🥀

hi lovie!! (sipping on magnesium water as we speak!)

having dipped my toes in language learning too, I bow to you, polyglot friend~ holidays are hard, thank you for the encouragement, same goes to you! decided to turn them into drabbles, it was much fun, thank you for the req! alright, here is (my first req stuff ever)

141 + Alex react to: polyglot Reader

rating: M (language, light flirting?)

warnings: smoking, interrogation [military inaccuracies]

[series with random headcanons about specific situations (involving the reader) and how CoD characters would react to them; mostly the 141, but Alejandro and Rudy, Laswell, Farah, König, and others will make appearances too]

other parts: [tattoo] [pregnancy] [knife tricks] [drawing] [foreign language]

find me on ao3 // masterlist

Price

A small note was attached to your file that Price seems to have overlooked in the year and a half since you were under his command; in Laswell's handwriting, which John knew already from the countless similar notes she left for him throughout the years. Yet, this one stood out; sign language? And how many languages again? He made a mental note to ask you over grub the next day.

Breakfast was always fast; after first drill, but before the day really began. And always with your mates, switching languages with ease to accommodate new members and brothers passing through, just on transfer at the base.

Price always ate at a separate table, always. Sometimes alone, sometimes with some higher-ups. But this morning, he sat by your table, which opened up a seat for him. Everyone's body language shifted to accommodate him among you. He didn't speak, and the conversation between you and a temporary transfer settled back into a comfortable flow. His ears perked up to each sound he didn't seem to have heard from you, as they weren't part of the English phonemic system.

He himself muddled in French and some Arabic and harboured a basic understanding of Spanish since his time in Mexico, but your confidence and knowledge shone through the effortless speech. You and your speaking partner seemed to share a lighthearted conversation in a language he could only guess.

Soon, you let yourself notice his glances in your direction, often settling on your lips for short moments. Smiling to yourself, you finished your coffee as your deskmate excused themselves from the table, having emptied their tray.

Instead of turning to another group being taught foreign swearwords by a new recruit (to which you had to resist the urge to share your favourites), you lifted your gaze to meet Price's.

"Enjoying yourself, Captain?"

He chuckled, raspy.

"How did this never come up?" He asked without much sugarcoating.

"What exactly?" You chuckled.

"That you know about a dozen languages, including… South African Sign Language?"

A small smirk formed on your lips, proud of the recognition and attention to detail.

"I don't go around flaunting it." You stated plainly. "It's not even on my file, it's… just something I do, as a person; it's not for the military or anything."

"Hm." That was all he replied to that. "-but…"

"Yes?"

"Could be useful."

You could see he was pondering something.

"What if I told you I have a spot for you on officer training, hm? They're looking for… intelligence."

Ghost

( I cannot resist using this gif--)

Finding yourself behind a counter, taking orders from businessmen, assistants, and university students; not exactly how you imagined life in the big city. It was a second job of sorts, only part-time, as you couldn't squeeze in anything else besides the academy.

It was a busy morning, your shift covering the entirety of it before classes began that day. The line was only growing, and the other shiftie beside you was struggling; some foreigners complained about their order, and another pair of customers speaking a third language just rolled up to him, totally overwhelming him. Calling out a name for an order, you waved to the next in line (a sweet old immigrant lady, with whom only you could chat out of the whole team, easily overstepping the language barrier), and told her to just hang on for a moment.

You addressed the complaining couple in a well-mannered way, quickly sorted out their issue with a complimentary muffin and a cookie, and switched languages with ease, freeing your shiftie partner from the agony that was speaking any other language than English for him.

The rush died down just the slightest after a few more hectic minutes, and the shiftie went for a break when you noticed a familiar figure standing by the counter as you turned back with another order.

He gave your unit a few lessons this semester and remarked on your capabilities in strategy and urban warfare. You remembered him, and it seemed like he did too.

The usual balaclava he wore when instructing was replaced by just a black cloth mask hooked behind his ears, revealing a few more details about his face than you'd seen before.

"Sir." You addressed him, conveying you respected the civil setting, yet communicating your respect toward him considering your short but memorable history. "What can I get you?"

"Didn't know you were fluent in that many languages." He remarked after describing his simple order, making your cheeks heat up at a moment's notice.

"It's nothing, really…" You tried brushing his words off with words that came out shakier than you meant to sound.

"How many do you speak?" He asked with a small tilt of his head.

His eyes widened for a moment at your answer. "…and South African Sign Language."

A chuckle, something you'd never heard from before stuck in your ear for a good few seconds, drowned out by the milk frother.

"I don't do lesson plans, you know?"

"What?" You lightly shivered with excitement at the fact how interested he seemed in your knowledge.

"Would you mind, you know… Doing a lesson? Sign language is a valuable asset. I can give you some time next Friday."

"I…" You stuttered a bit at his proposition.

"Nothin' fancy, don't worry, darling. Just some basics."

"Alright…" You found yourself saying after a moment when the light ringing in your ears faded.

"Maybe even tell your story… I'd be interested for sure."

And with that, he grabbed his coffee from your hand, putting some coin on the counter with the other, and was out the door before you could say anything else.

Alex

He didn't talk. Not to ULF soldiers, and bravely (maybe stupidly) not even to Alex. Farah's request for you to get to the scene was… interesting. She stated her presence was required in another part of the country, and in her encrypted message, she explicitly voiced how your assistance might help ULF break the man.

So you came. Alex greeted you on the airstrip with a smile and a hug, his frame towering over yours.

"Alex, a pleasure to see you." You smirked as the two of you walked back to the nearest building.

"Can only say the same." His tone was warm and welcoming, a staple to him. "You hoping to crack our guy?" He asked you directly about the matter at hand. The small carrier that brought you here whirred into the air in the distance.

"Exactly."

"And how's that gonna go? We haven't even gotten a word out of him, let alone information."

"That's why I'm here now."

"The stage is yours." He opened the door of the large building to you and ushered you inside.

A few hours later, he stood by your side, as you tried to find a crack on the prisoner's tough shell. After many unsuccessful attempts, the tired captive let his head fall, a small curse leaving his lips. Your ears perked, and Alex could only watch the scene unfold in front of him.

In a language he only heard on the TV before maybe once, you asked the prisoner something, to which he immediately lifted his head in confusion. Pressing on, you visibly exerted yourself to gather as much as you could on the man before he would shut down again.

After a few exerting rounds of questions, you stood up abruptly, and nodded for Alex to come with you. Closing the door to the room, you turned to him, but he spoke up faster than you did.

"What is and where." He crossed his arms and awaited your answer with a bite to his lip.

"I don't know yet, but he talked about a car rigged with charges, but he's going to shut down soon, fuck…" You clicked your tongue, exhausted from the rusty pieces of knowledge forced to work in your brain at high speed.

"Hold on… He had a detonator on him when we apprehended him… Are you sure it's a car?" He backed away, looking as if he was about to bolt somewhere.

"White, small, local model." You shouted after him as he disappeared down the corridor.

You stepped back into the room and closed the door behind yourself.

A day later, you were there as Alex switched the trigger, and the car about a mile away from your position, deep in the desert blew to pieces as the two of you watched.

"How the hell did you know from a damn single word?"

"It's a local dialect, where I happened to have stayed for a while, it's not important…" You dismissed the seemingly unimportant detail with a wave of your hand.

"So we just happened to luck out on this one?" He chuckled and turned to you.

"Well, I could have tried about half a dozen more languages, but hey, if this one worked…?" You looked up at him, a small smile tugging the corner of your lips up.

"And Farah knew this?"

"Her hunches are never wrong." You shrugged.

"Yeah… You're right about that."

Gaz

You and Kyle bonded during selection. Both of you were younger than most of the cadets, and yet, somehow competed for top scores. It wasn't even a test of endurance, it was a test of who could beat the other. DS were amused by how easily you passed hurdles, just to be better than the other one, paying no attention to other competition.

And after that, the two of you became inseparable. Like people who'd known the other since childhood or had been good neighbours for years. Phone calls when oceans separated the two of you were very common, and sometimes you found eachother in inopportune situations; yet these calls only strengthened your friendship. Keeping each other company, and slowly growing to know more and more about the other.

It was a spur-of-the-moment trip, catching the first plane when you finally got your leave. A country you've only seen in books so far, but a language you'd already mastered.

Kyle called you when you were out on the first morning, trying to fetch food from a market.

"Good morning, Kyle." Your chin was visible in the frame of the phone, and the blue sky above you.

"Morning yourself, except it's the middle of the afternoon. Where are you?" He asked in a surprised tone, his face coming closer to the phone, trying to discern some landmarks around you, to no avail.

"In a market. Got on a plane yesterday, and--" You quipped, looking down at Kyle, who was visibly confused about your whereabouts.

"Jesus wept, bug, you're insane…" He shook his head, almost missing as you started haggling, faint voices breaking through the line.

He quieted down and leaned forward on his couch to listen. For a good minute, he couldn't understand a word you were saying, only listening to your voice flow, lips dancing in unique patterns. Soon, you held your quarry up to the camera, something bundled in white wax paper.

You sat down and finally positioned your phone to show your face and upper body, and a bit of the busy scenery behind you.

"You're a wizard, you know that?" He laughed and lounged back again.

"A party trick if you will. I know a few more." You shrugged, and bit into your breakfast.

"Few more?" Kyle repeated, chuckling in disbelief. "What else, like, sign language?"

"Actually…" You laughed, somewhere in the background a bell tolled distantly.

"No fucking way." Kyle licked his upper lip and looked away. "I thought I knew ya."

"There's always more to know, friend."

Soap

Sharing a room with Soap was… an experience. He was a sound sleeper, not causing much fuss at night, so you were content in that regard. The other departments, however, not much.

He was unruly, to say the least, and it took some time to get accustomed to his schedule. One of you being a morning shower type in opposition to the other being a night shower person caused some friction in the beginning, but like everything else, it settled after a while. After all, this was supposed to last only the three months the unit was stationed at this base.

You hadn't known eachother that well before, but that changed at around the one-month mark.

Having been given a few hours of phone time by Price days before for this afternoon, you set up to call your best friend, a few thousand miles setting the two of you apart. You haven't talked in way too long, and before you knew it, you'd already spent an hour talking and laughing over Facetime, phone propped against the metal grate by the foot of the bottom bunk, you sitting on the mattress.

You acknowledged Soap coming in a few times for his notebook, cigs, or to grab his coat from the back of the chair, but didn't pay it much attention, being so absorbed in the conversation with your favourite human on the other end of the line, confined to the little screen by the foot of your bed.

It was already dark outside, when Soap burst into the room, and put his finger to his lips, signalling you to be silent.

Looking down at your best friend "I need to be silent. Wait a bit."

To which they replied with an "Okay, I'll wait."

Soap flicked the light off, and a few moments later, a few people passed the room; you could hear the footsteps.

"Random inspection." He whispered as he climbed up into his bunk, trying to remain silent.

