#i could come up with so many better ideas this is just me tweaking the actual finale to improve it with

[alicentflorent]

If FTWD had revealed Madison had died when she was shot and she actually what we see of her after is her in the afterlife or a pre-death dream sequence. And the story strand tells Tracy about Madison surviving the shot and saving padre is just to save 8 year old Tracy from the trauma of being a murderer. Making her believe that she inspired Madison to save padre from her fathers horde (which also may be causing her to feel guilt), I’m an attempt to make her believe in goodness and remembering “grandma” Madison in a more positive light.

I mean.. about it, she is reunited with Alicia, who is healthy now and for the record, she should have died on the beach - it makes sense given that Alicia wakes up looking healthy and feeling healthy and once again the colours are brightened as she goes off to help others. Then when we see them watching from above, that part is real and we are actually seeing the other characters alive and well. Madison and Alicia were just seeing that everyone is going to be okay before they move on. When strand sees them he’s seeing their spirits or imagining them. Their journey home to LA is actually their journey to a version of heaven/peace. It also fits in this story, bc they alluded to an afterlife / near death dream when nick died and when grace almost died, but her baby actually died instead. Anyways this is just my stupid thoughts on how to make the finale less of a dumpster fire. I spent too much time on thinking of ways to improve bad storylines.

[jonnywaistcoat]

Hey, Horrormaster Sims. I have a wildly different question that barely relates to TMA (Sorry about that) but its about your own process. Please, if you could, can you tell me how your first drafts made you feel? I'm on the fence about writing my own thing (not a podcast, and again, not Magnus related, though I have a million little aus for that delightful tragedy you wrote, thank you for that!) But I'm discouraged by the collective notion that first drafts are always terrible, because there's no ... examples I can solidly use to help the dumb anxiety beast in my brain that tells me everyone who is in any way popular popped out a golden turd and not, well, you know. One of my friends said 'Oh I bet Jonathan Sims's first draft was nothing like what he wanted' and I got the bright idea to just. Send you an ask, since you're trapped on this hellsite like I am. Anyway, thanks for reading this (if you do) and if you'd rather ask it privately, I am cool with that. Alternatively, you're a hella busy man with Protocol (you and Alex are making me rabid, i hope you know) and you can just ignore this! Cheers, man, and good words.

To my mind all writing advice, especially stuff that's dispensed as truisms (like "first drafts are always garbage") are only useful inasmuch as such advice prompts you to pay attention to how you write best: what helps your workflow, what inspires you, what keeps you going through the rough bits. There are as many different ways to write (and write well) as there are people who write and so always consider this sort of thing a jumping off point to try out or keep in mind as you gradually figure out your own ways of writing.

On first drafts specifically, I think the wisdom "all first drafts are bad" is a bit of unhelpful oversimplification of the fact that, deadlines notwithstanding, no piece of writing goes out until you decide its ready, so don't get too hung up on your first draft of a thing, because a lot of writers find it much easier to edit a complete work than to try and redraft as they go. It's also important to not let perfectionism or the fact your initial draft isn't coming out exactly how you want stop you from actually finishing the thing, as it's always better to have something decent and done than to have something perfect and abandoned.

But the idea of a "first draft" is also kind of a fluid one. The "first draft" you submit to someone who's commissioned you will probably be one you've already done a bunch of tweaks and edits to, as opposed to the "first draft" you pump out in a frenzy in an over-caffeinated weekend. For my part, my first drafts tend to end up a bit more polished than most, because I'm in the habit of reading my sentences out loud as I write them (a habit picked up from years of audio writing) so I'll often write and re-write a particular sentence or paragraph a few times to get the rhythm right before moving to the next one. This means my first drafts tend to take longer, but are a bit less messy. I'm also a big-time planner and pretty good at sticking to the structures I lay out so, again, tend to front load a lot of stuff so I get a better but slower first draft.

At the end of the day, though, the important thing is to get in your head about it in a good way (How do I write best? what helps me make writing I enjoy and value? What keeps me motivated?) and not in a bad way (What if it's not good enough? What if everyone hates it? What if it doesn't make sense?) so that you actually get it done.

As for how my first drafts made me feel? Terrible, every one of 'em No idea if that's reflective of their quality, though, tbh - I hate reading my own writing until I've had a chance to forget it's mine (I can only ever see the flaws). I suppose there's theoretically a none-zero chance they were pure fragments of True Art and creative perfection, but Alex's editing notes make that seem unlikely.

[iambilliejeanok]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!! “sleeping with” WITH BUDDHA IM BEGGING YOU I WANT TO CUDDLE WITH HIM AND DO THE NASTY AND CUDDLE MORE 😫😫😫😫😫

Warnings: 18+, overstimulation, dacryphillia, smut, nsfw and saw headcanons, (The Buddha mentioned is a character from the anime Record of Ragnarok and doesn’t depict the true nature of the real god Buddha. It’s fiction), fluff.

SFW

Maybe its because of his overwhelming love for humans and the fact that he was one too, Buddha needs all the cuddles all time. He loves love and genuinely enjoys the feeling of something in his arms, whether it be a human, an animal, or maybe even a stuffed animal. Yes, Buddha has a stuffy collection for his alone times indeed. That being said, if whatever he’s cuddling could wrap themselves around him and cuddle him back? He melts right then and there. It might even be better than eating candy under the pleasant shade of a tree in the Valhalla.

