#i could be misinterpreting that but thats the vibe

[straighttohellbuddy]

you know me {Wilbur Soot} // 1

sigh no more

Summary: As much as you love your university dormmates, you wished they wouldn't try and wingman you every time you all went out together. The only thing that gets them and their good intentions off your back is telling them you're already seeing someone. What happens after that is at least partially their fault for misinterpreting your friendship with Wilbur... But it's also his for agreeing to go along with it when you ask, and it's definitely yours for not being more worried when he gleefully threatened to be the most embarrassing fake boyfriend the world has ever known. Need to Know: They/Them. Set late 2020ish?? University Student!Reader. childhood best friends with Wilbur.

{ masterlist }

A/N: 2452 words. so ive been struggling to exist lately which is why i haven't posted this earlier despite how much i love it. im not sure when the next parts will be though i have made a solid start for now, but i really do hope you enjoy this! solid feedback is also a fantastic motivator, so if you have any thoughts, feelings, or suggestions at all about what you might like to see in this story going futher, please let me know!! i hope you enjoy it <3 also im just gonna go ahead and say here that one of my favourite forms of intimacy is giving ur friends silly nicknames on messenger.

Warnings: References to drinking.

Taglist: @extremeloserr @ahsteriawrites @mishthemess @spencer-not-reid1 @esylwen @lovejoyenjoyer @harbingerofheartbreak @lavcha @axeofwars @hiredars0nist @boiled-onionrings @river-exe @artsycanongoer @ghostyv @mitbin24 @generalnav @raes-gay @btwimskyvv @midnightsky1213 @lastwandastan @alive-woman-sitting @musiclovebot

Taglist is always open! Feel free to message or comment if you’d like to be added! xx

Your class is running far later than you'd expected on a Friday afternoon when your phone starts blowing up with messages. You had only been at university for a few weeks but finally had managed to schedule time to hang out with Wilbur, and had wanted to show him around your new dorm, so messages from him were to be expected. As you check your phone, however, you realise you forgot to tell the rest of the people who lived in your dorm that he would be meeting you there.

[Y/N literally is this your man? Come collect him from the sofa if u know him or let me know if I should call campus security] Your Residential Advisor sends to your dorm's group chat along with one of the awkwardest photos of Wilbur you've ever seen in your life. In class you choke on a laugh before seeing a series of messages from Wilbur as he'd been navigating around the campus until finally -

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): I THINK THE PEOPLE YOU LIVE WITH THINK IM A SERIAL KILLER]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): like ted bundy]

Your whole face scrunches up with fond but well worn exasperation as your lecture across campus finally comes to an end. You respond first to the dorm group chat, assuring them that he was indeed your friend, and that you'd left your room unlocked if someone could show him there so he wouldn't have to awkwardly wait in the living area, before finally turning your attention back to Wilbur's messages.

[🦀in my crab arc 🦀: nobody thinks you're Ted Bundy can you please just be normal while interacting with my dormmates]

[🦀in my crab arc 🦀: my RA let you in she's gonna show you to my room you can wait there]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): I'm so normal right now I asked about the Weather! Small Talk! ]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): seriously tho this is so awkward she definitely thinks I'm a creep]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): which I AM but that's usually part of the long con, not a vibe I like to give off at the start]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): thats a joke]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): obviously]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): but actually please get here soon she definitely wants to call security on me I'm pretty sure]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate): please tell her I'm not a murderer]

[🦀in my crab arc 🦀: alfkalflakfls]

[🦀in my crab arc 🦀: no someone just told her you're an internet celebrity lol you're fine]

[hamilton kinnie(affectionate):😐]

[🦀in my crab arc 🦀: not me lol]

[🦀in my crab arc 🦀: I didn't even remember to tell them you were coming to the dorm today why would I mention something like that]

[🦀in my crab arc 🦀: you passed the vibe check tho]

And you send a screenshot of the group chat where someone had mentioned that he was the awkwardest man they'd ever seen, but a few others had chimed in that he had a 'cute, shiny face' that made sense for an internet celebrity. Someone had screenshotted and close cropped his name from Twitter already and just commented 'FROM CHARLOTTE'S WEB?????' which had the latest response of '😳🕸️SOME PIG🕸️😳' which had the most positive reactions of any message in the chat.

You assure Wilbur you've told them not to be weird, which does little to alleviate his concern, but thankfully you're climbing the stairs to your dorm and are only moments away. Your RA gives you a look which you shrug helplessly at, but thank her nonetheless as you abscond to your room to put Wilbur out of his misery.

"It's different to how I imagined it," is the first thing Wilbur says to you. The door isn't even properly closed, and you're setting your bag down by your desk before you give him a wry smile.

"Better or worse?" The door closes with a click and you cock your head to the side, watching him while he gazes around at the way you've decorated the little dorm room from where he's perched on the edge of your bed.

"That's entrapment," his face lights up with an amused grin, still looking around, "I'm used to your old room," and when you sit beside him and flop back to look at the ceiling, he follows suit, "it's nice here, well decorated." And there's something about his strangely reserved tone that has you sighing.

"They're not gonna be weird about it," you assure him softly; unfortunately you were able to intuit what was worrying him fairly well. This isn't the first time you've had a conversation like this.

"You know I don't think it's your fault," he tells you matter-of-factly, turning to look at you, "but people -"

"- are weird," you finished with the faintest disappointment, knowing all too well that he was right. Still, you're glad he's here, and you tell him as much. He smiles at that, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"We could go," you suggested, "I could plan better for next time and give you the full tour in the middle of the day when everyone's in class," the earnest offer makes his smile widen to something fond, "come on, we can get dinner and eat at your place, get on the piss at a pub across town; barely anyone goes past walking distance here." His whole face scrunches up with something all kinds of bashful and fond as he hides the expression against your shoulder, smacking you with his forehead hard as you speak, "I'm only here for a year, dude, you've seen it, that's all I require, I'm content, you never have to come back, which does mean there's a good chance I'll be living at your place on weekends but -"

"- and you'll spend your weekdays wasting away here in your well decorated Fortress of Solitude -" he snorts, shifting back to lay beside you properly, but at least now he's grinning.

"- I have friends outside of you," you remark flatly, smirking.

"I never agreed to that," Wilbur plays at being offended, and you sit up if only to shove him in the side.

"If you're really so jealous I can move in with you -"

"Into what? My linen cupboard?" He sits up too, giving you a right shove back, which has you skittering to your feet, crossing the small space to lean against your desk once more, looking at him with a sharp grin.

"You already having a housemate is not my problem," you stick your nose in the air and try not to laugh at the whole charade. As the bit slowly dies but the good mood remains, you ask if he wants to leave now, or later.

"I quite like it here," he says instead of answering properly, looking around again with a newfound fondness, "I might live here; gonna give up my place and move in. You're okay to sleep on the floor and be the only one paying rent, right?" After a moment, you school your expression into something neutral as he plays up his innocence.

"Wil, did you ever hear that Flight of the Conchords song Petrov, Yelyena, and Me?" You ask with a blithe smile. You can see the moment he remembers the song and it's premise, the way amusement lights up in his eyes as he keeps his expression otherwise controlled.

"The one where they eat their unwitting roommate in his sleep?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Never heard of it," he refuses to break eye contact, "haven't the foggiest," he sits back a little, "on an unrelated note, how about snacks, and something on Netflix, and I don't move into your dorm?" Giving a toothy grin, you finally break and laugh, agreeing easily.

You pass him your laptop from your bag and tell him where the charger is while you head out to the shared kitchen to get snacks for you both.

"You guys joining us tonight?" There's more than just your RA in the common room now; a few of your dormmates are sitting around the kitchen island preparing for predrinks. They'd already invited you earlier in the week, but you'd declined in favour of hanging out with Wilbur.

"What?" Now in the presence of other people who definitely knew who your best friend actually was, you could feel yourself growing tenser.

"You and Wilbur, you know you're always welcome to pregame with us, he is too," your RA smiled so kindly, as if trying to reassure you.