Praying your room wouldn't be chosen, as you were still in uniform instead of nightwear, you settled on your mattress too. An idea flashed through your head, and turning the brightness on your screen to high, you continued your conversation over Facetime in silence, your best friend quickly catching on to what happened, as you explained the situation in sign by the dim light.

A few minutes later, Soap climbed down from the bunk and switched the light on.

"Gaz texted, they moved on to the next building… what are ya up tae?"

He looked back at you, as you caught his glance too while signing.

"Sign. South African Sign Language. I'm talking to someone."

"Right…" He chuckled bemused, and headed out again, probably for a cig with some other delinquents, to which you shook your head with a smirk on your lips.

Later that night, when you settled to sleep for real on your back, his overgrown mohawk poked out followed by his head from above you, overlooking you on your bed.

"'eard you speakin' earlier… And that sign language too… So… Mind teachin' me some?"

(alright that's all, hope you liked it, goodnight)

[weirdmageddon]

since hes open to feedback im considering talking to james roach about giving jade the justice she deserves after her narrative shafting in act 6 and one-dimensional ooc-ness (and also being a plot device deprived of agency) in the epilogues. if i do im probably going to link to this post……

so james if i sent this to you and you’re reading this, hi! :)

you say, “i want you to know if youre having problems with the story you can come to me with it and i will hear you out”. first of all you are such a good dude and have such a good open honest approach to the fans. i need to get that out there, because i know you’re just as much a fan of these characters and world are we are. secondly, i don’t know what your plans for homestuck beyond canon are, but dave and jade’s poor handling is a problem in both homestuck canon (act 6, even act 5 fucking them over with “tell, don’t show”; see the latter half of section 1 of the post at > Dave: Deploy cloning apparatus. and section 2) and post-canon that has yet to be addressed.

i understand the nuances of making things flow in a story; things that have already been established can’t be simply retconned. i wrote this post knowing that in mind and hopefully working around that into believably timed and justified/needed arcs gives it more potential

jade is a character i care about so much, and many fans also. her dynamic with dave was one of my favorites but the resolution to their separation…is not even really a resolution. it’s hard to talk about one without the other since theyve always been narratively intertwined. or at least jade has

remember how they musically collaborated more than the other kids? (crystalanthemums is their surprisingly tender song dont forget. i saw that the weird troll grub versions of objects make a comeback in the upd8; make music a relevant part of homestuck in-universe again too </3) dave sending her sbahj furry poster in the mail? the first ones to use a collaborative fraymotif in the comic? kringlefucker and conksuck boot? literally collaborating on creating the right seed for the new universe? and then dave died in jade’s arms and they were separated for 3 years and then that never gets touched on because of the retcon and all the other endgame shit going on (and lets be real grimbark jade from before the retcon wasn’t a satisfying reunion either). we get like, a brief exchange of dialogue at the very very end that made you want to see MORE of them after the battle but it. doesnt happen.

and then in the epilogues jade gets warped into this oddly hypersexual ooc one-dimensional character meant to narratively get in the way of davekat and it’s so awkward and uncomfortable for them. and even THEN in meat timeline gets her agency revoked by the narrative with alt calliope. and in candy dave realizes he’s gay (i thought he was explicitly bi? didnt he call jane hot multiple times both pre-and post-retcon, and once call roxy a “choice babe” in pajamas before he knew it was his ectomom?? if you’re actually gay and in denial why would you have these subconscious freudian blunders). and being married to jade gnaws at him because of it which is. unsatisfying i guess and isn’t consistent with dave’s established sexuality…and then he dies leaving his probably concerned wife and becomes a robot. even if the “point” is that the epilogues are metanarrative commentary about storytelling and candy represents the kind of fanfic that goes off the rails with fanservice it doesn’t feel good when i still care about these characters and their established canons. and a lot of people are in the same camp as me regarding this. it’s still an uncomfortable resolution for their relationship

i really want to see jade’s arc overcoming being used as a puppet by the narrative and the space aspect. just some things to think about / consider that have been running through my head: she’s a witch, right? isn’t what she’s supposed to do is actively bend the rules of her aspect? feferi bended the rules of life by asking the horrorterrors to create dream bubbles so the deceased could still sort of “live” which had a massive narrative impact. who exactly determines that being spacebound means you are fated to be passive and alone? the author? alt calliope? how do we know alt calliope can be trusted or if she’s just projecting her experiences as the most passive class possible onto jade, who ironically has an active manipulation class but is forced to be passive for some reason? normal calliope wasn’t right about everything classpect-related either.

ultimately these things are up to you. you’re still the director of course. but i’m speaking to you, as equally caring of these characters as you and everyone on the team, as a hypothetical suggestion or just something to consider for a jade arc: i think it would do such good to jade and the comic as a whole to see her speak to the manager and recognize the power she has and take back the reigns over her own life and dignity. jade is MAD that she had her own possibilities for socialization and agency taken away from her. and with floralmarsupial, my beloved mutual floral who i went to homestuck high together with, i KNOW the potential they possess to write a compelling arc for jade harley. i think everyone knows too lol floral is THE compelling deep jade harley fanwork big name fan. i dont know what we got to lose. with you guys in charge now, and with the last we see of jade in hs^2 (now hs:bc) fighting callie’s influence and advocating for her own agency, really the only way to go from here for jade is up. (assuming she doesn’t permadie of peanut but i doubt that’s going to happen since she’s one of the original kids and it wouldn’t be satisfying storytelling. and it’s homestuck)

this statement so ripe with potential to me ^ and we’re left on a cliffhanger with jade going in this direction

i want jade and dave to be close friends who care about each other a lot and do silly stuff together again. this isn’t even a call to make davejade canon; it doesnt have to be romantic—i dont want a davekat davejade war to break out, you know? i know you’re trying to balance fan demands. but i just loved their dynamic a lot and i MISS it so much, homestuck act 6 didnt give us this and i wish their reunion had more that went into it. we’re past that point though

i want jade and dave to have a talk that’s like old times. something that isn’t awkward as hell or about sexual relations or drama or whos fucking who. just something for the two of them. something that grounds them in what made homestuck so compelling in the first place: character and friendships and these kind of interactions

i want to see them collaborate again. an idea i have is maybe they start a band or something since they’re both musically talented and also live together so they can make stuff together in person now. you’re a music guy you get it. tangle buddies. jam buddies

and maybe something more serious that concerns just the two of them. post-retcon dave never talked to jade about his thoughts when they fought bec noir right? knowing that jade would inevitably kill him with bullets through bec, but he couldnt warn her because he knows she wouldn’t go through with it, creating a doomed timeline? so jade thought all that time she killed him by accident…..what about all that guilt she must harbor? the first person she had in-person contact with since she was probably four years old, her best friend online, and accidentally killed him within just a few hours of meeting him? and never got to talk about it with him, let alone anyone, after three years? hello?? :(

these are the final lines of the last pesterlog between jade and dave before their 3-year separation (and basically all of act 6)

so uh…..this exchange really openly invites some kind of talk to take place even if it’s long overdue. among other things maybe. they need to hug or something. jade’s touch starvation is real, but not everything needs to be sexualized about touch. she’s lonely and starved of affection but i feel like it would be more meaningful if it wasn’t sexualized. just really basic platonic primal cloth mother needs. just like..both being human beings and having basic needs like this that jade’s been deprived of. who’s the person she would feel most comfortable going to? who does she have the richest history with throughout the webcomic? dave, right? her online best friend since childhood that always cared a lot about her? they have stuff to talk about

i feel like that would address the issue people had with jade’s out of left-field promiscuity in the epilogues and even leftovers of it in hs^2. not only do i think primal platonic touch starvation would be a more meaningful and evocative type of interaction to give them at some point, it wouldn’t rock the boat or create any ship drama (davekat has long since sailed and most people seem to be on board with it) and it would probably be really positive representation of these sorts of things which not only throws a bone to aroace people but just depicting this sort of thing normalizes the fact that two people can be close and not necessarily in an official relationship.

this is a good transition point to this post also which is basically an extension to this one. it’s exactly the issues i had. it’s on the nature of what they had going and how much they mean to each other but how the storytelling held them back when it was unnecessary

this breaks my heart. mr. roach and hs:bc writing team please i miss my favorite blorbo duo being happy in each other’s company. they were such good friends but circumstances pulled them apart. i miss when they created music together and talked about their interests and exchanged quips. i am such a well of ideas for stuff like this. show us how much they mean to each other again

if youre still reading this james thanks for hearing me out. if you wanna pass on to the writing team to look at and get their feedback on this i’d be so so thankful

“and to think that after all this he still chose to save her, like always, probably knowing he had little to no chance, just because he cares for her, her life and who she is beyond this moment, really meant a lot for them. i really, really was mad that this would be the last time they would truly ever be together in a way that to me mattered” — vintagegamebro

[rwrbficrecs]

Readers' Choice Rec List Part 3 of 7

Part 1 | Part 2 The Royal Wedding by @dracowillhearaboutthis

@suseagull04

If You Hold Me Without Hurting Me, You’ll Be the First Who Ever Did by @omgcmere

@danieljradcliffe: I love a missing moment fic and this goes down as one of my all time favourites: The first night they spend at the lake house, before Alex wakes up with Henry's swimsuit tangled around his elbow.

Ghosted by @tintagel-or-cockleshells

anon: I feel like people pass over this one because of the Major Character Death but the author came through with a happy ending!

God Save the Blessed American President Mom by @zipadeea

@space--potat0

three grubs in a trench coat + gay brit wizard by @clottedcreamfudge

@space--potat0: This is so charming! Had me laughing out loud and also very hot. Literally the best of both worlds

kensington palace, 6:22am by @cricketnationrise

@space--potat0: This one was my favourite but honestly all their RWRB ficlets were incredible

Class(room) Warfare by @cha-melodius

@themundanemudperson: I loved Alex and Henry's banter in this professor!AU

blurry eyes on a Friday night by orionseye

@dot524: This is Henry’s POV of the White House ball. I felt like H was going through a lot that evening, and this fic captured it perfectly!

Nora & the Holidays by @adreamareads (series)

anon: i just think this series doesn't get enough attention. nora's judaism is hardly ever mentioned, let alone explored, and i think this is really cool the way nora shares this bit of herself with the other characters - education without pushing her beliefs on anyone. plus it's cute and funny.

In Your Orbit by @everwitch-magiks (WIP)

@tintagel-or-cockleshells: This fic has everything. Space. Kidnapping. Pez. Warning tags. It’s a really fresh idea and I love it!