Buddha will most certainly not see sleep without being able to rest in your arms. He’s as clingy as a koala with how often he needs to feel you around him and most likely cuddles you all day. There’s never been a day hot enough to dampen his desire to be on you. “No baby, don’t you think its too hot?”, you try to reason, hoping he would be understanding enough to let this go just one time. “Why worry, the AC is running so you’ll need me anyway you dig?”, he says, gently taking your hand in his and pulling you into his chest, “Come now, let me pick you up angel”. And picking you up is something he does often, you see being a god, nothing is impossible and lifting you up to carry you from any position isn’t any problem at all. You don’t even need to jump. Sometimes, he will gently scoop you up with a single arm, desperately needing for you to constantly hug and kiss his face while you sit on his arm and lean against him, snuggling him while he prepares some snack bowels for the two of you.

He’s a big fan of sharing his candy with you, opening every single wrapper and feeding you whichever piece you desire. His hand is almost as big as your face, leaving you with no choice but to submit to his soft lips melting against yours with his hand firmly holding your face in place as his tongue slips into your mouth. You’re always eager to have some of whatever candy he’s eating, and he always going to share it with you, especially during a kiss like this.

Randomly squeezes you throughout the night when he changes positions. Buddha doesn’t actually need to sleep, but he loves the idea of falling asleep with you, so he makes himself sleepy whenever he sees you’re sleepy too. And in public the PDA doesn’t change much. He’s god so what’s anyone gonna do? Sits you on his lap everywhere the two of you go, unless you demand to sit on another surface, he will let you have your way with a cute pout on his face, that obviously goes away with a few soft kisses against his lips, but only he will decide how many kisses will do the trick. You just keep kissing him.

He’s so wholesome, how can you resist all that love.

NSFW

Buddha also doesn’t experience any sexual desire, but he knows a mere human like you battles with that, sensing even the slightest arousal you experience, which to his amusement, is always within his vicinity. You’re actually always horny, since he’s always in your personal space, so smooth without even realizing it. However, he does understand that what he does to that empty little noggin of yours, always filled with thoughts of him defiling you in ways even he finds entertaining. Eventually, he does approach the topic, hearing your thoughts from all the way in the kitchen while you thought about him in the shower, grabbing your breasts and tweaking your nipples as you freely moaned, confident that the running water in the shower drowned out your sweet sounds. “Woah,babe, you really want me to do that to you?” , he loudly chuckles, caging you against wall of the shower. Maybe you did have a heart attack at the sudden presence of your lover butt naked in the shower next to you, a heart attack he quickly reversed. He’s so close you could feel his skin pressing against yours, your pussy so hot and wet and Buddha knows its not from the water, swallowing the spit building in his mouth at the thought of your arousal on his tongue. “Bud-Buddha, wai—“, you whimper, knowing how overwhelming he can be at times.

Excited to fulfill another one of your requests, he’s already on his knees in between your legs, your thighs resting on his broad shoulders while your back is leaning against the smooth stone wall for support. “Buddha please!”, you whimper, overwhelmed with the anticipation of what he’s about to do to you. You’ve never gone a session without crying from the intense amount of pleasure he gives you and boy does he love comforting you through it all. It’s just so addictive how needy and dependent you are under his touches. He has so much fun playing with your body, his tongue plunging into your aching vagina, smiling at the sharp gasp you made, not expecting him to go that route so soon. Both his large hands on your hips, you know there’s never any point in fighting him as he starts sucking your swollen clit, flattening his tongue to lick your entire vulva before repeating his actions, your hand caressing your breasts while you bite your lower lip, submitting yourself to whatever happens.

He might be a little obsessed with you because he fucks you purely for your enjoyment, not that he’s not enjoying himself too, its just that he knows you need him like this and he revels in spoiling his sweet little angel rotten. Slowly plunging his thick, long member deep inside of you, his focus is only on your face, admiring the cute faces you make struggling to handle such a stretch, your hands gripping his biceps for dear life as he goes impossibly deeper, randomly pressing kisses on your lips while your mouth is open to accommodate your breathing, more kisses decorating your face as he thrusts his hips slowly. He’s just completely mesmerized with how stunning you are, his patience never running thin to make sure you’re thoroughly overwhelmed, slipping out of your pussy only to try and shove himself into your asshole. “Uh uh uh, its okay pretty, you’ve got this”, he says, trying to encourage you to take him, knowing damn well he’s making a complete mess of you. You’re literally whimpering, choking on a scream with every thrust into your tight asshole, his godly cock massaging every inch of your walls, his thumb reaching down to start massaging your clit, a small smirk on Buddhas face when he feels your making a mess, the shivering of your thighs growing more violent as he keeps the same pace, his thumb still massaging your clit, “Buddha!!! no no I can’t”, you say out of breath, only hoping he understands you, but you know he’s not ending this here. “Shh shh angel, you can take it, gimmy kissy, c’mere”, he softly says, he’s warm breath on your face, finally pulling his dick out of your rectum to realign it with your squirting vagina. Crying out loudly, you could feel him rub himself along your clit, knowing what this meant. You begin kicking your legs, attempting to crawl away from him before he simply holds you down your thighs, pulling you closer to him again, pushing himself into you again, moving slowly since he was too big move too fast. “Fuck!”, he growls above your cries. “Fuck! No sweetheart its okay, keep coming for me, you’re such a sweet little angel you know”, he coos at you, his only goal to fulfill your fantasy…a fantasy you obviously can’t handle.