"We won't be weird about it," one of your dormmates assured earnestly, "it's cool that he's your friend." The girl next to her elbows her pointedly and averts her gaze, trying to hide her smile.

"He is," you blurt out, "my friend that is. He's my best friend, and he has been for ages, so just... don't be weird -"

"Come on, we're not being weird!" The first girl tries again, before giving a long sigh, "we'll try not to be weird," she concedes.

"You can't blame us for being a little curious about him," your RA says carefully, "he's a pseudo-celebrity on the internet, he -"

"Yeah but he's not a spectacle," you countered sharply, brow furrowing. You open the fridge into silence, "he's my best mate, he was before any of the internet stuff, and he's a person before any any of it; can you guys just treat him like that?" And you grab a bottle of soft drink from the fridge, closing it again, leaning your forehead against the cool metal with your eyes closed, "sorry, I shouldn't have snapped."

"No, we get it," one of the girls says sincerely.

"Do you and your friend Will wanna do pres with us?" The other offered kindly, and you take a deep breath, grateful for their understanding.

"I'll ask," you tell them, and all three give a little cheer at that, "no promises," you warned with a half-smile, and they all nodded quickly, thankfully all wearing grins.

The minute you step back into your room, however, you're startled by Wilbur standing only a foot from the door. His arms are crossed awkwardly over his chest, hands tucked into his armpits, cheeks puffed out and eyes wide as he rocks back on his heels with the movement of the door. He looks... kind of guilty. Also like he's trying desperately not to look guilty.

"I wanted to ask about the bathroom," all came out in a rush, and you, door still open, sighed, "you took longer than expected," he added; you hung your head. He'd heard your outburst at the very least, that much was clear. Stepping aside you tell him the bathroom is across the hall, hoping to use the brief moment to come up with some sort of an apology.

Instead, as he leaves, he heads to the common room first, and you can see from your door as he raps his knuckles on the empty doorframe, garnering the attention from the three girls in the room.

"Hello, hi, I'm Wilbur, Y/N's friend Will," its an akward if amicable start, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to your bedroom door where you stood still watching.

"Y/N's friend Will!" All three in the kitchen practically chorus, like they were somehow aware that he knew about the conversation that had just occurred and it was all an inside joke. Well, it does get Will to chuckle.

"I was told there was an invite to drinks, is that still on the table?"

"Uh, yeah of course," you can hear your RA answer, though she manages to regain her composure, "it'll be us and the guys from over there," you don't see her gesture but knew she'd be pointing to the block across your joined balcony, "we start drinking pretty much any time after sundown, but will be heading to the club around ten."

"It's a theme night - neon," one of the girls added, "not that you have to dress up or anything, but I'm about to make a run to the costume shop for any face paint if either of your guys want some, that's pretty much all I plan to do for pres," she laughs brightly as the others groan about how it's going to end up a mess, and Wilbur looks over his shoulder; he knew you'd be there, but gives a grin nonetheless.

He raises his eyebrows in silent question, and you, so endeared having watch him mend bridges that weren't even his problem, smile and shrug; sure, why not.

"We'll be there," he tells them, which elicits another round of cheering from the three prepping in the kitchen, "lovely to meet you ladies," a sentiment which is echoed back at him, and from there he finally actually heads to the bathroom.

The interaction you'd witnessed has you feeling all sentimental, and as you close your door and head back to your bed where Netflix is waiting, you can't wipe the goofy grin from your face.

"I guess you can move in here if you want," you tell him with this silly, saccharine tone, and Wilbur laughs before he even closes the door, "I'll sleep on the floor, you win."

"Nah," he shrugs, kicking off his shoes finally.

"Lost interest?" You raised your eyebrows at him and he gives a dubious glance over your bed. Then, almost as if he feels guilty about admitting as much, he sits beside you, back against the wall that served as your headboard.

"I literally don't fit, Y/N," he pointed out, kicking at your wall to draw attention to how dangerously close his feet are to the end of the bed already. You allow your tone to get teasingly sappy as you tell him he fits in your heart, and all he can do is rolls his eyes with a half smile, the sacchrine silence lasting right up until you pull your laptop onto your lap an a notification from your dorm's group chat flashes up in the bottom corner of the screen.

[🕸️SOME PIG🕸️ confirmed for pres!!]

It was one of the girls who had been in the kitchen, but Wilbur's expression seemed to flash through all five stages of grief upon seeing it, despite the growing number of heart emojis for the message.

"Oh god, is that really what they're calling me?"

Pulling out your phone you text the group to remind him that his name is Wilbur. Immediately, however, you get the response that 'that's too obvious'. Beside you, Wilbur snorts a laugh.

"What? Like I'm a secret agent?" Which you then send word for word in the group chat, attributing it to Wilbur himself as he buries his face in his hands and you quietly cackle. They were trying, in their own way, to accommodate your request to 'not be weird about it', which you were grateful for, so at least this you were happy to laugh about.

So they end up deciding to call him Charlie; it's short for Charlotte's Web.

[sagemoderocklee]

violence asks: 12, 13, 16!

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

uh. honestly hard to say cause i dont honestly think the characters i like are rlly 'unpopular'. like some get a lot of hate directed at that (sasuke and sakura, for instance) but theyre still popular characters.

i think what i'll say is i wish more ppl liked sakura without disregarding her flaws. i think her flaws make her more interesting. i think her being kinda selfish makes her more interesting. i think her being callous and insensitive sometimes makes her more interesting. i think when her attempts at kindness hurts others, its more interesting. i think sakura is a good person, but a flawed person. i think she does and says bad things, not infrequently, but is still a likeable character and an interesting one

13. worst blorboficiation

it's been said before, but Gaara. @shukakumoodboard said just last night when they got this or similar one from this ask game, but i cannot stand the blushing sex-clueless Gaara--the man is the leader of an entire village, please stop--and i can't stand ppl baby-girl-ifying him--the man has a fuckin body count at least a mile long.

genuinely it grates so much. and on one end you get this weird homophobic infantilization and on the other hand you get this ableist misinterpretation of him as being a violent "psychopath". like ppl rlly dont understand this character--barring a few ppl i trust--and i think thats a travesty

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

KankuKiba

will never get it, will never be into it, never wanna be into it. Kankuro and Kiba are so straight and Kiba gives strong 'homophobic dudebro vibes'. its gotten so popular too, to the point it like actively grates--i guess that's something i could have answered the last ask with re: what thing i hate because of the fandom.

generally speaking i also just will never see the merit in a 'everyone is gay and trans' "utopia" not just cause it's not realistic, but because i wanna live in a world where straight and cis ppl love lgbt ppl for who we are. i wanna live in a world where homophobia and transphobia dont exist because straight and cis ppl do the work to combat it both externally and internally

i get more out of Kankurou being a supportive older brother to his gay brother and bi sister than i get outta him also being gay or bi or trans. i get more outta neji being supportive of lee and gai than i get outta him also being lgbt.

i get nothing outta kiba cause that man would call you a slur in a heartbeat.