[podfeels]

Podfeels Adapt8ion Notes: Episode 6

hello, dare again! just as a reminder for how these posts work, stagelights will be covering the notes as a whole, and if i ever have to pitch in it will be with purple text like this! with that said, lets get back into it!

and here we have it, the final one of season/act 1. i dont know if we ever settled on which its called. seasons internally, acts externally :) we never really cleared up that inconsistency but its not a huge deal so shrug emoji. this episode is some of our best work so far, and i think a lot of the changes help sell that even more.

a bit of a call forward to the next chapter where dirk says the same thing. we also used this in the trailer for the sahcon new years showcase.

this change was done to match the art drawn for the background more closely.

that first bit literally makes no sense in audio and there is no way to adapt it so we changed it. then some narration changes. then im pretty sure that last bit was a typo, so that was fixed lmao. yeah. half-hazard is a sarah-ism we nixed to make the actual word (as much as its a charming sarah-ism, i dont think it was intentionally included by choice by her, just put in by virtue of her writing it) and grub-naking was definitely a typo i think. as for the b's or 8's thing. yeah. that was hell to figure out and we eventually gave up on it after multiple attempts to find ANY way to make it work.

this line wasn’t actually changed, but there was a small addition of the characters in question screaming slash begging for their life or what have you as their name is said. spooky. :)

fairly big change, and i think the change from a photo to a video helps sell more in audio form the impact of junes violence here. its some good shit, and also fucking terrifying holy shit i shuddered while listening back to this for writing these notes. shout outs to the writing team for putting this here. abso-fuckin-lutely, the writing goes so hard. also a big shoutout to my friends who put up with my annoying and loose process to come in as cameo voices for the recording!

you know the drill by now.

there are a BUNCH of changes here. first of all we added a lot of new lines here for the ads, because i think that fits better in audio. all of these lines are voiced by guest actors, including sarah herself, which is pretty neat. then theres a new bit of dialogue here from jane. it being a pre-recorded message helps to sort of keep it ambiguous as to whether she’s alive or not, and helps to sell that this is a crisis the world is taking seriously. it also helps bring things in line with future bits of godfeels, as crockercorp has its hands in many pieces of this version of earth c. then janes voice starts to glitch out and we cut to the terezi call, which had a bunch of changes to reflect the whole “phone calls and not text” thing. 

some changes to help bring the fight scene into place more naturally

This entire fight scene does not show the script in the video version, so i had to manually create the screenshot for this for the sake of the comparison, but this screencap does not do this scene justice. this entire bit of narration was cut and replaced with some INCREDIBLE sound design, which i can’t really get into the sound design part because im not a sound designer. but its really fucking good. shout outs to dare for that.

so, a bit of background on this scene. originally our plan was to have an instrumental sludge metal cover of Sweet by Phemiec, the trickster!Jane song. it was gonna be a tense chase sequence like the original text, but dragged out into a cat and mouse between june and dirk with dirk playing with his food a bit and june having to face the reality of what she did while fearing for her life.

however, when it came time for this to be done, the musician i'd planned this with had something else in mind, intending on a Deftones style altmetal sound instead of the sludge metal previously discussed, and then also life events made her incapable of delivering within any reasonable timeframe anyway before we could settle on which route to go down. so that got scrapped, which is tragic because that plan, sludge or alt, would have been absolutely stunning, but also scrapping it allowed us to make it SO. MUCH. BETTER.

we had already settled on "Game over." as a title, a callback to the last time everyone Fucking Died, also formatted like Dirk's text instead of June's, to show his control over this episode. but following from that name, I realized... we could use the song. from [S] Game Over, CARNE VALE. which also adds more flavor to this ult-dirk depiction, i feel. using a Caliborn song over a Dirk scene reminds the listener that Ult-Dirk is, in fact, Caliborn. He's every instance of Dirk, which includes Lil Hal, which includes Arquisprite, which includes Lord English. So using a Caliborn song here actually resonates REALLY HARD, i think.

as for the sound design, thank you for the praise! im very proud of my work here, the vrillyhoo sounds, syncing the swings to the beat of the song, and using the uprising whistle in the song at one point as a sound effect for the vrillyhoo flying through the air after june gets disarmed. the scene and song gave me a lot of material to work with :3

there were actually a ton of suggestions for flourite octet effects from all of our writers (and a few friends of mine who weren't on the team lol), and i cant find them all, but these were the final ones we narrowed down to before chosing

last bit of the original episode had a bunch of cuts for pacing. pacing, yes, but also to keep us tied to our current june. the original writing had it cut to the scene before june showed up, and had her appear. but in order to maintain the inertia from the last scene and to keep our camera focused on our protagonist, we had us just land in the scene at the same time as her. the audio here is literally ripped verbatim from episode 5, and in the scriptlog for this episode it says “episode 5” during this part, which i think is very fun.

there is also a post credits scene involving dirk, with a bit of completely original writing.

i don’t know if theres much to say about this that the text itself doesn’t already make clear. “this is where i get off” is apparently a half life reference though, but i haven’t played half life so idfk. dirk would be the type of nerd to do a reference like this in these circumstances though.

i had a lot of plans for this scene, and felt VERY strongly about it. originally this scene was vetoed by some performers until i recorded it myself as a proof of concept and we discussed was to get them on board. my original draft had gore sfx after he swung his blade (because i love gore sfx), but i think its far stronger to cut off before impact. as for why we're having A Dirkicide, when thats often seen as a bit insensitive these days, is actually to humanize dirk. dirk, in later godfeels updates, comes back as far less of a villain. in early godfeels, he's all intimidating villain all the time, all the way until his death. i wanted to let him share his piece. the text here is some original, some taken from his death in the Meat timeline, and some taken from his death in the Game Over timeline. These callbacks are also included intentionally to make him a bit more sympathetic. While his plan is to spark the epilogues, and he is a monster for his actions there, he IS ultimately motivated by an urge to keep his friends alive. this timeline isn't just a dud for his plans, isn't just a failure of his foresight, but also a repeat of dirk's lowest moment in the comic, when he lets the glitchtide take him after learning all his friends are dead. a moment he remembers and likely still grieves. and now he's having to grieve it all again. this wasn't included to be insensitive to dirk, it was included to make you remember 'wait, shit. yeah. oof. he IS kinda right on all counts about june as of this moment'.

and for a bit of behind the scenes? i've designed two sounds for deaths, Heroic and Just. and this one? it was Heroic. he died in the process of opposing someone who just killed all her friends. i may not agree with that distinction overall, but i think its a fair choice for skaia to make and i included that little meta aspect to once again humanize him a bit more.

also yes i had him quote gman, not just because he's a dweeb, but also to show his position as a Controller Who's Lost Control.

_____

thank you for coming around to see the adaptational notes for podfeels act 1! thank you again to stagelights for putting all of this together (i never would have found the time to do the bit by bit markdowns like they did), and also thank you to everyone on the team for contributing to this passion project i think we're all very very proud of.

i apologize for the long delay in getting act 2 started, but rest assured that we're still hard at work! i hope youve enjoyed seeing our process a bit, and maybe even learned from it a little!

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Rom

By Ames

Among your A Star to Steer Her By hosts, Rom might be the most polarizing character from all of Star Trek. Some of us (and you all know when I’m talking about Chris) worship the ground this grand nagus walks on. And some of us (oh hello, I’m Ames) would rather throw him out an air lock. His rather offensive depiction as someone who seems to have low intelligence ends up contradicted by his otherworldly engineering skills. His actually very funny scenes get offset by how his whole character becomes a goofy punchline. His Ferengi values are deplorable and yet his character journey and love of his family are commendable. And that voice…

All that to say: this blogpost is going to be our biggest roller coaster ride yet.

So get ready to dig into a bowl of tube grubs and keep your tooth sharpener handy as we dig into the moments we adore about Quark’s lesser brother and the moments we detest about him. Read on below and listen to this week’s podcast episode (jump to 1:01:34) for all the Ferengi gossip. And don’t forget to call your moogie.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

You saved your brother’s life Let’s start off with the good stuff. In “Necessary Evil” when Trazko is pillow smothering Quark, Rom screams and screams for help, foiling the assassination plot and saving his brother’s life. And you know what, it’s actually a pretty funny button when Rom screams again when he realizes that, with Quark still alive, he won’t be inheriting the bar any time soon.

I would be proud to have a son in Starfleet Even I, a bonafide Rom hater, can admit that his relationship with his son is one of the best things about his character. We see him stand up to Quark (a rarity!) and support Nog’s desire to join Starfleet in “Heart of Stone” and we’ve got to give the guy credit for wanting Nog to pursue his dreams of becoming better than his father, low bar as that may seem.

The Ferengi not-so-Benevolent Association When the Nagus’s personality has gotten rewritten in “Prophet Motive,” he somehow ends up making Rom the senior administrator of his new Ferengi Benevolent Association. And you’ve got to give Rom credit for seeing a chance to scheme that even Quark didn’t notice, as he embezzles money from the foundation before Zek turns back to normal. He’s got the lobes!

Moogie’s got the lobes for business In addition to the lovely father-son relationship with Nog, Rom’s relationship with his moogie is also extremely sweet. He eventually supports her profit-making scheme in “Family Business” even though it’s illegal for females to make money, tricks Quark into coming to terms with Ishka, and by the end of the episode is in on the plan to hide some of her profits from Brunt, FCA!

My son’s happiness is more important to me than anything, even latinum It’s worth mentioning how supportive Rom is of Nog again because in “Facets” he foils Quark’s nefarious plan to sabotage his Starfleet Academy exam, even threatening to burn the bar to the ground because he places his son’s personal journey so highly. He also goes to Garak to have Nog’s cadet uniform made personally, which is just about the cutest moment in the show.

Our union, united, will never be divided Rom proves to be a champion of the laborer in “Bar Association” when he starts up a union for Quark’s bar to fight for better pay and working conditions. Again, it’s another practice that’s illegal under Ferengi law, but that doesn’t stop Rom (even when it gets Quark attacked), who rallies his band of waiters and Dabo girls together with confidence we’ve never seen before.

Number one dads! We don’t get a lot of scenes between Sisko and Rom, the two best dads of the station (sorry Miles, but neither of these proud papas left their child to die in the woods). When Jake and Nog are quarreling over their odd-couple habits in “The Ascent”, the two fathers concoct a scheme to get them to talk out their problems and be friends again by pretending there are no other quarters available.

Do I have a reason to stay? Maybe it’s because Lewis Zimmerman comes across as such a cretin, but it feels like a victory when Rom asks Leeta out at the end of “Dr. Bashir, I Presume?” and she decides to stay at the station instead of leaving to become Dr. Z’s sex object. Even though everyone already knew she’d say yes, it takes him the whole episode to muster the courage, but let’s take the win.

Self-replication. That’s the only answer. Rom’s contradictory character traits are nothing if not fascinating. Sure, he couldn’t find a cup of water if you dropped him in a lake, but he still comes up with the ingenious idea to have the cloaked minefield also be self-replicating to take on the Dominion in “Call to Arms.” Moments of sheer brilliance like this make Rom a character of simultaneous simplicity and complexity.