[brineoffire]

Uuuuuuh hi, hi howdy! I've been super possessed by the need to see more male centered fics with the poly!141 soooo here's a bit. I honestly haven't played the games, but I've been looking into the lore because I'm so hyper fixed on the 141 rn. Bare with me, I haven't posted fics here before and definitely never written army anything. Please please please lemme know if you like it even a lil and I'll type up some more.

Fic notes!

So I saw someone talking about a reader who's in it for the money and I liked that idea- tweaked it a little but the basic jist? Mc loves vidio games so much they went to school for it, can't pay, joins the military to pay it all off. I'm writing this chapter ambiguous on gender so far, but I'm writing with a trans!masc reader here because fuck. I can't find much so better make it myself.

-Edit I forgot to put the title here rip

The Right Price

You can't help but stop to think about how you needed to stop biting off more then you can chew. It's been a few months since your recruiter told you all about the joys, wonder, and honor that comes with serving. You where in the second she told you about the pay. Too many student loans, too much microwave ramen, the list went on, but fuck it yeah? You where the one that said that in the first place when you signed up for your courses. The basics, programming, coding, digital design a bit of physiology because of personal interest. You where over the top when it came to studies. Didn't bother you none when you couldn't have a social life. If you weren't busy studying you where quite literally inhaling any game you could get your hands on. But now when you had to fork over the bill money? You started singing another tune.

So here you are. On the training grounds with the rest of the folks recruited at the same time as you.Your sargent was barking out orders for you all to start your runs one by one, but some smart ass was holding up the line. You actually agreed with half the shit he barked back at the your troop leader, but damn it, you didn't want the consequences.

"That's it! You wanna run your mouth? You can all run double to catch up with Marco's mouth! Now!" He yelled white fisted. The remaining lot of your groan and grumble, starting the run together now at double time to hopefully finish before lunch call. Seven miles was what you had all gotten used to. Seven miles of uneven terrain, hurdles and dives, inclines and ramps now lengthened to fourteen.

"Oh fuck off Marco!" One of the recruit remarks, smacking said recuit behind the head before taking off on a spint. Several others join in on mocking the guy before bolting trying to get it over with. You shake your head as you catch up to him and clap him on the shoulder.

"They'll chill out later man just gotta grit and bare it more y'know?" Marco yanks was shoulder away from you, giving you a nasty glare before taking off too. You raise your brow at that, curious to what set him off before shrugging, taking the course at your normal pace with a hand full of the others. Better late then fatiged. The little spat dosn't bother you anyway. You'll all be split into your first teams in less then a week. You doubt he'd even be grouped with you anyways.

Oh how wrong you where. How very. Very. Wrong. It was actually laughable at this point, because you where either grouped together because your Sargent knew you got under Marco's skin for some reason or because fate wanted to see the drama unfold. You took that as a personal challenge either way. Snapping back snarky retorts anytime Marco decided to fuck around, until one day he had you cornered with a handful of others, in your face yelling about how "your kind" didn't belong in the military let alone the states. You let him finish his rant. Something, something, something, God damned, something, something, blight all the good christians, something, something, belong in the kitchen like a proper bitch.

Oh. Okay. There it was. You laugh in your head. No. Outloud. You flip the positions, getting uncomfortably close to the fuckers so they back off some and spout of some tibits you learned in your phycology classes about the brain being easy to manipulate. Quiet anger radiating from your low tone, keeping it quiet to force them to listen harder. You throw in some extra bs about how you could probably "turn" the lot of them given enough time. That them speaking more shit would be an agreement for him to test his theory. They back off after that, but report you all at once for "harassment". There being no evidence for anything you're transfered to one of the other split groups. Half made up of people you didn't enlist with. Mabey this crop would yeild better results yeah?

Nah. You jinxed it. You know you did. Oh well. This time it's just one guy though. And all it takes is a bit of reverse phycology to have the guy questioning his own damn identity so bad he's sent to the on duty therapist. You're transfered out this time by a different woman. Laswell. She heard out your full story of your transfers and unlike your last transfer she gave you a garentee that she'd make sure to find a good fit for you. You shrug and thank her. No matter what you had to tough it out anyways, you needed that pay check after all. Had no where else to go.

It goes sour when you head with her to a base near Wales. You where supposed to go talk to her about setting up here overseas for a while. Something about spreading out more newbies anyways. You really don't understand half of it so you just agree and you're off to training on this base. As long as you're here you're expected to keep up with basics and the routine set by the Sargents and that's fine by you, whatever to pass the time at this point. They run a drill with half the team ment to run a faux attack on half the base and the rest made to counter. You're getting prepared to counter the fake attack when alarm bells are ringing. That's definitely a little over the top. Usually they just yell over the loudspeakers and... You kinda blink a few times before you realize your group of rookies is being pressed to the armory. It's not a fucking drill at this point. This is NOT what you came here for but, oh fuck here you go! You've played too many games for sure. Mabey it's time to cut back. Because you're immediately focused. Immediately setting up the scene in your head to get you in a headspace where it's all a game. It helps you focus and damn you really need help with that right now.