[averys-happy-space]

affovelvet truly the ship ever

also i forgot to include it but clottedchip deserves more attention too!!

ship rambles below the keep reading button

honestly, the more i think abt princess x knight, the more i think princess is likely to see knight as more of an older brother figure than a romantic interest lol. and yea, idk why, she just gives me lesbian vibes lmao. but if u ship them thats fine too

seamoon usually gets the short end of the stick bc they're both legendaries and devsis like to just ride the rarity bias wave instead of giving them a proper story, but i enjoyed their crk bond story! i like the idea of sf being a singer. i just wished there were more seamoon fics </3 despite its popularity, theres barely anything on ao3 bc everything there is espresseleine...

speaking of espresseleine, i considered putting it in the "ship i dont like anymore" category bc i dislike how it overwhelmingly dominates the fandom to the point where its hard to find content of other ships. but actually i never liked it in the first place lol, i've always just been pretty neutral about it, so i decided not to include them

for sparkherbvamp, i dont include mint, because i see mint as being the token straight friend lol. i think juice bar regulars are a tight gang, but mint is with cocoa while the other three have their own thing going on. also, as a side note, i think herb totally smokes weed. just gets high as shit all the time. and him and vamp will trip out together lmao while spark is their trip sitter who always makes sure they dont get into too much trouble

darkmilk is in the controversial ship box bc ppl keep misinterpreting their story. i think theres definitely an argument to be made abt how milk idolises choco to an unhealthy degree and the relationship would probably be unhealthy and have a power imbalance, but i don't think it would be like, outright abusive/manipulative or anything. i dunno, theyre both adults, i think they could make it work. actually, probably any ship with pome could fit in this controversial box too, like pomelico, cuz the fandom usually interpret it as abusive and problematic. which isnt wrong, it definitely would be lol. but it would be an interesting ship to explore in a fictional context. so add pomelico and pome x starfruit there

for the "ships i didnt initially like", just to be clear i DO like those ships now lol. i never finished odyssey so i never rlly got to see wildchips dynamic or chemistry so thats why i wasnt into it initially but i basically absorbed gin's love for them. also the fanart is cute. affocream i didnt like initially bc i LOVE affo and i used to hate clotted, like, a lot lmao. but after following affocream artists for a long while, ive grown to like them a lot

i dont rlly have much to say abt the other ships. chilirye and raspblossom is mainly bc of their bond stories (and i especially think raspblossom deserves way more love). and wiz x proph x cinna is bc of piano lol.. i love cinna and piano got me to love wiz and proph too just thru how much he talks abt all of them

and yea thats it. thanks for reading the long ship post that i thought about way too much

[bugeyedfreaks]

“Blossom being boy crazy in the anime is something I can let slide because, like how she reflects how American superheroes act in the OG show, she reflects how a magical girl group leader acts in the anime (she eats a lot, she’s klutzy and gets bad grades, she loves boys… big Usagi Tsukino vibes, lol)”

Never really thought of it that way, ngl thats pretty clever on their part. Though I still don’t really like it, its one of the reason why Z was so hard to watch. Also it speaks volume when I rarely see people criticising about this (maybe i’m late for the whole thing or something) but if it were Kaoru (Buttercup) who was the one boy crazy there be lots of post of how Z is the worst adaptation, but lately its been getting some positivity.

Its sad cause I would’ve love Momoko as her own character but since she has correlation with Blossom its hard separate them, especially when I see fans implementing their Z personalities with their main canon

And that’s the whole entire thing, right? Momoko is technically Blossom, but… not, haha. 😆 PPGZ at least made sure to make it clear that the girls in their show weren’t the girls from the original show (even though people do still conflate the two, weirdly enough!). Like, I have to commend the anime team for at least making the effort, unlike, say, the 2016 reboot squad. One of the things that irritated me about that show was that they never made it clear whether or not they were THE girls, or if they were completely different versions of the girls. …and to be honest, a really good way they could’ve made it clear was if they had just completely recast everybody in the show and not only the girls. They could’ve even made the art style even more different from the original. They could have even taken out callbacks from the original show. Having this in-between of new and old didn’t work, all these weird claims people working on the show publicly made about making the characters “better” didn’t help either… but then again, I don’t know, the reboot was just so poorly written anyway that I’m not sure if any of that would’ve helped with the overall quality. 🤷‍♀️ I guess it being awful kind of helps with avoiding OG character misinterpretation a little (maybe?) because I feel like people just mostly agree that those versions of all three of the girls are… very bad.

[hanarchy]

was tagged by @bungeejumpings to do this and i called in sick to work today so here we goooo

list your top 10 biases and then answer the questions under the cut. try not to look at the questions before making the list

(now i apologize in advance, i dont know that much about most of these people it’s just vibes, i tried not to have more than one person from a group)

1. han jisung

2. lee know

3. momo

4. shuhua

5. solar

6. jooyeon

7. seulgi

8. key

9. kazuha

10. ningning

1. Between 7 and 5, who did you bias first?

oh solar for sure. i didnt really get rv for like a year after i started listening to kpop, but now theyre on track to be one of my most listened to artists 🙈

2. Between 2 and 6, who are you more attached to?

ok this one’s not hard. i am here for skz first always, i cant seem to get away from them. though i am very fond of my little xdinary guys too.

3. If you were to spend the day with either 3 or 1, who would you choose and what would you do?

well i mean i gotta be honest with u i don’t think i’d vibe super well with momo. i love her but we have just diametrically opposed vibes. so jisung, and we’d maybe go to a cafe and chat (i have the feeling he is the kind of young man who will meet me and immediately have a desire to tell me his life story, which happens to me often lol) and then we could go for a walk, pick up some food and plan to watch anime but end up on youtube. he can show me the random shit he watches and i can show him mine and we would both walk away with a random new interest in an almost extinct bug species or the events of a specific day during the fall of the roman republic.

4. What is your favorite physical feature about 9?

shes only 19 so like. don’t misinterpret this but. abs.

5. What is your favorite part of 6's personality?

IDK!!!! he just seems like a sweet boy? and his voice is sooooo amazing.

6. If you were to tell 8 anything you wanted, what would you tell them?

i would ask him to tell me all the gossip he knows. ok no.

mostly i’d tell him that he has made an incredible career, that his artistic vision is so clear and unique and that his perspective is so valuable in kpop and i admire his perseverance and the strength he gives his fans. (i dont know enough about him to be funny abt this so i went sincere)

7. Between 1 and 2, whose closet would you raid?

oh its jisung. he has more fun stuff. though they do share enough and are boring men enough for it not to matter that much.

8. What is a style that you want to see 3 try?

oh i really don’t know. i feel like she embodies that twice cute/sexy/elegant intersection sooo well, the only thing i’d want is to see her personality come through more in their creative concepts.

9. Between 5 and 4, who are you closer to in height?

i was gonna say mamamoo short as hell so probably shuhua but actually it seems she’s short too. so if its official (company mandated) height it’s solar, if it’s real height shuhua. of course that is assuming cube does not lie like rbw.

10. Between 10 and 9, whose music do you like the best?

thats rough too bc i dont listen to many songs from either group. just a few of each. i’m gonna say lesserafim.

[wiremotherenergy]

my tiktok algorithm thinks im 16 again so here is MY ideal casting of if they ever make a movie of the secret history (which i both doubt and dont want) cause ive seen way too many wrong videos. first. richard MUST be gravely misinterpreted as the good guy actually and i demand he be played by a quirky charming hollywood ingenue. less weird than timothee chalamet and more weird than tom hollad are the example vibes, like miles teller pre-topgunification, or when logan lerman was in perks of being a wallflower. the cute preteen girlcrush vibe is so important for the whole direction of the movie, and if there are y/n fanfics about him on tumblr thats a plus. next the class which in my opinion should be a bunch of overall unknown/indie actors where maybe they were in an older a24 movie or mainly do theatre or are like an obscure nepo baby. a good vibe for francis typecast wise would be jaeden martell or even noah schnapp - former portrayals of sad gay children not required but has to believably have been a sad gay child (i want the ginger hair to specifically look too fake, think archie riverdale). this is already so long jesus. charles opinion (unpopular amongst dane dehaan fancast community) is i dont want him to look sleazy at all i want him to be an all american charm prettyguy type i want them to do the same thing they did when hbo cast ncw as jaime in got, except i unfortunately dont think the actor theyd get for charles would have the range to give the complex deep performance ncw did but the guy that played the love interest in where the crawdads sing movie that i saw begrudgingly is like, an acceptably flat boring option. with henry i think you could possibly go with making him poc (most probably asian) as either "blind casting" or "updating the source material" since im not sure if a major enough part of the people who would actually go see this movie would care enough about how its missing the point of the story. still this hypothetical movie would have bad reviews anyways. i predict he would have something a lil fucked up or quirky going on with his face. camilla i want to be a girl who is maybe a model or friends with lily rose depp predominantly, in the same category as the girls they got for the new pll, NOT mia wasikowska but the vibe of when mia wasikowska played jane eyre. and in a hotd world i would even suggest milly alcock cuz i think she could agree to that and it would be fun (mia goth could have been this but shes having her big moment now and has too much of a fanbase). in a compeltely opposite vein they literally have to get a random brashy popstar girlie to play judy, like charli xcx or bhad bhabie or even just go nuts with it and get keke palmer to do it. whats important is star factor and general chaotic messy vibe. bunny is difficult bc on one hand it would be fun to me if they made bunnys character the sweet poor little pathetic niceguy whose mean friends bully him for being fat stereotype but on the other hand a guy who has the aura of a victorian dandy meets content house fuckboy oscar wilde part time model would be absolutely perfect. maybe they could do both i want it to be both. and finally julian and now i get to the tiktok that made me think about this for over an hour straight i saw someone say richard gere and to that i say yes that absolutely makes sense. pick a former hollywood romcom guy whos old now but people still call him a daddy even though he is definitely way too old for that. hugh grant is also an option. im literally so smart