I walk through minefields Rom’s profound bravery is on display during season six when he works with the resistance to undermine the Dominion occupation. And it all caps off with “Sacrifice of Angels.” Rom may not have had time to prevent Damar from taking down the minefield, but he still sabotages their weapons array, giving the prophets the time they needed to save the day.

We’re not commandos, we’re negotiators What could have simply been a farcical play on The Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven gets a fresh take when Rom has a rare epiphany in “The Magnificent Ferengi”. The Ferengi don’t have the chops for fighting (except for Leck, whom we love), and Rom points out that they should treat the release of Moogie as a business deal, something more in their wheelhouse.

A kinder, gentler Nagus Rom’s entirely hyperbolized character arc concludes with him becoming Grand Nagus in “The Dogs of War.” Sure, it’s definitely entirely out of nepotism because his mother had put him there, and she’s also definitely going to be the one ostensibly in charge because she can pull his strings, but what a journey! And he’s so magnanimous about it that he even gives the bar back to Quark!

—

Worst moments

Not next to that human boy. I don’t want you to have anything to do with him. Onto the bad stuff! In “A Man Alone,” Rom doesn’t even have the caricatured voice yet, but does start the series with all the typical toxic Ferengi values. It takes a battle for him to agree to let Nog attend Keiko’s classroom, and even when he does, his anti-hooman racism shows when he won’t let Nog sit with Jake, just as Sisko didn’t want his son hanging out with that Ferengi trash either.

Now go to your room. And no studying. A few episodes later, Rom pulls Nog from Keiko’s school in “The Nagus” after getting criticized by Zek for allowing his son to learn from a hooman female. It’s one of Rom’s biggest faults (and Quark’s too): his preoccupation with displaying as a typical, profitable Ferengi even among people for whom their value system is hot garbage. Rom at least eventually overcomes it.

Rom’s. Nice name for a bar, don’t you think? Another case to make that point: Rom becomes the lackey of Zek’s son Krax and helps in the attempt to kill off Quark in “The Nagus.” It’s not until later that we see more brotherly love, one-sided though it may seem. But this early in the show, Rom is much more of a typical Ferengi, obsessed with amassing power, fame, and fortune above all else.

Ferengi, Romans, Countrymen: Lend me your ears We here at the podcast really rooted for Pel in “Rules of Acquisition,” a female who really has the lobes to break free of the government’s oppression of her gender. So when Rom outs her to Quark as a female (after a scene way too comically goofy of him literally looking through Pel’s socks to find incriminating evidence), we can’t help but start siding against him, the dirty rat.

You know, come to think of it, my ear’s bothering me too Like I did with the Quark post, I will call out all the uncomfortable uses of oo-mox whenever the show sinks to such a level. We see Rom trying to trick Faith Garland into giving him oo-mox in “Little Green Men” – while his son is actively getting it! – and I just find it so gross. For how much oo-mox is played up to be a sexual act in this show, this is sexual assault, plain and simple.

Too. Much. Oo-mox. And to make things grosser, we get even more oo-mox references a couple episodes later in “Bar Association” when we learn that Rom has given himself an ear infection from too much oo-mox. And it’s self-inflicted. So basically what we’ve learned from this scene is that Rom masturbates so much that he gives himself an infection, a detail I wish I never had to learn.

Even. More. Oo-mox. I’ve got one more oo-mox mention to get out of my system because I’m just so angry every time it comes up. Literally right after Rom has admitted to rubbing his ears raw to Leeta in “Bar Association” and she shows some sympathy for him, his response is to request oo-mox from her! They’re not even dating at this point! It’s disgusting. I hate it. Minus a hundred points.

The better to hear you with Speaking of Leeta, it’s exactly a season after this that Rom finally asks her out in “Dr. Bashir, I Presume?” (as we mentioned above!). But! This is a) after we learn that his first wife Prinadora swindled him on their wedding extension contract like a chump, and b) after we watch him literally tuning his ear to eavesdrop on Leeta and Zimmerman’s conversation. And somehow he still never gets the hint she’s into him. Like a chump!

If you liked it then you shoulda put a Bajoran earring on it I’m just gonna lump what a shitty partner Rom is to Leeta into one screed. In “Ferengi Love Songs,” he tries to make her sign a Waiver of Property and Profit just because Jadzia and Miles were teasing him about not being very Ferengi like. This after he started wearing a Bajoran-style earring, which strikes me as on the questionable side of cultural appropriation.

Later in “Call to Arms,” we see Rom trying to suggest Leeta’s wedding dress literally be a couple handkerchiefs and a loincloth (gross) and then once they’re married, he decides she’s leaving the station before the Dominion rolls in, without her getting a single say in her own life (more gross!). Why are all the men in this show so shit at relationships!?!?

You said the reward was twenty Shockingly, Rom’s incompetence hasn’t come up as much as I expected, but his ability to ruin things through miscommunication and shenanigans is on special display in “The Magnificent Ferengi.” He blurts out that Quark is cheating the other Ferengi out of reward money, riles up the rest of the team, and thus gets Keevan killed because he can’t keep big mouth shut.

Foul ball! I’m not alone in hating on the campy mess that is “Take Me out to the Holosuite” but Rom is so disruptively, dangerously bad at playing baseball that it warrants being on this list. How he makes it as far as he does in the tryouts only speaks to how terrible Sisko is at coaching. The guy breaks Quark’s damn head. That’s how bad he is. It goes past being funny to just being idiotic.

That’s why the lady is a scamp We have space for one more bad “Rom is a nincompoop” joke that doesn’t land. In “The Siege of AR-558,” we’re tortured with Rom’s deliberately atrocious cover of “The Lady Is A Tramp” just because Ira Behr really needed to shoehorn Vic Fontaine into as many of the final episodes as possible, and it shows because it’s just another lowbrow, asinine, bottom-feeding gag. Check that off the list.

—

Well, that may have gone off the rails but whenever I have to sit through oo-mox jokes, I get testy. And sadly I already know there’s going to be more of that next week with our final Ferengi spotlight on Nog! So make sure you’re following along to catch that, join us as we continue our watchthrough of Enterprise over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, engage in negotiations with us on Facebook and Twitter, and stop making oo-mox jokes!

[davekat-sucks]

Okay, this is a VERY stupid question that came to me because of that weird Tavros/Harry/Vrissy relationship from Homestuck 2 and I'm really embarrassed to ask it. So correct me if I'm wrong please because it's been a while since I read Homestuck, we know that John and Jade are the ectobiological children of Jake and Jane and that both pre/post scratch Jake and Jane have a family relationship with Condesce/Betty Crocker (Nanna and Grandpa Harley being raised by Condesce as adopted siblings, Jake and Jane being adopted great-great-grandchildren of Condesce via Poppop and Grandma Harley). So getting straight to the point, can I consider John, Jade and Tavros Crocker as let's say """"""incest babies"""""? (My god this sounds so awful) I know Jake and Jane are NOT biologically related, but in both pre/post scratch versions they belong to the same family (Nanna/Grandpa as siblings and Jane Crocker and Jake English as "cousins") So Jane in Homestuck 2 technically married a relative????????? I'm so confused Jesus.

(just an addendum, I'm not a proshipper, fictional incest makes me uncomfortable) Sorry for the stupid question DX

It's alright. But yeah, technically through ectobiology, each of the characters, even separate groups like Beta and Alpha, have some being technically related to one another. For example Dirk & Roxy and Dave & Rose, they are all brothers and sisters in that sense, but at the same time, they are also like a father and mother to the other party (Dave would be Dirk's father as Rose would be Roxy's. Roxy would be Rose's mother and Dirk being the father). The same applies to John, Jade, Jake, and Jane. But yeah, Jane would technically be married to her relative, Jake. Even if they were raised by separate people like Dad Crocker, Poppop, and Grandma Harley, both Poppop and Grandma Harley are part of the ectobiology pool that would help create both Jake and Jane. So yes, them and Tavros Crocker would be incest babies. When you think about the creation of the Homestuck kids being made through ectobiology, they would technically be all related since they were born at the same time. Though it looks like the ghost slime imprints separate each base copy, it doesn't deny the fact that the machine goes through it to create the kids we know and love and appear simultaneously.

But that's if you wanna say they count the minute they were all born at the same time on that meteor or if it doesn't count since the DNA slime didn't technically touch each other to call it incestuous slurry. It's not like with trolls and their reproduction method, which is confirmed to be incestuous slurry themselves and they admit that incest on their planet is definitely okay. Which makes all trolls we know and love, inbred aliens. This applies to fantrolls too unless stated by their creator they they were born through other means. And since trolls live on Earth C, where they still born through incestuous slurry thanks to Mother Grub, incest for trolls and technically for humans and Carapacians, is allowed on Earth C. Because it wouldn't be fair if trolls are the only ones who get to fuck with their brother/sister/cousin. And when you think about the reproduction of humans that had been through ectobiology, as seen in Credits, Earth C would also be technically started out as incest since those babies would also need to grow up and then reproduce through natural means. And by looking at the kids, there is a chance one of them is a mix of incest in some way. Like one of them being a John/Jade baby, a Dave/Rose one, etc.

I can't expect Homestuck 2 or Homestuck Beyond Canon try to claim that the rest of humanity would use ectobiology as a means to make a baby instead of the usual method. Because then it would bring a question on why hasn't there been a hybrid human+troll kind. DNA compatibility between other species has never been brought up. But nu-fans of Homestuck don't think too deep about it and WhatPumpkin/Hussie doesn't WANT you to think deeper about it either. Even now, the motto for it is "DON'T THINK ABOUT IT". Homestuck is already confusing as fuck even with the plot holes still there.

[lianhua-jun]

Since I finally have time, I'm gonna do my promised live blog through SVSSS, the official English translation! The first part that I wanted to talk about is on page 15:

Having read many of Zhongdian's transmigration novels, Shen Yuan had long ago resolved that, if he one day woke up to find himself lying in a strange place, the first words out of his mouth before he understood what was happening definitely wouldn't be a carefree giggle and, "Are you filming a movie? The props look real—your crew's really giving it their all!" I.e., the words of a person slow-wittedly trying to find their footing.

I genuinely have to wonder about Shen Yuan here. Like, what is this dude's mental state to plan for something like that? My good brother, what even is your life?

Page 12 says:

"Dumbfuck author, dumbfuck novel!" With his dying breath, Shen Yuan spat this final curse.

Who could've imagined that an upstanding young man like him—who had properly purchased the website's VIP currency and read the novel's official version—would find himself persevering before his untimely death to finish a novel so stallion, so money-grubbing and overly padded, that it left him speechless with rage? How could he not curse?

He's so angry here; it's actually kinda funny. He proceeds to rant for around a page and a half, which doesn't fit very well with his whole "I'm an upstanding guy, me cursing is weird" statements. He is mercilessly mocking everything from Airplane's username and writing level to the world building and character writing! Although I do love the part where he goes, "What happened to all those women? Actually, never mind, let's skip that." It's only page 13, and he's already being weird about the harem.