There's active rounds being fired a ways away from the base as you all are suited with gear and munitions. You've trained for this but damn if you ever thought you'd ACTUALLY use any of that shit. You always imagined it was for show, like how you never use any of the fucking math they taught you anywhere.

You're moving on a sort of autopilot, moving out to a defensive manuver outside, staying under cover like you're told until your unit arrives halfway out, between the fighting and the base. It's impossible to see much past a thick smoke blanketing half the scene but you all move out, groups of three fanning out for any injuries and more importantly, any hostiles. You and your group are about to get to your second vantage point when you catch something they don't, you call out a group of several hostiles over what looks like a member of the base before realizing there's radio static.

Fuck it. Risking your life might score you some bonus merit, some extra cash somewhere along the line, you don't know. You're just trying to rationalize why the hell you bolt for the man, keeping low, keeping quiet until your almost upon them all. You get close enough to make out the British insignia on the man's arm. You've definitely seen him on the base before, and now here he is, no weapon in sight, surrounded by four hostiles. You slow your approach and aim carefully, making sure to get the kill shot on one of them, the spray of bullets catching another in the arm gives you enough time to aim for one of the other ones. You've definitely played too many vidio games but you're damn sure that's what kept you from being shot on your first unofficial day of active duty. You roll. Fucking barrel roll on the ground, with enough force to get you away from the spray of bullets from the last uninjured hostile as you stop yourself and make the shot on him. Dumb luck is what you chalk it up to as the fourth guy falls, letting you finish off the second man as he scrambles to retrieve his weapon.

"Up! Up! UP!" You yell to the man on the ground. You don't notice the look of utter confusion from the guy as you rush to help him to his feet. You've gotta get him back to base or at least the rest of the team and out of harms way. So you sprint as fast as you can as soon as the man's up, keeping to your side as you keep an eye out for anyone else hostile or otherwise. You try your radio again, but nothing you backtrack enough to find the spot you last saw your little team and find them under fire, one covering a wound on the others arm, panicking. You're quick to take over, playing out the scene in the same mind set you started out with. Mission in mind. Quest line to follow. You snap the other guy out of it enough to instruct him on how to stop the bleeding properly and grab the injured mans weapon from him, shoving it into the man's hands and directing him to cover you. Again, your oblivious to the look of pure confusion from the man and your uninjured teammate as you work to bandage up your fellow recruit.

You all make it out in one peice, the base being cleared of the small force that attempted to overtake the base. What you don't learn, and no one bothers to tell you. Is that the man you "saved", Captain John Price, has been talking with Laswell. Not so much talking with her as TO her. Your in it for money? Perfect you'd definitely agree to join the 141 with the pay difference.

"John you can't fucking do that. This kid is green. Way too fucking green! They weren't even supposed to be pulled into active duty! They should have been benched with the newer recuits, not out with their seniors!"

Price laughs and shakes his head. "No. This one's got potential and I wana see how far it'll take em." He was impressed by how some rookie was able to show enough guts to help him when the odds looked bad. He had everything under control, but damn if your actions weren't something interesting. Rolling out of line of fire and still keeping a steady aim? That's quite the task, he boasts for you. Hell, you didn't even think twice about Price's rank or authority, your focused was on recovery and living while taking out the hostiles. As much as Laswell regrets to say there's not much reason to deny Price. His eye for talent really was spot on. What could go wrong in all actuality? She trusted Price, and hasn't let her down yet.

"Fine. But I'm keeping a close eye on this set up."

Price grins as he looks down at your small folder, thanking her and flipping through the pages again. Tomorrow you'd be flying out with him to your new base. Joining the 141 as a tech specialist.

[ramu-ego]

Aaaah I love sm your recent post, the idea of mommy kink juste make me go feral anyways lmao

Can you do when the guys had to be away for a while and they're just needy, how will they react ?

Thanks if you write that and pass a great day ofc <3

-🌺

(nsfw) Mommy's Home! :: x femdom!Reader

cuties away from mommy for a while just to be super needy when they come back? Yes pls! ♡ - askbox open cw: fem!Reader, dom!Reader, aged up, mommy kink, sexual themes word count: sloppy headcanons character(s): Rin Itoshi, Meguru Bachi, Nagi Seishiro, Kenyu Yukimiya

moody moody MOODY

prefers to do everything in his power to have you accompany him when he has to travel for soccer

and I mean everything to have you come with him

expect a mini meltdown if you absolutely cannot come

Rin leaves in a foul mood without you and no surprise comes back in a foul mood but...not exactly the same

he wants your attention and he wants it now

keeping his hands off you from public to private is almost out of the question and you learn quickly to be alone when you come get him

face in your tits, hands snaking up your shirt

he's ready to crawl inside your shirt the second he sees you and isn't abashed by anyone who sees bc frankly he could have played better if you were there so he'll make it everyone's problem that he misses you

cannot pull him off of you, Rin is groping, grabbing and gripping you at every angle he can

big mistake if you turn your back to help him unload

poor thing is whining nonverbal idiot with your tits in his hand rubbing himself against the seam on your ass