[lilyspond64]

Hi :D

May I have a team (:

ok i scrolled through your page and you seem pretty normal. and by pretty normal i mean you havent said a single thing that points me to anything. you have literally nothing showcasing ur personality i can pull from nor have i ever met you before. there's nothing wrong with that necessarily it just makes this a little harder.

ok. so. im gonna have to go by your name. sorcery and socialism. uh. pokemon is a game about magic and shit. and uh. socialism isnt really... a type.

ok so im making the executive decision to assign you a personality in my head based on your message, your reblogs, and your username.

ok you have been psychologically analyzed to be an electric type user. take it or leave it. the team may or may not fit you.

1. Magnezone

Through my psychic analysis I discovered a love of funky oddball thingamajigs. Magnezone is the funkiest guy imaginable. Also, technically it's extremely sticky. Idk what that has to do with anything but you can do with that what you will.

2. Zebstrika

This is a safe pick, cause if given the choice between having an electric zebra and not having an electric zebra most people would take the electric zebra every time. Of course, this is a foolish thing to do; most of the time keeping an electric zebra is impractical and unattainable. In this case it is neither, so I am assuming you enjoy having this electric zebra.

3. Raichu

Everyone likes Raichu. You give me the vibes of a pretty cool person. And like I said it's hard to discern anything about you. Raichu is the same, cool but a pretty not noteworthy Pokémon, just because its line is so popular that saying that you like it is like saying you like pizza or something.

I'm not saying you as a person are not interesting. You seem interesting. I'm just saying that I could not figure out these interesting things about you from your tumblr post.

I'm actually kinda scared I'm being super mean right now and let me just tell you that you could be the coolest person ever and I would not be able to tell because I have such little info to work with, yknow. You're not uninteresting as far as I can tell.

4. Pincurchin

Ok I may have lied. Through my psychoanalysis, I have figured out that you may enjoy the occasional goober. Of course, this may be a misinterpretation of your vibes, because believe it or not, I am a really shitty judge of character.

Anyway, here's a Pokémon that isn't playing it safe because I'm scared to offend a stranger. Here's the pin cushion sea urchin. Who's an electric type.

It's also the only nonlegendary electric surge user. So. It's good for your teambuilding!

5. Oricorio (Pom Pom)

Oricorio is based on Darwin's finches. I feel like evolution as a concept is very integral to both sorcery and socialism. Things must change over time, whether thats the air temperature around a fire ball or the model of politics and economics we are using.

Oricorio here also uses electric dance moves to zap its opponents. And you seem like a fan of that kind of thing. As far as I can tell.

6. Galvantula

You like giant electric spiders, right? You've gotta like giant electric spiders. I mean, come on.

Ok, that's it. This is the worst one so far. You're not boring or uninteresting I just could not discern anything about you from your profile alone (the other people I did I know from elsewhere and also make a lot of posts themselves)

You seem like a very nice person though, so I do think this team is fitting of a cool, friendly person. Don't be disheartened that your explanations weren't as detailed or your team as hand crafted. I'm not a mind reader as much as I'd like to pretend I am.

I hope you like it and if you don't, remember, no takebacksies!

[mechecolomar-archive]

genuinely curious: do you think that the depictions of homophobic abuse and violence towards lgbt characters in tlou2 outweighs the portrayal of their other experiences and happy moments of love/self expression? is it bad representation if the lgbt characters go through strife and pain as well as being happy and allowed to express themselves? i feel like there are valid criticisms to be made, but views on lgbt rep tend to be pretty polarized, either "it's great" or "it's bad" with no nuance

I think a big issue I have with the characters and representation specifically in The Last of Us 2 is that in the game the characters feel like they were created solely to serve a point in the plot, the game’s tone is progressively bleak (and the violence is gratuitous), and the inclusion of bigotry also felt unnecessary.

As a disclaimer, I’m not saying tlou2, Naughtydog, or even Neil Druckmann is simply homophobic because the gay character gets in fights and all that, but for me personally I felt that the treatment of lgbt characters in the game made me uncomfortable and wasn't satisfying. I’m glad they weren't outright stereotypes, but I’d like it if there was a bit kinder treatment of these characters. It just really feels like nd heard they didn’t do diversity well in the first game and just threw in a bunch of poc and lgbt characters without really thinking... I don’t think what happens is homophobic, but it feels very thoughtless.

The characters in tlou2 are not well done, I’m not sure what happened between The Last of Us and tlou2, but they do not feel the same at all. Every character in the game feels very weak and the player themselves cant name 10 facts about each one, even characters like Abby or Dina (I’m excluding Ellie and Joel because they already existed). This applies the most to Jessie imo, but I’ll only discuss Ellie, Dina, and Lev since they are the lgbt characters in the game. in tlou2 Ellie is just the vengeful character and as Neil put it, “the villain.” tlou2 could have been a wonderful opportunity to add more to her story, but here she’s basically just the traumatized girl who likes girls and is playing the guitar to remember Joel. Dina is basically the player’s partner who is randomly benched halfway through and from a narrative point she is something that Ellie can lose, you learn she has some ability with tinkering, she is Jewish, bi, has a sister... and not much else. Finally Lev feels like the main justification to sympathize with Abby, without Abby he is introduced literally being hunted because he is trans. Every character in the game is like this, but with these three very prominent characters, it’s disappointing.

Next, for tlou2 the violence seems to be double what happened in tlou, being much more detailed and forcing you to look at what is happening (Ellie getting her face smashed in and Abby threatening to kill Dina and its good because she is pregnant). Tlou was able to thread the needle concerning this successfully; having Ellie being kidnapped, hunted, and almost being sexually assaulted to immediately having the famous scene where Joel and Ellie pet giraffes. Tlou also (to my knowledge) did not have those shock value moments 2 constantly has, and when there is violence its rarely explicitly shown. Now in tlou2 this is almost the opposite, instead of going back and forth between intense and calm scenes, the sequel seems to steadily go downhill in tone. I know that these specific characters arent being hurt BECAUSE they’re lgbt, but its still not good to see.

The happiest moments are the beginning with Dina and Ellie, but while they're having fun and making out together what’s happening? Joel is currently getting his face caved in by Abby. Halfway through the game after Ellie and Dina are beaten, it seems to go back up in tone, but ooc tommy forces Ellie to turn back to revenge and the whole thing comes crashing back down. “I’m afraid of ending up alone” Ellie chooses to leave Dina and Ellie’s life is now hell going all the way back to Abby. After all this Ellie comes back to their house but her family is no longer there. Ellie is alone. I have a huge issue with the ending and it’s that you are explicitly shown that everything there is sad. Nd doesn't make “letting go” of Joel a relief, and they don’t show any implication of Ellie reuniting with Dina. Our lesbian protagonist is now living her worst fear, even though she did the “right” thing and spared Abby. Lev’s ending is clearly better because he’s affiliated with Abby, but it doesn’t change that throughout the story he’s repeatedly hurt and has a similar fall to Ellie after Abby thinks she finds the fireflies, he is never explicitly shown recovering from being made a literal slave and almost crucified.