My point being, this is actually a brilliant setup for the unreliable narrator! We're primed to believe the protagonist, but we get his subtly contradictory behavior from go. I'm not saying he's a bad person or anything, of course, just that I want to study his brain. He's actually quite fascinating to me!

By the way, if you don't want to see my posts while I live blog books, the tag I'll be using for that is "#lian reads", so you can just block that.

[genork-the-fandork]

Merry Digi-mas, @nsdrawsstuff ! I was your Secret Santa! (My main blog is @animegenork , but for the sake of my sanity, I post all my writing here... I know it's confusing.) It has unfortunately been a long time since I've seen Savers, and the same goes for Adventure 02; however, I do remember my impressions of Daisuke and Masaru's characters and wanted to try my hand at doing something a little goofy with them. (But mostly Daisuke, since I dabble more with Adventure content.) I hope you enjoy! [AND I'M SO SORRY ABOUT HOW LATE IN THE DAY I'M POSTING THIS!] Thank you to @digisecretsanta and @sluggybasson107 as always for hosting! 💕

Running Late

Word Count: 991 | Universe: Adventure [02] x Savers Crossover (slight Xros Wars reference) | Characters: Daisuke Motomiya, V-mon, Masaru Daimon | Dedicated to nsdrawsstuff

It was a Christmas like any other, but also extraordinary in its own way, because wasn't every Christmas spent with Digimon extraordinary?

Though he and the others had been planning their get-together for months, Daisuke had been so busy he'd kept pushing off his task. Takeru had even teased him about it the other day, asking if he'd gotten the food yet for their fête. "Of course I did," Daisuke scoffed, setting down his water glass a little more forcefully than necessary. "Who d'you think I am?"

"You," Ken had replied smoothly, coolly, even, not a hint of malice in the words. Just the truth.

Well, they were both right, dammit.

Daisuke glanced at the clock. Okay. He only had a few more minutes of his shift left. Then he could go run out for some snacks. Surely there would still be some left somewhere, right?

V-mon poked his head over the counter. "How much longer?"

"Just a few more minutes, buddy! Then we can go get the grub." As if he didn't already work in a restaurant. With plenty of food.

"Daisuke! Mind bussing that table? You can call it a day after that." His manager poked his head into the kitchen, nodding to a table that had only recently been vacated. Daisuke grinned and nodded, turning off the stove in front of him.

Was it fair to say he was practically sprinting to bus the table? Yes. So was it completely expected that he would bump into someone while he did so? Also yes. The unfortunate part of the encounter, however, was that he was holding a pile of plates, and he nearly dropped all of them. As he fumbled with the Leaning Tower of Plate, he spun to apologize to the person he'd bumped into. In the nick of time, he regained his balance. Bonus! "Sorry about that! I wasn't looking."

"No problem, man. Don't sweat it," the guy said, waving. "Be careful!"

Daisuke paused and watched the man leave the restaurant. Shaggy brown hair, dog tags, wristbands… he looked familiar. Or, at the very least, he almost seemed like some alternate version of Taichi. Back when they were kids, at least. But that could be true of just about anyone, right?

Then again, he was a Chosen Child. Coincidences weren't something to be taken lightly.

He didn't have time for this! If it was something to worry about, something else would happen. That was usually the way these things went in his life. Right now, he had a mission. And that mission was to get snacks!

V-mon paced dutifully behind him as Daisuke hurried down the street, scanning for a convenience store that would still have the types of snacks that his friends liked. And that the Digimon liked. That was the most important part, because obviously the Digimon would be eating more than half of the food.

Finally! One appeared in front of him, almost by magic (though he knew there was no such thing, unless Digimon counted), and he hurried inside. His breath fogged in front of his face as he released it, but the convenience store was fairly warm. V-mon did a full body shake, almost like a dog, stomping his feet to regain feeling. Daisuke was constantly reminded that shoes were a blessing whenever he had his partner with him.

A cursory glance at the store revealed low stocks of the kinds of chips and cookies he was looking for, but that didn't deter him. There had to be something.

Times like this, it was helpful for one to have a Digimon partner. V-mon reached further back on the lower shelves for the last of the party-size sour cream and onion chips. Now as for barbeque…

"Ah, I bet you're looking for this. Here, I grabbed two."

Daisuke looked up from his position kneeling on the floor, instantly recognizing the guy he'd bumped into earlier. "Hey, you're—"

"The one you nearly ran over? Yeah, I am." The man held out a hand, and Daisuke gripped it in his own, allowing himself to be helped to his feet. "You look like you're in a bind. Got a party or something?"

"Yeah, I said I'd get snacks, but you know… work and stuff…" Daisuke rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

The guy just nodded in understanding. "Been there. Bet you got a friend who gives you crap for it, even if he's not harsh about it?"

"In their own ways, they all do. But yeah, I got two of them."

"Ha, nice. Well, hopefully they like barbeque." With a smile, the man handed him the barbeque chips.

"Thanks." Daisuke smiled down at the chips, knowing that the Digimon (especially V-mon) would love them. When he looked up, the stranger was leaving. "Wait, at least tell me your name! If I run into you again, I'd love to repay you."

"I'm going out of town soon, so I don't think you'll see me again. But, for what it's worth, Masaru. See you around, Daisuke."

"Masaru." That name sounded familiar, kind of like how he looked like someone he'd seen before. At least, the sound of his name fit in his mouth in a way that meant he'd used it before. Right…?

Wait, but how did he know his name?

Before he could ask, Masaru was gone.

"That was strange," V-mon said, scratching his cheek with a claw.

"You're pretty strange, too, buddy," Daisuke pointed out with a playful smile, trying to shake off the swirling questions. He could ask Koushiro or Taichi or someone about this later—right now, he had snacks to obtain! "Now let's go look at the cookies."

Though he didn't run into Masaru a third time, Daisuke couldn't help but wonder if he was having as merry of a Christmas as he and the others were. Maybe he'd see him the next time he was running late with something.

Extraordinary Christmas indeed.

[makima-s-most-smile]

Trigun Maximum 4 (part1)

I am not late! You are just early!

Trigun Ultimate: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 Trigun Maximum: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

01: Count down

Ugh, Jessica and her weird puppy crush. I… just do not get it. It is creepy. Good on Vash having reinforcement.

This is a cute scene. Beyond being a used car salesman in the open, he is an awkward, but incredibly direct and honest person with people that are “close”. His curious question is kinda endearing. Good on tackling his assumptions about others in such a direct manner. And Brad accidentally digging his own grave by insulting Jessica by putting words into Wolfwood’s mouth is hilarious. I love how Wolfwood’s hair bristles visibly as the confrontation goes down. The ghibli-cat-shiver that Stampede WooWoo does seems to be Trimax canon, too! Let him bristle! It is cute!

Brad, Wolfwood is an orphan who lived with mere necessities and even less. He won’t criticise any grub he gets to eat. Free food is free food. 

Adding to that, this scene. Did I say that I love this homely feeling those scenes have? Just characters working off each other by their personality without stakes, but we get hella lot of character- and worldbuilding. 

Wolfwood is not a dumb person. Well, he is an idiot, but that is his behaviour, behind that is a very attentive, intelligent man. What he does not have is an education due to his upbringing. I think radio transmission is also done by satellite on No-Man’s-Land. (But I have to say that this may have been a line from a fanfic *coughs*) Anyway, the Great Fall led to a massive loss of technology and knowledge. The people of Home have the privilege of not trying to survive daily, of having resources to save the technology and use it. Outsiders haven’t. And I like the discrepancy between those two groups that is shown here.

I also love that Vash understands Wolfwood and that he kinda bullies the defensive baby into looking at the machinery. He meets Wolfwood at Wolfwood’s level. And that is just really a nice move.

Because it gets us there. The cynic has to deal with a new emotion growing. Hope. It really makes my heart ache. Wolfwood believes so thoroughly that he cannot be saved, but hopes so desperatedly that he can at least lessen the burden on the kiddos. Here he receives hope for ALL.

Wolfwood is bitter, but being a realist. He knows about the state of the world, it makes his whole being. And here he is with a bit of hope blooming in his chest begging God that he may keep it. That they may keep it. It shows Wolfwood being incredibly humble.

We next to never get to see Wolfwood really speak to God. His moral dilemma is exactly that, moral and ethical. There is no church in it. It is not about religion or belief. It is his own morals not something that was instilled into him from the outside. In ‘98 Wolfwood being a man of God is a running joke ‘til episode 23 in the church. Even in Trimax it kinda is. But here, in this quiet moment where Wolfwood watches his friends and with new hope blossoming, he has no other choice but to beg a higher power to grant them some grace. Because Wolfwood knows that his hope, the message reaching Earth and them getting an answer is completely out of his control. 

And it looks like his prayer gets answered.

The handshake is incredibly cute. Did they just invent it in the spur of the moment?

And damn, Luida reminiscending Doc. How she allows herself a moment of respite, but still is the responsible leader even in this.

I snorted at the Knives’ pic. Dude being grumpy. Someone needs to make Knives' "Did you just shoot me?!" face over this. Please. Vash feels Knives' power surging and a glass breaks. Why only that glass? O.O I know it is for the atmosphere of the scene, but lemme be nitpicky.

Knives that looks like really bad constipation and his fart cuts the planet in half. *inserts one punch man ok face*

Uh, biblical. Knives as archangel Michael with his sword, ready to cut Satan from the sky and weighing the souls on judgement day. GOD! I SLEPT BETWEEN CHAPTERS AND JUST REALISED! EYE OF MICHAEL! They are judges of humanity, so to speak, and the sword of the Lord. I think that is especially meaningful about their workings in Stampede, really.

It is interesting that Wolfwood’s prayer was answered with an affirmative sign, with real reasons for hope, but it is Knives who intervenes and destroys the hope again. It could be read as Knives interfering with God/Vash destroying the hope that Vash gifts to the sinner Wolfwood.

:/ Vash… Let Brad tell the others. You’re patronising again! I know people need hope and all, but you let them hope a lie just now. Let people decide for themselves, let them have the agency to do so!

I know he knows that I know that he knows that I know that he knows-Situation. Wolfwood inserting himself as Vash' companion. If Vash wants to or not. Buddy is along the way. He needs to.

But I like that Wolfwood already knew that Vash would run away again and awaited him. Considering that we know that Vash won’t zoom in on Knives and will get distracted again, this here reads less than “I need to deal with Knives!” but more like “Vash runs from connection again”. Does Wolfwood know about the satellites, too? Or does he still have his hope unaffected by Knives?

02: Killer Horn Blues

Hi, Hornfreak! You evil Wolfwood!

Hornfreak is interesting. In the chapter before Knives was shown like archangel michael, but now Hornfreak flips the image and makes Knives the devil. 

Also, the perfect pitch is a superpower!

Hoppered is so cute y-y. I love their banter.

Not gonna lie, Knives is extremely cute in this pic. I wanna squish his cheeks and tell him he's baby. Too bad he does evil supervillain poses on the next pages.