"Make it better. Make it better. Make it better now."

mumbling between your shoulder blades, panting, tongue out drooling like a mutt trying to mount anything that moves

pent up, needy Rin makes it as far as grabbing you from behind

clothes be damned they don't matter his cock hurts and only mommy can make it feel better

rubbing and tweaking your nipples while he humps your ass can only lead to one thing

blowing his load before you even have a chance to turn him around to kiss him

Rin's cum soaked underwear aren't the only thing needing mommy's attention after a long stint apart

Bachira's so excited to see you!!

he has so many things to tell you that you're a little afraid he's not breathing as much as he's talking

it's ok bc he is an excellent multi tasker after all

good thing as he's trying to unload all the things he had to buy you bc they reminded him of you

and since he's such a good multi tasker this striker has no qualms letting his neglected needs take over him like a monster

running his mouth a million miles a minute doesn't stop him from getting you out of your clothes

all his exciting friends he got to make and play soccer with...all while his lips are sloppily around your nipples

spit everywhere poor thing shouldn't talk with his mouth full

pet his hair and let him ramble while he slobbers all over your tits eager to see them after being away for work

multi tasking doesn't stop when he gets what he wants in his mouth though

Bachira cannot comprehend anything around his cock unless it's you

meaning he's ready to blow the second he gets to see you topless again and it's a good thing he's as quick as he is barely getting your panties down before burying himself inside you

so much cum and so much pent up sexual need

it's a good thing you're a good listener and so good at wrapping your legs around him when he gets too excited

only thing soaked will be your walls after Bachira's overjoyed to finally get to cum in mommy's velvety insides

a fitting reward for a good boy who handles himself so well when he's away on business

chances are Nagi didn't go anywhere unless you came with him truthfully

it's a pain to travel and alone at that

prodigy over here throws his skill level around just to get his way with your company but not everything works out for him every time

sometimes Nagi has to suck it up and be a big boy on trips without you

the second he comes back, he hasn't even showered and gotten back into his home clothes - he's inside you

lazily dragging his hips to actually fuck you is almost exclusive to when he's been gone away on work trips

can't stand any position besides missionary either

which you've tried during a particularly heated make out session when he got home but Nagi refused

needs to see your face, needs to feel your cunt around him and needs to drag his sweaty forehead across your chest while he mumbles incoherently into your skin

closer inspection (and when he isn't drowning out his own words with slack jawed moans) you can make out what he's saying

"I missed you, I missed you, I missed you."

all Nagi can muster are those three words if you've been apart

slamming your hips into yours, feeling the weight of his cum heavy balls slap against your ass

insistent on being as close to you as humanly possible

pls knot your fingers in his hair and pull him against your chest bc jet lag is a bitch for this poor thing

Nagi suddenly can think for himself sometimes if it's been even a long weekend away from mommy

so so so stressed when he gets back

Kenyu much rather travel with you so he's not overthinking exactly every detail on his trip and can focus on his playing

work is work and he wants this but he wants this with you

he's somehow more of a mess when he gets back?

poor thing needs help unwinding and his poor tired eyes don't even know where to start when he sees you

sex and sensual go hand in hand with him it's like breathing and soccer

other words...reuniting is a special thing for the two of you

lovely meal together, talking and showing you everything he got for you as well as pictures he insists on taking and of course taking a bath together

all things that Kenyu revels in when you're together again

some reason though he's always hesitant to initiate anything...worrying he's being too needy

a day or a week apart he always thinks like that after a trip

that's why you're here to help him unwind in just the right way

Kenyu is is extremely sensitive swearing only mommy knows how to touch him right...and he's certainly not wrong

at his most vulnerable when he misses you is also when it's the most fun to ride him

swipe his hair off his forehead, be as close as you can so the details of your face are vivid to him and feel the poor thing melt as you tighten around him

remind him why he just can't seem to get the job done alone with your cunt drooling around his cock and milking him for all he's worth

Kenyu has a work trip worth of neediness and cum inside him with only you being the one he wants to draw it all out of him

[xirex]

JULIA ✮ RELATIONSHIPS ?!

! CHAN . . . CHANLIA / 2LETTE

her contact name : juju 🩷

his contact name : channie 🤍

her father omg. the moment he saw 10-year-old julia in a training room was the moment he knew he had to protect her. julia had just come from australia at that time and having chan, someone who could understand exactly how she was struggling as a foreigner, really helped her in the long run. chan would always be with the girl, to the point where he was helping her get ready for school in the morning and even pick her up in the afternoon. julia relies on chan a lot for a variety of things; whether it be helping her create a song to taste-testing her food to make sure it's perfect. chan can basically read the girl like an open book. he can tell when she isn't feeling well or when she's really excited to do something, even before she can at times. don't get me wrong, julia does mess with chan a lot, but behind those teasing words and smirk, she knows she has someone who will always care for her, at her highest of highs and lowest of lows.