My last issue is that the bigotry is entirely uncalled for, especially in a world that is as already violent as they’ve made tlou2. One of the most striking moments to me in tlou2 is Dina saying, “What’s this” referring to lgbt flags, indicating she has no concept of pride for being bisexual. Ellie also has no clue and they joke about the erotica and thats the end of that. Later Ellie is called a slur. The man who does it isnt exactly punished and Ellie is forced to make up with him later. That scene and the scene at the end somehow included Ellie, but clearly were about Joel. The last flashback is used as a tragic “Ellie could have forgiven Joel but he was killed :(” scene, there’s very little focus about her sexuality positively. Ellie and Dina are also never openly gay, the one time they are (in a room full of maybe 50 people) Ellie is called a d*ke. Ellie’s previous gf is scrapped except for subtle concept art and notes and she only has one conversation in the beginning mentioning a her.

Then on the opposite side of characters, Lev’s entire story outside of and before Abby is being hunted simply because he is trans. He’s deadnamed multiple times and even Abby cluelessly says it (??). There’s endless reasons why he could have been hunted (hell, just simply wanting to leave the cult because theyre so violent), but nd went with this... for some reason. Him being trans is also never discussed in a positive way other than Abby’s weird attempt to make him feel better by giving him a toy (”Hey, I know your group you grew up with and family literally wants you dead, but uh, would a toy help?”). Lev THEN goes BACK to the people who wants him dead, and we’re shown that his mother has viciously attacked him and he accidentally kills her due to this. Him being trans is never mentioned again... I don’t think we have to exactly hide homophobia in fiction, but I personally do not play a game to get called a slur, I can find that irl. Also if these things were to be included, they could have at least shown comfort after, but they don’t. The scenes are simply more shocking violence and are never mentioned again, simply skipped over. Nd used these characters being lgbt as an excuse for them to be discriminated against for it instead of anything positive.

Their advertising of Ellie kissing a girl in 2018 and in 2020 having her be called a slur instantly after what was shown to us is just SO jarring... Nd and their stans like to say, “Well if you don’t like The Last of Us 2, you’re just homophobic.” but that’s honestly so ridiculous. There simply can’t be more instances of oppression than acceptance and think you're doing something good?? Revealing Lev’s deadname gives people an opportunity to be transphobic, having Ellie be called a slur and lash out at Joel after gives people a reason to be angry at her there. You simply can’t include these things if it can do the opposite thing that you want. The point of including minorities in fiction should be so people can related and identify with these characters, not as some virtual reminder that people will hate you specifically for these reasons. It should not be too much to ask for a character you are like to be treated well and nd not listening to fans critique the game is sad,

I suppose I appreciate the attempt at inclusion, but it feels like a failed one that I preferred would not have happened, or at least had been strongly corrected. It would have been different if maybe Ellie had reunited with Dina apologizing, Abby telling Lev she supports him, Joel saying he loves Ellie, or even Dina and Ellie talking about being gay in some way thats anything other than making out and calling each other “babe”, but idk... that didn’t happen. Dina and Ellie are clearly supposed to be the main rep, but I feel like they really missed things they could have mentioned. This rep really reminds me of Life is Strange, but I can’t decide if dying or ending up alone and depressed at the end is worse. I’m probably missing more things but yeah... It would be cool if my lesbian protagonist did not have to be traumatized for an overdone, useless story.

[vanityloves]

yes techinally i could polyship with med.ic and he.avy but also :|

[neomedievalist]

sorry for being a rando popping into your inbox but wrt your posts about smt5 and the acnh effect, as a lifelong fan of animal crossing i hard agree on nh and it's kind of depressing to see so many people say it's the best animal crossing when it isnt even CLOSE. id say the downfall of ac started with new leaf since thats when they started lobotomizing the villagers, but acnl actually had tons and tons of content that kept me playing for literal years. meanwhile with nh i only popped in to check out the new updates then stopped playing. i could write an entire essay on how they completely gutted the original tone that animal crossing had with its writing and overall vibes and basically sanitized a fun, unique quirky little game into being The Relaxing Game.

with smt5, i think the problem is something different though. if you read the interviews from very early in v's production, the devs mention things they wanted to be in the story--namely, they wanted v to touch on themes of extremism in modern society and how in the face of the world being on fire gen z and millennials feel utterly hopeless and like they have no future. none of that was in the final product. granted, i have very little knowledge of game development but since v was in production prior to and during the pandemic, i have a theory that there was meddling on the part of corporate that really messed with the development process with the pandemic on top of that. according to a friend of mine, someone data mined v and there were a ton of unused assets and concepts, which seems to support my idea that there was a huge shift mid development that squandered v's potential.

one thing though, is that new people getting into smt though v means that they're more likely to play the other games in the series and see what it's like when smt's potential is realized, whereas this doesnt really exist for animal crossing since animal crossing is generally the same all around where each smt game has a vastly different story and tone from the other games.

(i might be misinterpreting but one criticism i have of your addition to that one post if you describing this phenomenon as Kirby On The Switch when as a lifelong kirby fan the most recent kirby game was unironically a near perfect game and most people seem to be in agreement on that and it was clear that hal labs put a TON of love and work into making it. but sadly kirby and the forgotten land is an exception to what you were talking about on that post)

sorry for the essay lol i just have Thots

HI YES thoughts appreciated! everyone always welcome to drop essays about video games in my inbox i love writing them and i love reading them

i wouldnt call myself a lifetime ac fan but i played the FUCK out of new leaf, i think i got it in 2014 and i have about 1000 hours in it, which is why i was so dissapointed with NH...and ive heard and understand peoples criticism of NL so it must be really really rough for old ac fans to see NH just double down on all that.

that's really interesting about smtv though, i hadn't heard that about the datamining and stuff? and i guess the original interview i hadnt seen because i wasnt into smt then LOL. i actually am gnna go look at that because it really does feel like a game that went thru development hell and had to rush things, i remember before release being really worried that we hadnt gotten any story trailers or english va announcements...esp since the game was announced at the same time as mario odyssey LOL

and yes thats very true that people might get into smt thru smtv. i definitely agree with that point but at the same time, someone is equally likely to not really click with it then drop it and not touch the series again... but well. not the point.

about kirby i was honestly thinking about that when i was posting it, i havent played the forgotten land but every kirby fan i know loves it (i was actually thinking of picking it up myself as a 3d platformer fan) so yeah i can def see how thats an exception. it is true that really good games with passion behind them still can come out which is really heartening, i wish it wasnt such a surprise when it happened!

but yes i think animal crossing really embodies this point. the way its become a cultural icon and people dont know what the series USED to offer so they think that NH is good and what they're all like is so dissapointing, especially as a life sim that youre meant to put tons of time into... it frustrates me to no end when i see people joking abt AHh i have no motivation to go back to my island its so much work i havent played in so long.. like this wouldnt have HAPPENED if the game wasnt shit!! i never had "no motivation" to play new leaf because it was an actual game and not a halfway between life sim and sandbox game that is the worst of both worlds! i checked in on new leaf EVERY. DAY. after school when i was in high school and id play for an hour each day. i dont think i missed a single day in maybe three years.

in new horizons i told myself id go back to it if they ever added cooking. then they added cooking and i went back to it and it sucked so i stopped playing again

there is literally no reason to play it other than customizing your island as a sandbox game but the sandbox elements are so fucking miserable to play that you have to be, excuse me for saying this, unemployed to actually find the time to make your island look good. the game coasted on the fact that it released right before the pandemic and everyone had the free time to play it.

[ectonurites]

Tim is literally just queerbait. thats why they wont give him a sexuality >_>

Okay so you two (or maybe this is the same person and the second one was sent when I didn’t answer the first quickly enough, who knows) do not understand what the word ‘queerbait’ means (or you’re just like, trying to be annoying and purposefully misinterpreting it)

‘queerbait’ is when promotion for a piece of media teases the idea of queer content without any intention of following through, as a marketing tactic to pull in a queer audience without alienating their cishet fans. At it’s core the actual content of a story is only one small component of determining if something is queerbait or not, it’s far more about how it is marketed/how the creative team talks about things on social media or in interviews.