Hornfreak is much like Wolfwood. Their clothing style is similar but colours inverted, both are bitter, cynic realists, but while Hornfreak is mostly about his own gain and benefit, Wolfwood is selfless. We haven’t seen Wolfwood on the job, but considering his reaction to Keele, we can at least assume that Wolfwood does not go on killing sprees like this. I like how this little flashback stresses the differences between them, too. We don't see Wolfwood on killing missions, but Wolfwood killing innocents is just too out there. Midvalley is cruel and coldblooded. He doesn't care about human life at all.

… He looked into a mirror and practiced that. I JUST KNOW IT! This line makes me cringe so hard. Lol, I am Millions Knives, herpaderp, I collect knives. Hehehehehe. Not gonna lie, I would not survive a meeting with Knives. I would laugh at him. I'd die. Even if I was a useful knife for him.

The gun ho guns are Knives’ knives. I like the reminder that “Chapel” is part of them. It could be Wolfwood’s arm, too. But he is missing the cross cufflinks in Trimax. So it could be OG-Chapel. It would make sense, since Knives “collected” his knives personally and no one knew that Wolfie came instead since Knives was… uh… occupied with being… uh… in the womb at the fifth moon incident.

Hornfreak does not seem to suffer under being an assassin, he does not really care that he kills or who is killed by him, he cares for his own life. Hornfreaks focus is completely on the being that has him under “its” thumb, Knives. Like Wolfwood, Hornfreak is a guy between a rock and a hard place and both don’t kid themselves about what will happen to them as soon as Knives wins. But Midvalley is all about himself, while Wolfwood is about the orphanage and its future.

I pity Legato. Especially in this exchange. Here is this being that he devoted his whole existence to and it brushes his service and really his whole loyalty off like it means nothing at all. Legato is his main informant about how Knives’ machinations are working, he helps Knives as much as he can, hell, he even made sure that Knives has a body at all. And he is taken for granted! He is not even privy to such information like: “Yeah, well, change of plans. Chapel is now a babysitter for my little bro. Just letting you know! For reasons, too!” Knives cannot be bothered to spare Legato a crumb of attention or respect. Someone else said that Knives and Legato are Vash and Wolfwood just completely unhinged. I agree. I need to say something, but that goes into spoiler territory. Someone remind me in a few volumes to go into the similarities and the main difference.

I like how Knives does not even tell Legato Wolfwood’s real name or anything or that Wolfwood has tried to kill him. Nah, not important to him at all. All according to keikaku. (Newsflash, it is not going to keikaku at all, friend!)

Interesting, too, that Midvalley had the same reaction like Wolfwood had to Vash' "aura" at his first meeting with Knives. Fear. He knows that Knives is a monster, immediately and without a doubt. His friends on the other hand were unable to feel it and thus Knives cut them up when they showed aggression to Knives. 

Midvalley muses how easy it would be to kill Knives with a well timed toot. But instead he breaks down at the memory of Knives' killing his friends! He cannot do it. There is no option to fight even in theory. And the focus at the end of the scene onto Knives tells me at least that he is very aware that Midvalley listened in and thought about killing him. I am not sure, but it seems like he feels sad? Apathetic? Not completely sure. Like he reserved himself to believe that this is all that humans feel towards him. Selffulfilling prophecy, though… If Knives only shows himself as a monster, people treat him like one.

Counter this with these idiots and the humans treating Vash as an equal, an equal idiot. While Vash being not human is still unspoken, Wolfwood hints more and more at it that he knows and Vash shows a bit more of his inhuman senses to him. 

But then Milly and Meryl kick in the door and, damn, Meryl is fucking spiteful!

03: Bottom of the dark

And the spite continues! Meryl is livid that the guys just left them. But letting them nearly die is harsh.

You nearly killed your idiot friends out of revenge for them leaving, gurl! While I don’t like the extreme it went to for jokes, I like that it happened. I like that we get to see the insurance women being angry for being left behind. I would be, too. (Too many manga women get just sidelined by the dudes deciding: Things are too dangerous for our fragile, female friend. We go without them for their safety!) It is a constant rejection, really.  

Uh, 13th bride? Not the 13th wife? Oh… No… It got worse. And it started out bad with just the assault.

Thank you for showing us that the insurance women are fucking capable on their own! More of this, please!

I understand that Meryl may hate having to rely on a gun. But that is really the state of the world they live in. Even Vash as the glaring break of tradition has to carry one. I’d like to know more about Meryl’s relationship to that man. Is it her mentor? Her dad? When did she get the weapon from him?

“It may be small, but its power is sufficient” could be about the weapon, but it could also be read about Meryl as a whole.

EWEWEWEWEWEWEEWWWWWW! Zazie, body horror supreme!

How can it be that those two dumbos nearly died by drying up and are just up and on the go again?! As much as the vials were a last second addition, Wolfwood surely is not human if he is on his two feet again. I get Vash! We were shown that he has a supreme healing factor by his body pushing out a bullet as Eriks. But Wolfwood...

Who is saying the pain in the ass-part? I think it is Vash? 

I’d also be a bit stinky if I just nearly died because my companions were petty.

And Wolfwood is doing what I just criticised Vash often does… Deciding for others for their safety without informing them. Both boys are so good at this >:3 *cocks gun* Sure, I would not want to have my companions die, either, especially when they are not a fighting monster like I am… But fucking talk to them about it! Don't just do the ditcheridoo! Wolfwood being pissy about their “stunt” does read more like him putting on a front, to give a reason more to ditch them and keep their relationship at arm's length. He cares. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t care about them tagging along.

I’d say Wolfwood is more of a realist, considering what happened in Home. The guys are in danger and there are more crazy mofos coming after them. Meryl and Milly can take care of themselves with normal humans. Though, I don’t think Wolfwood is asking/reflecting himself. I take Wolfwood’s comment more about relieving his conscience if Vash agrees to the decision of ditching them. So he does not carry the burden of hurting them by leaving on his own.

It gives way for another thought for me. If they ditch the insurance women for their safety, why wouldn't Vash do the same for Wolfwood?

I… I don’t believe that. They get that people are trying to kill Vash. Milly gets much more, maybe. But I do not think Meryl does. It is not like Vash told her what and who he is in the cold chamber. Or why he is hunted down. Or by whom. This will bite him in the arse. So badly. And fuck Vash, he deserves the bite. But Meryl does not.

The gun ho guns have their own sandstreamer with a skull at the front. How loaded is Knives? I made a joke a bit ago that Vash would not be the wealthy twin even with his lifespan, because he lives hand to mouth, but Knives would go into stocks and become rich.

I love Hoppered’s and Midvalley’s talks. Hoppered gets him. He looks stupid, but he has Milly-attention. And damn, if Revenge does not forebond a tragic ending for Hoppered. But can they really say that they chose this path? Midvalley had to decide between dying then and dying on a mission, but he may get an opening out if he choses the latter. Hoppered, we will see. Revenge says that he has a personal vendetta against Vash and that makes his decision an active one and not one between pest and cholera.

But… how does Midvalley hop from: “I want out and survive!” To “Imma gonna kill Vash even though then Knives will hunt me down personally!” That… is counterproductive to Midvalley wanting to survive, really… I get Hoppered with his revenge, but I don’t get Midvalley. Why doesn’t he just up and leave now? I don’t think Hoppered would make him stay. The fight is senseless. And as soon as it commences, Midvalley’s options go from: Die or run to die and die.

And… why would Hoppered ask for Midvalley hiding his remains? Is it a request for a burial?

I don’t understand, either, Zazie. Oh, they meant that our protagonists have split, not whyever Midvalley agrees to kill Vash.

Milly hears something to distract her and Meryl gets yeeted by a fucking swarm of insects. I… I think I’d black out if a swarm of mosquitos snapped me away.

[askbloatedbellyblog]

I loved your tierlist of genshin characters burps!! But can you explain why Itto is so high on the tierlist?

So I'll do burp canons for this since I've had a few requests for Itto.

There's a few reasons why I think Itto would be so high on the list.

First off, we already know that Itto is a big eater, having challenged Yae to a ramen eating competition despite being allergic to the tofu. With it making him sick, I'm sure that Itto would have dealt with all different kind of burps.

Itto is also an Oni, wild and barbaric, and I think that comes into his burps just as much as anything he does. Lastly, Itto is a show off, both to everyone and especially his gang and tries to impress them as much as he can, even if they know better (see the latest Beetle Battle Event nodding for an indication).

Why does that all matter? Well let me give you a few reasons.

If there's anything to have learned about Itto, is that he'll like to throw an event for really any reason, especially if it's a chance to party or show off. So because he's had a drum along festival, a test of courage, now a beetle battle, and all kinds of crazy antics, it's definitely within the realm of possibility that Itto would throw some kind of Burp themed event too like the "The Almighty Arataki Bodacious Bare Bellied Belch Bonanza!" where everyone has to compete on their level and style of burps. I could even see it being a judged competition between two different sides each round as it goes elimination style. He could eat or burp on command and potentially blow some people away. He's the type that would have that skill and love showing it off. I do know some sort of event like this would both attract several people (I like the idea that this happens in the center of Ritou as their biggest event yet especially since I could see Ayato wanting to help) and yet it being so loud that during some of the burps of the event that birds go flying from being disturbed. I wouldn't say no to their being an eating portion that goes along with it that might be used as an excuse to help with everyone's burps.

He'd also be the type that with his gang he'd endorse burps between them as they laze about, encouraging his subordinates to participate and trying to tell them how to do it better but ultimately giving terrible instructions with no one able to match his prowess (Poor Shinbu though since she does have manners). Incomprehensible instructions like "You just got to feel the gas in you and the stew and then FEEL it and then it comes up and just got to open your mouth, let that pressure build, you got it!"

And then he'll laugh when only a tiny burp comes out from them.

I do think that Itto can burp on command fairly easily and is probably pretty gassy in general. I think he's also the type that because he's just gassy in general, he'd be the kind that may talk for a while and then just accidentally burp mid sentence or have to pause to swallow it down. Most of those are fairly soft but he can save up his stomach gas for some powerfully strong belches that surprise everyone and make everyone in the vicinity stop and look to find the source. He might have to be careful because if he's not careful, is burps might give away his position to the Tenryou Commission if he's too strong about it.

Most of his burps would be loud and wet, with lots of oof behind them, as I think he's proud of the noise. He's also one that would burp after the end of a big meal as a way to show his satisfaction. He's one that would lean back, pat his belly, burp for a solid minute and say "Ooo yeah that hit the spot. That grub was amazing! Kudos to the cook! Do you want to join my gang? No, there's no pay..."