viral moments : julia feeling sick during a tour stop & chan giving her one GLANCE and immediately rushing over and asking if she's alright // chan moving over to let julia pick something out in a game first // chan sitting next to her while they were eating on a vlive & when she was talking, randomly patting her head

'2lette' came from fans. more of an inside joke; chan's shaving brand is gillette and julia says she'd use that brand if she ever had to

? LEE KNOW . . . JUHO / PABOZ

her contact name : child ☝

his contact name : lee knows nothing 🤓

she was so scared of him when they first met. like he just. looked scary. she got to know him a lot better over the time they spent preparing for debut and they became extremely close. julia looks up to him a lot, and similar to chan, she's like his daughter. they bond over their skill in dance— it was what brought them together in the first place. she also trusts his judgement; whenever julia feels like she needs guidance or another opinion on something she'll go to minho and ask for his perspective. he's the one who can talk her into doing things and it literally always works; usually whenever she's sick he and chan team up to get her to lay down. lee know is like julia's mother and chan's the father !!! he does spend a lot of time teasing her though. over her height, her saying something funnily, her tripping, etc. everything she does is funny to him ? but its okay, it's all in love ofc !!

viral moments : in skz code 08, julia holding onto minho the entire time they were on the mission (poor minho .. two scaredy cats at his side) // julia being frustrated over not wanting to do something, minho stopping her to try and persuade her & julia immediately agreeing after // minho saving a take-out box of food he didn't like knowing julia would probably eat it

'paboz' came from the members in an early skz code ep

! CHANGBIN . . . BINLIA / SYOTDARIZ

her contact name : lee money

his contact name : gym rat 🌵

MY SUNSHINE AND SUNSHINE PROTECTOR DUO I CANNOT. whenever she's running around playing with one of the boys or just by herself he'll be like standing in the back with the most proud smile ever. they enjoy teasing each other, and will take up any opportunity possible to; at restaurants, during filming, etc. when changbin's on "watch the maknaes" duty and sees julia about to do something he's run towards her, pull her away, smack her head, and then go back to what he was doing before.. it's happened on camera too many times. he also helps julia during song recording because she tends to mess up or misread certain korean bits. her #1 fanboy !! whenever she has an idea for a song he'll just sit and listen attentively and even help her tweak the lyrics. changbin tries his best to understand julia's struggle as the only girl and just wants the best for her in the long run

viral moments : julia on a vlive gushing over how much changbin's helped her improve her korean over the years // changbin being so patient with julia while trying to teach her how to do something // binlia seeing each other for the first time after months and hugging so tightly

syotdari / 숏다리 = short legs, they're the shortest two in the group

? HYUNJIN . . . JUJIN / BATTERIES

her contact name : llama?

his contact name : samsamsam 😯

two human batteries that never die out. julia highly influences hyunjin into doing silly shit, like pranking the members, teasing them, just causing chaos anywhere and everywhere.. it's a little crazy. they're both extroverts when together, minho and chan see them fooling around in their nightmares i swear. back to the calmer side; they love to draw and paint together. julia has a lot of the paintings they've made together hung up in her room. hyunjin was the one to talk her through panic attacks (and still is!!) when they were frequent and that was one of the only times they would actually be quiet together. whenever julia feels like she needs to take a break or just have time to breathe while on stage, hyunjin would immediately be at her side making sure she's alright. hyunjin's probably the one who talks her into doing things that she probably shouldn't be doing in newer places. they also go live together so often, and half of those lives are just filled with them dancing or teasing each other.

viral moments : on a tour stop, hyunjin running around with julia on his back // yet another tour video, julia stepping off to the side breathing heavily & hyunjin immediately going over and passing her a water bottle // on a v-live hyunjin & julia painting together, julia showing hyunjin her canvas and him cooing and saying it looks great

'batteries' comes from the two being known as human batteries when together.

! HAN . . . LIASUNG / NINIZ

her contact name : 땅콩 [ peanut ]

his contact name : my hannie 🤍

you thought jujin was bad? these two are worse. they'll take any possible opportunity to argue with each other. most times it's just to mess with the older members, but they do enjoy teasing each other. in fact, you can usually tell something's up with one or the other when they go more than an hour without saying some kind of belittling comment to eo. however, despite all of this, they're insanely close. whenever another one of the hyungs isn't there to help, they'll usually go to eo during panic attacks. they also share the same fear of heights; when skz has to do something that's relatively high up, liasung will be clinging to eo for dear life. they're like the twins of skz—both the fans and the boys themselves call the pair that. they're always together; on stage, at the dorms, even in variety shows or random vlogs. so many random 1 am bubble updates from them going on late-night walks or convenience store runs.

viral moments : them teasing eo and then 5 seconds later going "i love you~ every second // liasung absolutely dominating in a game of bowling on a show // during a fansign, julia stealing han's hat and after trying to get it back a bunch of times, he just lets her have it

'niniz' came out of nowhere. a member used it to refer to the pair and it just stuck.