Like, the creative team hinting at queer content, being incredibly vague, the ‘well maybe it’ll happen! we can’t say! wink wink nudge nudge’ types of things… but then having nothing to be found in the actual story, or at most a moment that maybe you could vaguely interpret if it’s what you’re looking for, but you know it’s not going anywhere for real and the media was just trying to get you to be part of their audience. (That’s the only part that actually has to do with the story itself, the confirmation of whether there is queer content or not. But also, there not being actual queer content only makes it queerbaiting if it had been purposefully implied elsewhere that queer content would be included. Otherwise like if it’s just you getting a vibe from things in a story and having a queer reading of it, that’s gonna be coding and/or subtext)

But Tim being in the middle of an arc where he’s figuring out his sexuality and explicitly on page accepted a date with another boy IS NOT EVEN REMOTELY QUEERBAIT. It’s a coming out/self discovery narrative and Meghan Fitzmartin the author herself said this on the matter:

“I wanted to pay tribute to the fact that sexuality is a journey,” Fitzmartin told Polygon. “To be clear, his feelings for Stephanie have been/are 100% real, as are his feelings for Bernard. However, Tim is still figuring himself out. I don’t think he has the language for it all... yet.” (source)

That’s not ‘hinting’ that is specifically confirming and making things clear, while also saying that from the character’s perspective he doesn’t have everything figured out yet.

Because we also haven’t even gotten the full story yet, we know there is another part from the same author that picks up where Urban Legends #6 left off. Meghan Fitzmartin and DC aren’t baiting us with this one, the story is just still literally coming out and has already given us actual canonical queer content.

Him not picking a label yet may be frustrating to some, I get that, but like. Tim does not have a monthly ongoing book from his perspective right now. While he’s had a few appearances since UL #6 all of them have been in other peoples’ stories, we haven’t gotten things with his internal narration since then, and he only even figured out he was attracted to Bernard towards the end of UL #6. You literally just have to wait for more of the story to come out, that’s how comic books (and honestly any media, but most comics are on a monthly schedule or sometimes even more spread out like this as opposed to what people might be used to with tv shows or whatever) work.

But none of this is queerbait. Actual queer content that just isn’t necessarily done in the exact way you personally want it to be done isn’t the same thing as bait.

[angeloncewas]

people on the internet will misunderstand or ignore context regardless of however concise a post is. if theyre reading your post and taking it in bad faith thats their problem. im sorry people are bothering you like its your problem that theyre misinterpreting your post. sending good vibes

Thank you :') sorry I had a mini-freak. I don't mind people being mean usually bc it's generally stupid as shit but there's a big difference between that and someone thinking I'm making light of such a serious thing in some way when my post was literally the complete opposite of that. Yeah idk. I edited the OG post and turned off reblogs (with love sent to the mutuals who got the point and were hyping me up lol) and after that if someone's mad I did all I could do

[gayspock]

actually more trek rambles and general rambles abt fan stuff omg

like. idc im not getting into whatever messy shipping meta discourse some guys wanna engage in- not DEEPLY, like i got places to be! not here to argue abt whether this or this and this is pretentious this is silly this is reductive etc. etc or whatever it is BUT

i am . here to poke momentarily at the ONE facet of shippin or whatever in fandom wherein like. an unfortunate consequence of shipping dominating spaces and it flat-ironing some relationships is it jsut... idk , sometimes this perspective of like: this is the one couple that will exist! the end goal for these two people! and its fine when ur doing one approach, but when it omes to talking abt like. a media as a whole i just . i have never vibed with it honestly do u kno wht i mean?? LIKE in the sense of-

so mny ppl like. take their favourite shippy couple and its like. ah yes they got together; they never had a good relationship before this; and they will never have a good relationship after this; they exist only with each other and thats where they end up. WHICH IS FINE in that context of llike. shipping. whatever. but also- BUT alsoomg.... PLEASE separate it from me bc when i say i dont mind characters together i dont wnt ppl to think. its LIKE tht u know ?? DO U LITERALLY kno wht i mean bc i jsut. its not how im thinking of it babes</3

BC A GAIN. this is all part of my ds9 watch through. and im here to talk abt kira/odo and i think i mentioned this warming to the idea of them happening together. i dont think they work at all as a couple, in the romantic sense; and i think that theyre destined to come apart . BUT i like the narrative thread of like... them kind of drawing to one another and kind of ending

idc to think abt it in tht context of like. them being a couple-endgame-etc. i dont think thats right. whatever the fuck. but i do... or i am warming to the idea of them HAPPENING together.

like i said: i dont think they work at all as a couple, in the romantic sense; and i think that theyre destined to come apart, bc they dont have that sort of chemistry, and theyre after the wrong things at the end of the day. BUT i like the narrative thread of like... them kind of drawing to one another and kind of ending up in a relationship because of what theyve been through, and their respective issues and their preexisting connection and kind of just - them ending up as a thing, and experiencing being together before realising they just dont work and ending up as friends again. like i think that makes a lot of sense to happen????

bc the romance- it does feel wrong between them. but what i do see is them wildly misinterpreting their own wants or going to each other for the sake of thinking its right or for a comfort or for a safety thing and LIKE I SAID. them just experiencing something together and then them coming away from it and it could still be valuable to them? IM REPEATING MYSELF ARENT I.

AND i have no idea if thats how its ACTUALLY going to work out. theyre not even together in the show itself, yet, on my watch i just know that they happen at some point and idk if they ever even break up. its very possible the showrunners, uh... would not take that sort of approach to that, and might just keep them together for the sake of it and force a romance which. like THAT doesnt feel right to me personally bc im worried... a too hamfisted approach into fitting them into a formulaic thing would just warp them both in weird ways and its not letting the characters exist in their own right and that would kinda. ruin it for me and that would be disappointing bc theyre some of my faves like

odo i have said rn is a fave-fave; and kira is like... SHES UNDERDOG to me, bc i think if u asked me i wouldnt SAY her immediately but like. literally 75% of my fave eps are kira-centric ones, where shes carrying the ep. like i think hers are just usually really solid.

anywyas. hm. i had sth e- OMG OH YEAH.

bc tht weird thing abt shipping literally reminds me bc i was thinking this abt the uh. stuff with tos and snw coming out soon too and specifically abt spuh/ura (TAKING THT OUT THE TAG BC U KNOW WHY ITS MESSY OUT HERE) wherein i do have some similar sentiments ab them and how i like them in tht regard but its too late for me to unpack all of tht rn and omg . ppl are also crazy out there im not having weirdos come near mejelp

[urmomsstuntdouble]

ooh, care to share your thoughts on some characters you like but don’t talk about ?

thanks for the ask! and yes i would care to share some of those thoughts

one character i really like is poland, but i dont like the way theyre treated a lot in canon or in fanon (also i hc them as using they/them pronouns). i think it would be easier for me to interact with poland the character if there was less..weirdness around them being so overtly queer, if that makes sense? i know a popular headcanon for poland is that they’re a trans man, but i actually dont really vibe with that. i mean have your headcanons if you want, you do you, but something about trans man poland makes me a bit uncomfy..like you take a guy who crossdresses and is generally super fem and campy and say ah yes he’s trans..idk its got weird vibes. like he’s a man but he’s not like the other men, who don’t crossdress and don’t talk like valley girls and all that. thats not to say i dont think poland is like cishet or whatever (nobody’s cishet on this blog ;)) theres just something about the fandom portrayal of them that irks me a lil. i also find them a bit of a difficult character because everyone seems to love the angst about like. points in time when poland didnt exist (russian empire days) and they’re portrayed as being so different than they were previously. i also think that poland as a character is one of the more contradictory ones (partially due to my own perception of poles, which is largely predicated on a certain type of immigrant grandmother), because they really are trying to be positive but shits hard when you’re a queer jew and the year is 1600- speaking of them being jewish, i do have a historical reason for that, and it’s the theory that jews had a big role in saving poland during the black plague. basically there were a lot of orthodox jews, and its a thing for orthodox jews to have 2+ sinks in their houses. iirc cleanliness is super important. anyway, there were a lot of orthodox jews in eastern europe at the time, much of which was controlled by the polish-lithuanian commonwealth, and that also happens to be one of the areas least affected by the plague. a ton of christians still died, although it was considerably less than in other areas. anyway i also have that hc because of the warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943, and because poland was one of the first countries hitler invaded. though poland today is v catholic (and it always was very catholic) it has a strong presence and one could say that poland is the cultural center of ashkenazi judaism. of course, during the russian empire and the holocaust, many polish jews were murdered or driven out, so there aren’t quite as many there today, but in the past, poland was something of a haven for jewish people in europe. anyway that was a tangent. but yeah, poland. theyre a very good character but i feel like they get misinterpreted a lot. i think they’re quite similar to italy veneziano in that way, because poland is definitely a very traumatized country- all the partitions, for one, and then the pat 2-300 years would have been very rough for someone who’s jewish. anyway i have more thoughts but ive distracted myself with the judaism thing, so yeah. 