However, when he's really pushing it, like when Itto is busy eating 30 bowls of ramen again (with or without tofu), his burps would probably change to softer intermediate burps where he's trying to get more room. They are more guttural, from down below and may even do a shake after eating to make more room or to feel the release of tension. Once he really gets up there, he might do the really sick style burp of burping into his fist to try to hold down whatever food he has while getting the gas out. I also think once he has a big meal or wins an eating contest with legitimately or with false bravado, he'd pat his belly with both hands and rub it quickly and burp loud and long and ask "How was that? Pretty good, if I do say so myself. No one can beat the burping champion, the one and oni Almighty Arataki Itto! HAHA! BRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPP. See what I tell ya."

Also because of his singing and rap skills, I think it's very possible for Itto to burp as part of his beat boxing or to sing out notes, though possible that may happen on accident. I don't know if they have karaoke, but him reaching a high note after a night of beer and snacks and chowing down and it coming out as an epic belch, is exactly something that would happen with him.

This is just the beginning of different scenarios with him, and many of them silly because that's just how he is. One last one I could see is that he has to roar to be intimidating and might keep trying and then it accidentally comes out as a burp. Or that I also think he would show of his burps to the kids just as much as his card games and beetles.

[ryuichirou]

Hey Ryu! \ (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)/

Hope ur having a great day/night!

I rlly enjoy the head cannons and angst ships! Tho I recently read ur past VilxRook angst post and thought I'd give it a little shot for myself but with Azul x Idia and Idia x Ortho. It took a bit of courage for me to create this scenario bc it's a bit sensitive to me (not bc it happened to me or anything I just think it's horrible and dark) but this didn't leave my mind so I wanted to share it with u.

I was wondering what if Azul made Idia a victim of human trafficking? I see Azul as a person that would do anything for money. Idia is one easy resource, especially bc of their marriage now. I imagine after they got married by signing the papers, Azul at the time was probably think of how he could milk Idia from his wealth. Not completely ofc, but to the point where he is in control of it. Idia can provide for him in many ways (business wise), but Idia can also provide for him in bed. Tho what Idia does for him is enough, he probably thought "Why not kick it up a notch?~". He sumhow tricked Idia into agreeing with it since he is a master manipulator then made a business out of Idia. Idk if Idia would have enjoyed it or not but let's say he didn't to keep the dark side of this going. Ik Ortho would have noticed the bruises and forced hickeys/bites on Idia's body at sum point. Idia would just brush it off and say it's just from the others. Ortho would have brushed it off too since he knows Idia's relationships. If only Idia didn't act so off, he would have agreed. Ortho would catch on to the situation, stalking, watching, and realizing what's going on. He would probably confront Idia Abt it and force him to respond out of concern. Idia would break down and confess to what's going on, even exposing the fact that Azul made him do it. Or Ortho would probably connect the dots in his own and figure out that this was Azul's doing. What would Ortho do then? Now that he knows all of this information. What will he do with it?

Ofc the Leech brothers have a part in this. I wonder if they would think of this as a way to have fun or they genuinely feel guilty but can't do anything bc whatever Azul says goes? (Sort of funny how taller and more athletic they r compared to Azul- They could rip Azul to shreds if they wanted to but they won't for obvious reasons.)

That's all I had in mind. Hope this is sumwhat entertaining for u to read and replay to! (⁠ㆁ⁠ω⁠ㆁ⁠)

(Also I don't mind waiting for ur reply. I just care that u enjoy my ask with ur own opinions and have fun with whatever u have in mind. No need to apologize all the time. After all, for me, it's an honor to get a reply from u! Plus, waiting for u just adds to the curiosity of what u will say! It's fun for me! (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡)

Have fun with this however u like! I'll wait for however long to hear ur fun thoughts. Have a great night/day! ♡

Anon! First of all, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts despite the topic being sensitive, and thank you for being patient with us. We really appreciate it!

And damn this was a fun read, it has pretty much everything that we enjoy: Idia is suffering in the worst and the sexiest and the most cruel way possible, Azul is being a powerful manipulative money-grubbing asshole, Ortho being a concerned protective little brother that would stalk Idia for Idia’s best interest (obviously!) and the Tweels are also there lol

Speaking of tweels, I agree that it is funny just how easy it would be for them to rip Azul to shreds if they wanted. That being said, I think their main motivation would still be their own fun – what Azul is doing is fucked up and unfair to Idia, but also quite amusing, so they’ll play along. Their lack of empathy is a fun asset to their characters, in my opinion!

I also think that Idia is pretty smart, but also quite self-sabotaging and prone to accepting horrible treatment, so even though he is smart enough to see through Azul’s manipulations, he could also easily go along with his plans. Maybe it was to make Azul happy, maybe it was to make himself more miserable (out of guilt for any reason), maybe the isolation did its thing. Or maybe it tickles a kink he didn’t know he had~ Whatever it is, he is definitely a victim of Azul’s wonderful ideas

To answer your question, god I wouldn’t want to be in Azul’s shoes when Ortho finds out what’s going on. I think this entire situation is enough for him to want to fry Azul with lasers until he is reduced to dust. Ortho would need his precious Idia actually begging him not to kill Azul for him to calm down just enough to stop and think for a moment.

But, unfortunately for Azul, this is a “I won’t kill him, but I’ll make him suffer” type of situation for Ortho, because there is no bigger sin than forcing Idia to do something that he doesn’t want to.

The question is, is Azul smart and cunning enough to manipulate Ortho into thinking (or manipulate Idia into making Ortho think) that Idia is actually quite happy with the situation and that he wants to stay with his husband? The chances are slim (Ortho has a lie detector in him for fuck’s sake lol), but not completely zero. If Azul plays his cards right, the situation could continue for quite some time…

[figurativepieceoftrash]

Can I ask why you hate Vacation? Don't have to share if you don't want to, I'm just curious.

I wrote Vacation specifically to appeal to fandom trends and create something popular. I noticed that bnha readers tended to gravitate towards ridiculous, non-constructive, low-stakes crack fic with fandom humor, which I personally dislike reading/writing and find quite boring, and decided to attempt regardless bc my work never achieves the kind of engagement I want and I thought the dopamine hits would be fulfilling

Initially the insane stats were really nice! I got maybe thirty comments in the first day of posting (INSANE for my work) and a higher kudos to chapter ratio than I knew what to do with. Big fandom names who had never engaged with my work before were leaving stellar reviews, and I finally felt like something I'd written had a chance of going viral. The only issue was that I felt absolutely nothing for the story I was writing and in many cases outright despised the tropes I'd engaged with

I hate the badass Inko trope, the clueless, incompetent dfo trope, the genius Midoriya Izuku trope, fandomized dadmight, etc. etc. etc. the list goes on, but I'd realized that each of these tropes enable a fic to perform better despite how inherently reductive they tend to be. Which would be fine except that it led me to despise the way I'd portrayed characters I know I'm perfectly capable of liking in the right depictions and thus absolutely loathe writing them

Beyond this crack fic is. Just absolutely, monumentally, most definitely, infinitely and forever Not My Thing™️. Fandom humor relies on warping the characters involved in ways I feel are reductive and sticking them in situations they'd never realistically be in for the sake of a type of tongue in cheek "haha isn't [character a] so smart and wisecracking and [character b] so incompetent?" farce that just in no way appeals to me. Call me a fun killer, but I've always hated ooc comedy imagines and characterizations (the Izuku stealing a dead nighteye's merch/merch hoarding in general, Uraraka being a money-grubbing mizor, Aizawa loving cats/constantly adopting kids, Izuku is snappy and sarcastic and dfo doesn't impact him at all he says so what, etc. etc. I'm sure you can think of many more), incorrect quotes blogs, big bnha blog joke aus taken as canon, etc.

I tend to prefer comedies like Arrested Development, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Curb Your Enthusiasm where the humor arises naturally from the characters being the way they were designed to be in natural situations rather than like,,, warped funhouse mirror versions of characters losing or gaining a skull's worth of braincells to adhere to ooc characterizations the fandom collectively deems as funny on some arbitrary, indiscernible basis. I get fandom humor it just doesn't amuse me at all, and honestly I've blocked way too many bnha blogs for constantly shoving it in my face. No hate, it's preference, I just really prefer not to engage with it

Vacation was me shilling out my values and preferences to be popular and it didn't even perform as well as it could've to boot. Frankly writing it was really tiresome and unfun for me and I personally don't vibe with the brand of humor it has at all. It was a slog from start to finish and it was only two chapters long

I'm definitely not judging anyone who likes it, but it probably isn't something I'll ever revisit unless I'm in a REALLY bad place mentally and need writing validation lol

[mortallyclearwonderland]

Epic 2013 - NAMES

In this post, I would like to talk about the meaning of the names of the characters from the movie Epic.

Either people think long and hard about how they are going to name their children (or anything for that matter), while others just pick a name that they like without looking any further.

Names are especially important in stories like books and movies.

While in the real world you can have 6 girls named Olivia in the classroom (something that really happened to me), writers can give every character in their story a different name to avoid confusion.

It can be as simple as ''This character is from Japan. Let's give him a Japanese name.'' or ''My movie takes place in the 80s in the US let's give characters names that were popular at the time.''

Sometimes names can give you an insight into what is character's personality, talent, etc. Some are more subtle than others. (Dr Evil or Dr Doom)

Let me start by saying this, names in Epic are all over the place. Let's get the simple ones out of the way.

Susan comes from Persian and it means lily flower. In modern Hebrew this also means rose and a flower in general. It's a standard name for the setting and the time period, modern times (the 2010s) somewhere in North America.

Professor Radcliffe Bomba, his title is supposed to explain how he knows all this ‘’scientific’’ stuff. Bomba means bomb in most Slavic languages. It's supposed to showcase how wacky, clumsy and does things that are detrimental to his own safety. Radcliffe derives from the place-name Radcliffe meaning “red cliff.” I didn't even know he had a name but fandom has spoken and it won't kill me to include it.

Mary Katherine is named after the daughter of the author of the book the movie is based on. Mary means Star of the sea/Drop of the sea ; Bitterness; Beloved. Meanwhile, Katherine means pure. Mary Catherine is a name that signifies a freedom-loving and free-spirited individual.  

Bufo is just an American bull frog. Bufo is a genus of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. Bull + Frog = Bufo

Grub and Mub. I put them together because they're a comical duo and that's why their names rhyme. Common thing. Grub is the larva of an insect. To grub is to dig or poke about in the soil. I couldn't find what Mub means, just a bunch of acronyms to stuff. Their names are supposed to sound funny and disgusting.

Nim Galuu is weird. Nim is a game in which two players alternately take one or more objects from one of a number of heaps, each trying to take, or to compel the other to take, the last remaining object. Galuu means to enter and the main characters go into a tree to meet him and even deeper into the tree to see the scrolls. Also, Nim reminds me of The Secret of NIMH. It's probably just a coincidence.

Then there's a bunch of other characters that are just names of the species/plant they're based on. Dandelion, Pinecone, Stickman, Marigold Girl, etc.

Now we get to the interesting names!