? FELIX . . . LIXIA / SUNSHINEZ

her contact name : tiny lee 🌟

his contact name : bokkie 🌞

MY SUNSHINE BABIESSS !!!! the two that will make you smile the moment you see them together. they love eo so much it's just so fluffy and sweet. felix is another member you'll always see julia with because they love to be around each other. julia even admitted she spends more time in jeongin's / felix's rooms because they're so comfortable with eo. julia and felix always talk in english to each other out of habit; when they met, they immediately started to converse in english rather than korean. julia's the person who influences felix to take up his interests, like baking for example! julia also has a lot of matching items with felix, whether it be clothes, jewelry, even phone charms or cases. they both just have so much love to give and it's so evident in the way they treat each other and the members. these two have so many concert / fansign videos of them just hugging or playing with eo; felix likes to let julia play around as much as possible since she's been a trainee since she was a kid and didn't really have a childhood.

viral moments : felix and julia going into a haunted house together and not coming out for another 45 minutes // julia facetiming felix in the middle of his live // felix posting a video on bubble of julia just sitting on their counter eating leftover cookie dough mix

'sunshinez' comes from them being known as the sunshine duo.

! SEUNGMIN . . . JUMIN / STYLISTS

her contact name : tiger 🐯

his contact name : minnie mouse

julia see julia do with seungmin istg. so many clips of him randomly doing something and julia immediately copying him. he's like a little devil on her shoulder. seungmin's fooling around? oh, julia's probably with him. they're always teaming up to tease the members at any given chance, basically chan & minho's worst nightmare. seungmin knows how to get under her skin, and vice versa. they enjoy styling the members together and have been appointed at the two stylists of skz. two people who enjoy showing their affection through big small actions rather than words, which is why they're so close. seungmin's helped her perfect her vocal abilities over the years, and when she got moved to vocalracha, he was the most excited because they'd get to work together more often. when julia falls asleep backstage, she's usually laying on seungmin's shoulder or seungmin's going over and laying a blanket on her or fixing her hair / posture.

viral moments : in the xmas skz code, seungmin randomly flying a paper airplane and julia doing the same soon after // seungmin uploading pics of julia sleeping on him while he's just doing a peace sign // seungmin & julia being on a team tgt and not being able to finish their mission bcz they spent the entire time messing around

'stylists' comes from the two being known as skz's stylists

? I.N . . . INLIA / TWIN FLAMES

her contact name : nyangie 🐱

his contact name : INNIEEEEEEEEE 🩵

MY POOKIES HELLO. the twin flames of skz. julia's like jeongin's little sister please. they've been close ever since the survival show, like their friendship is natural. julia spends so much time with jeongin, more than any other member. they're extremely clingy with each other, like two little kids. they show their love for each other by being clingy & constantly playing around with eo. constant stealing from eo; jeongin could have a sweatshirt one day and the next, it'll be gone & vice versa. they're each other's hype person!! julia enjoys cheering him on in an annoying voice just to mess with him. no doubt the closest duo of stray kids, literally nothing could come between them. another member she has a lot of matching items with. the main reason julia spends a lot of time with him / in his room is because they're always assigned to be together anyway; hotel roommates, game partners, even being sent away by the members to go fetch something from the shops. if one's smiling and laughing, the other is too. jeongin always serves her first, and even hand feeds her food if she asks him. also!! they're so attentive to each other. never a moment were they aren't listening to eo so well and lovingly I CANT.

viral moments : mt skz code, they were in the pool and just started to try and drown eo ?? (affectionate) // in a fansign, jeongin received two animal headbands, so he reached over to put one on julia's head // julia and jeongin in the background of a member's vlog trying to fight ?? hug ?? they were doing something.

'twin flames' comes from them being known as the twin flames / platonic soulmates of skz.

xia's message . . . this took .. so long .. taglist . . . open!

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Evanescence, ‘Fallen’ | The Album Story

RS: Listening back, it is striking just how bold and ambitious it is for a debut album. Not many bands come out with a full choir and string section on their first album. Did you have to fight for those elements at all?

AMY: “You know, it helps when you have something that you really want to do that you’re gonna fight for. But that you have the ability to do. If I had a crazy idea of Gregorian chants or an all-boys choir, something that I couldn’t actually make happen, it would be a lot harder, because we’re gonna spend all this money on finding somebody to create the sound and then find the team. At least with choirs, specifically, in high school I was the choir president. I loved choir, I was  inspired by a lot of that old Celtic and Latin hymn stuff. And I took Latin. So I was like ‘I’ll write it, I’ll do everything, all you gotta do is help me put together a small team of vocalists, it’s not gonna be that expensive’. We can make this happen. I think just having the moxie, or whatever it is, to go ‘I’ll put this all together, all you have to do is just trust me artistically’. It’s still a fight. It was harder to fight for real strings, because that’s just expensive. That’s just something that cost a whole lot of money. But to me, that was so key to what our sound was. The whole idea was that it was if a heavy band with riff-driven, pop hooks could get in a head-on collision with a dark film score. If it didn’t have that film score part of it, it would have felt like so much was missing. I do remember having a discussion with the label about ways we can make it sound real with pads and stuff – they’re better than they used to be. But I just always said ‘No, whatever it is, we’re on the hook for it. In the end, I promise we’ll get the money paid back. We have to have real strings. It has to be real’. And then we ended up with David Campbell who is one of the absolute best in the industry for that, and we’ve had a lifelong, career-long partnership now that I’m so grateful for.”