i also really like sweden, although i don’t know enough about them (sigh. my nonbinary headcanons. he/they sweden.) to do a real in depth historical analysis of their character. i think an underused piece of comedy about him is that sweden has been neutral in all military conflicts for the past 200 or so years (on paper. they were involved in the congo crisis in the 1960s and have recently stationed more troops in foregin countries). like..sweden used to be a powerhouse in northern europe and now he’s just. trying to be a dad or something idk. anyway my interest in sweden’s character is relatively new, so i would have to go seek out more sweden content, but i think they’re generally super interesting and im a bit sad to see their potential wasted by being like. finland’s husband/sealand’s dad. dont get me wrong i love some good sufin content but there’s more to his character than that he’s in love with finland. 

i also think china’s pretty neat just because i love dads, and i also think he’s gorgeous. long haired men are hot, what can i say? i like him being a crotchety old man who’s a bit out of touch with the Youths tm, although i think he would be too powerful if he learned some modern slang and then decided to misuse it around his kids. i also want to look deeper into the fandom interpretation of his relationship with hong kong and taiwan, mostly because i havent before. there’s also this chinese restaurant that no longer exists that has been described as making the food so spicy that whatever went into the wok next would still be hot enough to make you cry. i feel like that’s a very yao thing to do- like come on, it’s not that spicy- meanwhile, he’s had thousands of years to develop an iron spice tolerance and something that’s spicy enough for him might kill a regular human. perhaps thats hyperbolic, perhaps not, idk. anyway i also do think that he’s the most human out of all the nations, just because he’s been alive so long. i might just be incredibly fascinated with immortality, idk. i think its fascinating the toll that would take on a person, mentally speaking. like all the nations are weird but china must be super weird. anyway i feel like my fascination with how old he is might be a lil weird, but also one of my favorite doctor who characters is ashildr, so i digress. anyway this post is getting super long so i think im gonna cut it off here. hope that was snazzy!

[delimeful]

First time they saw Patton cuddling with Virgil? (Like y’know the energy thing maybe?) Or Virgil protecting the three of them from some other alien?

Okay, now that Making Adjustments is out in full, I’m posting all the asks that inspired me for certain parts or even just to continue writing! Thank you to everyone who sent in ideas/what they wanted to see/theories, I really appreciate it! All asks under the cut!

@ironwoman359 said: I’d be really interested to read about what the first week or two aboard the ship with all four of them was like. I’m sure it was a big adjustment for all of them, and it’d be really cool to see!

@skeletonsloverockcandy said: WINBAR prompt - Virgil’s first night on the ship, is not with Patton, and gets a nightmare. Logan finds him and Virgil has to explain his nightmare/dreams

@the-princey-pie said: Logan mentioned that Virgil would probbaly have trouble fitting through the space ship doors. Now I really want to see Vorgil stepping into their spaceship the first time/navigating it for the first few weeks.

@indigomasquerade97 said: WIBAR prompt. Virgil is Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. You know the scene I’m talking about! ;) Roman is still freaked out with the idea of having a human on board, and one night (maybe on patrol, since he is still jittery from loosing Patton and doesn’t want to loose him - or Logan - again) and he gets freaked out by the nocturnal human suddenly being in the room? IDK

Anonymous said: So. I was wondering for the WIBAR prompts, what was Virgil’s first night on the ship like? How did Roman and Logan act towards him? And is he worried that his relationship with Patton is going to change now that he’s back with his family? Sorry if this is a lot…

Anonymous said: WIBAR prompt idea: Food! Since food is often culturally connected for humans, would it be the same for our alien friends? And if they have any, from Virgil’s pov., strange food items etc. Would be interesting to see considering they are all from such different species. :D

@justanotherpurplebutterfly said: WIBAR: did Patton tell his crewmates how to interpret Virgil’s body language? Did they figure it out for themselves? Did they struggle to remember when they saw him smile or stretch (and make himself big) or something?

Anonymous said: I would love to see some V POV or adjustment period/cultural differences! (particularly L/R’s reactions to V smiling, differences in diet/hunting styles, what V considers a threat vs. what LMP consider threats… anything that highlights the deathworlder in Virg! (Space Australia is like my fav thing that came out of tumblr)) also maybe some more of L/R’s thoughts on Patton befriending a space boogieman?? I really really love this au! :)

Anonymous said: OoOOooh okay how about,, Virgil’s POV as they head back to Roman and Logan’s ship and get on, (and maybe if he doesn’t know the species Logan and Roman are he could ask? That seems the easiest way for us to learn more about the boys without it being too awkwardly shoved in) and V’s probably awkward because he doesn’t know Lo and Ro and Ro’s openly hostile and he wasn’t expecting to go along with them and idk you decide. Also :DD wibar’s not done yet!! Tysm; I’m really enjoying it!

@bishopriecke said: Okay, so I’ve got a couple prompts so I’ll send them separately in case that’s how you’d wanted them? The story is absolutely adorable and it made me think of the sleeping habits back on the ship. There’s space for Virgil, but will Pat gravitate to sleeping with him, since it was such a comfort and Virgil only gets sleepy if he snags energy during cuddles? If he’s tired/virgil’s stressing over something will he wander over to where Virgil is chilling and settle in his lap? How’s Ro&Lo react?

@bumblebeekitten said: Do any of the others attempt to learn Virgil’s language? Or maybe Virgil quietly tries to dispel some of the more hurtful rumors about ‘deathworlder humans’?

Anonymous said: What would wibar Roman and Logan do if they couldn’t find Patton? Would they assume Virgil had done something?

Anonymous said: While waiting for more WIBAR, I keep re-reading everything (Act 1, Intermission, all the world building asks). Right now, I just want to plead with Patton to go find Virgil as he needs comfort, to calmly tell Logan that I don’t blame him, and to hiss at Roman that, while he has had bad experiences and that is valid, he needs to be nicer. Granted, a reaction like that from a human fan-nut probably wouldn’t help Virgil’s case… but he needs a hug so much right now!

Anonymous said: i’m thinking there’s lots of potential for hurt/comfort with this chapter. Virgil’s obviously panicking so i reckon he’s gonna have to try and convince himself that he can trust Patton if not the others. i feel like virgil still wont trust the others but they’ll get to see that he’s not always this big, strong deathworlder and he gets scared just like them. he’s been traumatised and he cares for Patt a lot and theyll try to understand eachother better and hopefully become friends/gain some trust

Anonymous said: that is very much wishful think and a need for my boys to be happy though haha. soz, that probably wasnt very helpful for writing but thats just something i’d like to see happen but i KNOW that whatever you end up writing is gonna be fabulous (ran out of room on my last ask and couldnt even sign it, whoops)

@justanotherpurplebutterfly said: I’m mainly really curious how Roman will react. If he has even have as big of an imagination as buobba Roman then he will probably interpret Virgil’s outburst as a violent attack and try to frame him as a danger they shouldn’t keep on the ship. However if he was able to detect Virgil’s fear then this might be the first step of them growing closer. Idk which I like better, because on one hand I want them to to get along and witness wacky human things in an amicable atmosphere, but on the other hand, misunderstandings are soooo good!!!! Most of all I want Virgil to get a hug though. Poor boy deserves one. I don’t care with who it is, although I suspect it will be Patton because no way the other ones trust Virgil enough and vice versa.