Nod, in Biblical Names the meaning of the name Nod is: Vagabond, fugitive'. At first, I thought his name, Nod, is referring to the action of nodding, agreeing with someone. Because he's a rebel, his not doing what he's told, so he's not nodding. Irony! Him being a vagabond or fugitive shows in his concept art a lot more. In the movie, he deserts the army for like 5 minutes. I'm going to go into detail about it in another post.

Ronin, is  a wandering samurai who had no lord or master. This goes with the samurai-inspired design of the Leafman. Tara is the master that he lost. Again, not executed to its fullest potential. Also, there's a huge difference between a ronin and a samurai. Many times when movies portray samurais or cowboys they're more like ronins.

Tara, in South Asia, such as India and Nepal, Tara is a word originating from Sanskrit, meaning star, and it symbolizes the light of the soul. Tara is the soul of the forest.  

Mandrake, a Mediterranean plant of the nightshade family, with a forked fleshy root that supposedly resembles the human form and which was formerly used in herbal medicine and magic. It was alleged to shriek when pulled from the ground. Mandrake lets out a loud shriek to alarm his army.

Dagda, (Celtic: “Good God”) also called Eochaid Ollathair (“Eochaid the All-Father”), or In Ruad Ro-fhessa (“Red [or Mighty] One of Great Wisdom”), in Celtic religion, one of the leaders of a mythological Irish people, the Tuatha Dé Danann (“People of the Goddess Danu”). Highly skilled and wise beyond measure, he was not only the god of life and death, but of seasons, agriculture, fertility, magic, and druidry as well. There is so much lore behind this guy's name. He had so much potential! I'm going to rant about it in another post.

I think the naming system really shows the problems with this movie. It's all over the place and there's just too much.

Inspiration from the Bible, Slavic countries, Japan, India, Scotland, Ireland, and many more.

There are so many things that nothing gets enough focus. We got:

Romance

Tara and Ronin

MK and Nod

Mub has a crush on MK

Parent-child relationship

Ronin and Nod's father-son relationship

Mandrake and Dagda's father-son relationship

MK and her father's relationship

Deaths

Nod grieving over his dad

Mandrake grieving over his son

Ronin grieving Tara 

Ronin grieving Nod's father, his friend

MK grieving over her mother  

Magic

Plant manipulation

Shrinking and biggering people

The Rot

Anything involving this stupid bud

Resurrection?

Dark Prince?

Scrolls in the oldest tree 

Other stuff

Nod not following orders and not being part of the team

Bird racing  

Gambling? Some criminal stuff

Random song number

Shenanigans with the dog

MK's parents being divorced

MK running away from home

Believing in what you can't see

WAR!

Queen dying and finding her successor

Pointless fight with a mouse

Grub wants to become a Leafman 

The people behind this project wanted to make this movie awesome, deep and mature but they wanted too much too fast.

Nothing gets properly set up. The creators had all those cool backstories for the characters but we don't get to see them. The movie throws us into the middle of the action. It feels like we missed a previous movie. This movie should've been a trilogy and it shows.  

[refriedrambles]

Manhwa time~

I Became the Chef of the Dragon King, The Greatest Estate Developer, and The Crown Prince That Sells Medicine are all written by the same dude and at least the first two have wonderful dynamics.

First one we get this Korean girl from a pre modern period being tossed into another world after her father sells her off as a sacrifice and like the whole isekai bit is incidental it's great, she super diligent and hard working and the dragon king she decides she serving now just wants to sleep but she keeps waking him up with food or getting into some sort of trouble. It's great. Amazing. Lovely little slice of life romance.

Then we get to Lloyd and Javier. Best bromance in comics you can't convince me otherwise. Like probably my otp just in the fact it's the only thing I read where I stopped while actively reading and went 'oh man these two should fuck', and I mean they're not gonna, it's strictly platonic and that's honestly probably for the best in this particular case but still. Lloyd is a lazy, money grubbing, insanely competent lunatic with a system basically demanding he save as many people as possible. He's like Cale from Trash of the Count's House (if I fucked up the name of my fav light novel Imma be pissed) but he's not cool and no one thinks he is, the faces don't help that fact nor does the groveling or bootlicking but they are certainly part of his charm. Between his unhinged one man performances you get glimpses of genuine depth from the man only for him to start howling or cackling in greed moments later. Javier on the other hand was supposed to be the main character of the novel, he's a bodyguard who detested his charge cause the original Lloyd was a fucking mess. He is a swords master or at least very close to becoming one with a strong sense of duty and justice. He's got Cale's cool and collected demeanor which only breaks to show disgust for Lloyd and his antics, but his loyalty only grows as the plot goes on. He's so completely done with Lloyd's shit though. And beyond that they grow this bond. This undeniable chemistry, so strong it makes them gag when it's in the air. Yeah, it's fantastic

Side note Cale is probably my favorite character of all time. The red hair and eye bags on top of this characterization is just so perfect to me. The constant struggle between 'I just wanna do nothing' and 'I need to fix this' is perfect. He's a workaholic with the only goal to relax. Also we get world building for both worlds he resides in that really deepens his character, I reiterate it's perfect. But this is irrelevant. The Trash of the Count's House is a totally different property by a completely different author.

I don't have much to say about The Crown Prince Who Sells Medicine yet. Like Mc was a doctor who possesses the Crown Prince who's kinda dying and a huge piece of shit, pretty standard isekai nonsense at this point seen it a thousand times typically with noble ladies but quite a few have princes as MCs too. Like it's one of the generic backgrounds for an MC dies and possessed the body of whatever character in a novel, other variants being the socially isolated office lady overworked to point exhaustion, the betrayed lover, the abused orphan and chef. It's a weird little bag but it's what we got for the vast majority of story with the isekai possession trope that actually decide to even slightly touch on backgrounds. (Then there's the common 'your modern past life was actually your second life and your first was another iteration of your current one! There wasn't actually any possession cause it was you to begin with!' tropet which is convoluted but weirdly common.) His doctor/servant is left terrified and balking when the prince stabbing himself with pins and needles (questionable acupuncture) and starts requesting poisons only to down them in front of him (it's supposed to for medicine but the system aspect of this one isn't really helping it in this case) but I get the feeling he'd not gonna be a big part of the main dynamic. I'll have to keep an idea on it

[abbatoirablaze]

Good Luck, Captain Penisi

Word Count:  877

Warnings: mentions of injury to character (unintentional), angst, meet cute goes wrong.

“Auggie, come on, we don’t need an-“

“Yes you guys do,” she laughed, brushing off the fact that Lucy was trying to urge her not to bring the groceries in, “an extra set of hands never hurt.”

“You already bought them for us!” Granny pointed out, “the least you could do is let us unload them!”

“You guys didn’t have the time to go shopping,” she reminded them as Ike gave her a sweet smile and kissed her on the cheek, “Ike-“

“Thanks for getting me jerky, August!”

“Oh, and thanks for getting me that candied apple scented lotion I wanted!” Andy grinned as he pulled a bottle of lotion from a bag.

She gave him an awkward frown, “yeah…still kind of weird that you wanted me to get you the same lotion I wear.”

“It smells like candy!” Ike grinned, “come on August!  Come up and say hi to the chief and cap while you’re here!”

“I-I don’t know guys,” she sighed, “I-I don’t think captain Penisi likes me very much.  I’m a civilian and I spend way too much time here!”

“What?” Lucy scoffed as she led the way to the breakroom where Eddie and Terry were sitting in their chairs, arguing over some show, “Uncle Eddie loves you!  And anyways, you’re practically family.”

“AUGUST!”

She jumped, surprised at seeing the two high-ranking officers in the fire department, “Chief McConky.  Captain Penisi…”

“Did you buy us groceries again?” Terry asked as he gestured to the bags that Granny, Andy, and Ike were all unpacking.

“I might have told her we needed a few things!”

“August, you barely get time off from the hospital,” Terry chuckled, clapping the younger woman on the back, “Lucy shouldn’t have asked you to do that.  Vickie told me that the attendings have been especially brutal on her!”

“Hell month,” she smiled, trying to push it off as though it was nothing, “really.  I don’t mind it, chief.  I just like knowing that I can help out.”

“You know, Auggie’s dad and brother are firefighters out on the East Coast,” Lucy reminded her dad and uncle, “she likes being around the firehouse.”

“Well we like having her here!” Chief McConky smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, “you’re like another daughter to me…you know, if one of my daughters followed Vickie’s steps in healthcare instead of mine.”

“Thanks chief!” she laughed.

“Hey, you should sit down and relax a bit!” chief offered, “we were going to unwind while Eddie here made some grub!”

“Oh-I-I wouldn’t want to impose!”

“Nonsense.  Please pose in on our activities!” Eddie said awkwardly.  Terry raised a brow at his brother in law, but said nothing before shrugging it off and sitting back down in his chair.  August nodded and stood while the rest of the station took their chairs. 

“Come on, pull up a chair!” Granny smiled.

“Oh she can sit with me!” Ike volunteered, trying to squeeze himself to one side of his seat, “I’ve been working out so my hips are more narrow, and it makes my upper body look even more swole!  Don’t worry though, it just looks bigger!”

“Ike don’t be weird!” Terry called out to him.  Then he turned his attention back to August, tapping the edge of Eddie’s chair, “come on.  Sit here!”

“Oh-I-I wouldn’t want to-“

“Come on, sit down!” Eddie said quickly, stepping behind her.  He went to gently guide her, but he ended up stepping on the back of her heel. 

Eddie’s eyes went wide.

It all happened as though it was in slow motion, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it.  His shoe caught her heel.  She stumbled.  But instead of helping to balance her, catching her from falling, his hand reached out at just the wrong moment and he ended up pushing her forward at the small of her back. 

She went face first into the arm of the chair. 

A sickening crunch. 

And she was on the ground. 

“OH MY GOD, UNCLE EDDIE!” Lucy gasped as things moved back to regular speed in Captain Penisi’s eyes, “WHAT DID YOU DO!”

“Good job Eddie!”

“Don’t worry, Auggie, I’ll grab the med kit!” Granny said quickly, running off in the direction of the first aid kit.

“Shit!” the petite brunette cursed as she gripped her nose, which already had started bleeding.  She hissed when she touched it, the break obvious. 

“HERE!  USE MY SHIRT TO STOP THE BLEEDING!” Ike yelled, ripping off his shirt. 

Eddie stood there, gaping like a fish, “I didn’t-I didn’t mean-“

“Don’t just stand there Eddie!” Terry growled, rushing to the woman on the floor, “you okay, Auggie?”

A few tears slid down August’s cheeks, and Eddie felt like his heart was breaking. 

He never wanted to make her upset, let alone injure her. 

But it was like every time she came by the station house he did or said something that ended horribly. 

“I’m here!” Granny proclaimed, coming back into the break room, holding up the first aid kit, “I got it!”

“What are you staring at her for, Eddie?” Terry growled, looking back up to his brother in law once more, “get her some ice.  Granny is going to have to reset her nose before he patches her up!”