@yalltookmyurlideas said: Haha wibar fears? There are,,, so many. My main fear is that Roman will misinterpret Virgil’s panic to mean he’s hiding something and not see it for the panic and fear it is.

Anonymous said: I was thinking about for WIBAR, are we going to find out more about Virgils life on Earth? Is there angst there or is it irrelevant? Also would Logan and Roman go after Virgil themselves so as not to worry Pat or would they realise this was a situation they couldn’t solve? OR does Roman think V is attacking them and goes to hurt him? Sorry long ask but I’m excited for the chapter 😅😅🥰🥰

Anonymous said: Ayyy super late gang, barely got a hour of sleep bc anxiety/nightmares so yeehaw. I guess for WIBAR, the most essential thing to consider is how you want Making Adjustments to sorta add onto its characters & how they interact. Idk that ofc, but I think the situation is going to resolve into a ‘im only human’ (the irony) kinda situation and the crew (maybe minus patton??) only /starting/ to grasp the human is a bunch of damaged goods who is lowkey more scared of them than they are of he (½)

Anonymous said: (2/2) how i see the situation going down? Depends who finds him. If it’s Pat, he could sing him clam like in the cell. If its Roman or Logan, odds are Virgil’s gonna b scared & his response will be to Fight or Freeze, as he already did the Flight option. Virgil reacting like a cornered animal would be terrifying Ro and Lo. (Also Ro and Lo going to wake up Pat for Human Help has the same vibes of a child waking up their parents to tell them they puked lmao)

@killerfangirl3 said: After where you left last chapter, I am 100% terrified Roman will find Virgil before Patton and cause real danger to everyone. After all Virgil is flooded with adrenaline right now and he barely knows how his strength affects the metal? of the ship as it is. The sudden increase in strength if he was attempting to defend himself could cause him to put a hole in the ship.

@hotchocolatehugs said: Oh! Also, would Virgil calm down if Patton found him, or would it just make him worse/more crazed? I dunno about his state of mind, but if I were in his position I would probably be acting aggressively to anyone who came in. Do aliens have hot chocolate or tea, or some equivalent drink? Because I think Virge needs a calming drink. (sorry if this is too much!)

Anonymous said: I saw your latest post and all I could think about is Virgil stuck on the appliance, really high up and close to the ceiling unseen while he sees Roman and Logan below. Maybe a bit of a language barrier while they say some words that Virgil may not no yet and jumping to conclusions and filling in the blanks in the sentences

Anonymous said: I’m afraid that In WIBAR, Roman may keep Pat from going to find and comfort Virgil and just…leave him up there

@katelynn-a-fan said: Mission impossible theme while looking for Virgil. Too short can’t see Virgil on top appliance. Mission impossible theme continues and fades into the distance. (That’s all I got)

Anonymous said: WIBAR suggestions/predictions/fears: I worry about Roman or Logan finding Virgil before Patton - Roman because I don’t think he will be understanding about how afraid Virgil is; Logan because I think that would scare Virgil more. He might break out of his flight stage into fight, and that could make them fear him more. But, while worry about this scenario, maybe it would be for the best. Maybe one or both need to find him at a low to see that he isn’t a monster, just scared.

@enby-phoenix said:

OK so wibar thoughts! I’m a little concerned that Roman will think that Virgil was genuinely trying to attack him with that chair and also probably trying to hurt Logan, and he’s gonna get upsetti. I also think that the way they figure out what’s made Virgil go all fight or flight will probably involve Logan doing the memory share thing, but it’ll take them a bit to get close enough without Virgil threatening to bite Logan’s hands off.

Also PLEASE let my boy eat a full meal and get some proper sleep!

I would also love to see Virgil curled around Patton protectively but everyone knows that it’s Patton who’s making Virgil feel safe.

Another prediction is that Logan, realizing that SOMETHING bad just happened, and knowing that all his information on humans seems to be incorrect or at least not apply to this one, will go to Patton for advice on what to do regarding Virgil’s sudden change of behavior, and how to calm him down again. Cause Patton is the resident expert on Virgil.

I also imagine that Logan might keep his note taking to himself again for a bit, until Virgil believes that he’s not the bad kind of scientist.

I love that Virgil climbed on top of the tallest thing he could find, and I imagine that if it’s above everyone else’s usual eyelines, they each walk past him multiple times while they’re worriedly searching the ship for him.

I’m mostly imagining Virgil clinging to Patton like a lifeline and the other two aliens worrying for their tiny friend but Patton knows that Virgil is just scared and sings him the “calm down baby it’s okay I’m here” hatchling soothing song until Virgil calms down a little, and then still staying with him while explanations are had. They do not come out of the small space on top of the tallest appliance and Roman doesn’t like that but he’ll deal.

Now that I’m thinking about it more, one of the best ways for Logan to gain (at least a little bit of) Virgil’s trust would be for Virgil to see his honest reaction to what the other scientists did to him. Cause based on what I know of Logan, he would be horrified. And that might help Virgil to realize that Logan ISN’T LIKE those other scientists.

Anonymous said: *gets out the defibrillator to help kickstart the creative juices* At this point Virgil is running on fumes and when the trio find him Patton tries to comfort him. But he’s too stressed and feels betrayed and there’s just too much inner turmoil for him to hold back so he finally breaks down in front of them. Perhaps it’s not Patton that manages to calm him down, but Roman who finally recognizes him as a traumatized person rather than “just an evil human” :D

@enby-phoenix said: tbh Virgil probably hisses at either Logan or Roman at some point and it makes them nervous and confused.

Anonymous said: Roman forcing Virgil down from his hiding spot. 'Blade’ to his neck and tying him to a chair. Virgil thinking that he shouldn’t have run and that they are going to be even angrier at him now, ergo more painful experiments. Begging to be put under for the cutting away and to please don’t get mad at Patton (just in case Patton was trying to be a good friend).

Anonymous said: Suggestion for WIBAR - Roman goes looking for Virgil, all ready for a confrontation. But, when he finds him, Virgil unknowingly makes some sort of gesture that means fear/terror to Roman’s people and he stops and evaluates the situation with clearer eyes. This gives Patton/Logan/both a chance to get there.

Anonymous said: Can we get somr wibar fluff/angst?

Anonymous said: I’m just waiting for WIBAR Virgil to just pass out and the panic of everyone that sees him. Or Roman threatening him or Logan goes to touch him and BAM he’s on the floor!

Anonymous said: Stuff for WIBAR: 1: who’s gonna find Virgil? 2: what’re they gonna do with him? 3: how’s he gonna react? – Options: Patton: tries to comfort him Virgil: can’t decide whether to trust or not, maybe leading to emotional outburst and sad PatPat – Logan: scared cuz danger goblin had an outburst at him. Wondering what he did wrong & how to best proceed Virgil: 'he’s gonna do tests on me’ fight or flight – Roman: 'so, if you hurt my friends imma hurt you’ Virgil: fight or flight – ½

Anonymous said: 2/2 Of course those aren’t the only options, but it was fun for me, and I hope it got creative juices flowing for you as well. I love all your writing, and I want you to know that you can take as long as you need to be proud of your work. It’s okay. And take care of yourself too! You can’t make as good of work when you aren’t feeling as good as usual

[soulwillower]

hi okay so i lowkey feel bad 4 ranting abt this but it’s,,, driving me crazy. so i’ve been friends with this guy 4 five years n we’ve liked each other on and off. two night ago we kissed in his car ( a LOT ) n it almost accelerated to other stuff but i was super high n way too tired so we ended up just talking, vibing to music, kissing sum more, n other stuff though nothing r-rated happened. we haven’t talked since n i wanna talk with him abt it but don’t wanna be pushy do u have any advice🥺 —$

hi sweet thing! im sorry i didnt respond sooner i just havent been on much :( but dont feel bad for ranting ever!! first of all thats rly cute 🥺 my advice is maybe see if he wants to hang out one on one again and bring it up to him then :) u could text him ofc but its v easy to misinterpret things when ur not face to face i think. also make sure u know what u want out of it! esp bc hes a close friend, go into it knowing what u want so nobody gets hurt🥰🖤 i hope ur doing well my love :)