RS: The ‘Bring Me To Life’ demo was the first taste people got of this reissue. It’s remarkable how fully formed that track already was even at that early stage.

AMY: “There’s probably 10 demos of that song. The label had fixated on it and decided it was going to be the single we were going to focus on. So it was just constantly changing, we felt like we were in this demo forever. But they all happened over the course of just a couple of years. So the very first demo, before the chorus was what it was, I don’t even know where that is. I don’t even have that. It started without the rap but also the ‘Wake me up inside’ part wasn’t there. It was the verses and the chorus was like…I could sing it for you but that’s not going to translate into your magazine. But the one you heard that’s on there was sort of in the middle. That wasn’t the last one.”

RS: It is still the song we know, it just needs a few tweaks. It’s interesting to be able to see the process behind that.

AMY: “I always remembered that little sample in the beginning that became the piano part. That was always still in my head because we listened to it so many times before making the song. We wanted the piano so it would be like a film score starting out.”

RS: How big a role did your cinematic influences play in creating the album?

AMY: “We were really inspired by film and would go to the movies all the time. Part of that is just the age we were in high school. But it also felt like research – ‘Donnie Darko’, ‘Edward Scissorhands’. It was like I was really learning from it. My favourite part about film was the music, not so much the soundtracks, that’s great too, but the score is what makes you know how to feel. There is a whole sub story going on underneath. You are feeling things that are deeper than just the words and actions of the characters. So that’s when I started getting really inspired. I wanted to be in a band, but I would really like to score film and was going to school for that when we got signed.”

RS: ‘Everybody’s Fool’ is a track you have discussed a lot in the past. It seems to express some frustrations around the idea of fame and success but, again, it was written so early in your career. Once you found that success, did the song take on any new meaning for you?

AMY: “At the time, I was the teenager, a big sister, and my siblings were younger in elementary school. My two little sisters, who are very close in age, were in their boyband and pop girl moment. I was like ‘Oh my god, you guys are totally dumb. Listen to real music, I’ll show it to you’. I was always trying to influence them with Green Day, and Nirvana songs that didn’t have horrible things in the imagery. But at the same time, like they were going through this time where it was not just about the stars but school cliques and what you look like seemed like a really big focus. Who liked you, all that stuff, everybody goes through that. I think what I really wanted to say was that what I respect is authenticity. That should be the thing that we’re trying to win, not the beauty contest. Just be yourself. But then, strangely, soon after I found myself in the spotlight really fast in a really big way where you are on a stage for people to just look at you and talk about you like an object and that was hard. That was a weird time for me, because I was really young and really never bought into all that. But when it’s happening to you on a really large scale, you can’t just tune it out and leave the cafeteria. You have to actually face it – ‘There’s my career, how do I be the most of myself and show all the parts of myself that I really want to be seen and not be misunderstood?’ I just felt really misunderstood. But I think the lesson really is that you have to keep on, look at yourself, look at your real friends and the people around you that really know you. Remember who you are apart from it. It’s always been good for me to take breaks from this. I don’t think I need to anymore the way that I did. I know who I am. I know we’re gonna be here. But it was always important for me to step away and go ‘I’m not Amy Lee. I’m just Amy still’. I still have hold of my identity which is ever changing. It still has room to grow. I’m not stuck as that album cover picture forever, even though that is still a perception in probably millions of people’s minds. So you just have to give yourself the freedom to keep growing.”

RS: In terms of what may come next from you, how has looking back and reflecting on your early days affected how you want to move forward?  

AMY: “I think it’s always a positive thing to remember your roots, even if it just means you’re going to branch really, really far away for them and do stuff that you’ve never done. I think you have to know who you are and know where you’ve been, because this is just the next chapter in that story. I’ve been doing that all year to where I just kind of never want to hear it again. Not really, but it’s definitely a little bit of what I said before about recognising those innocent moments where I’m not trying to be ahead of somebody’s criticism or anything. Write something without feeling any fear. That’s really sweet. I don’t know how I could recreate that. It’s hard to say because I dearly, dearly love our band, my guys and now Emma (Anzai, bassist). I’m most interested to hear what her new dynamic brings into the situation when we get together. I’ve wanted to be in a band with her for a really long time and it just finally worked out.”

[kyojuuros]

Just a question found your blog and really loved your analysis for attack on titan. What are your thoughts on the ending? A lot of people I saw hated it's not my favorite but I don't understand to huge hatred. Did you ever share your thoughts?

Hi Anon!! First off, I apologize for the late response... I know you sent this in a couple weeks ago but I wasn't in the headspace to type anything up at the time. Life is busy! lol

I'll start with a lot of people disliking the ending... I think a lot of that stems from the fact that we all had our own ideas as to where the plot was going and some were able to adapt to the ending better than others. Especially for those of us who put a microscope to everything and spent every monthly chapter release overanalyzing every small detail.... lol it sometimes was a shock what Isayama would end up doing in the next chapter! I definitely had my ups and downs with that during the run of the manga.

I actually can't recall if I ever shared my thoughts on the ending here either than maybe being a little lukewarm on it? My initial response to the final chapter was kind of in the middle of positive and negative. If you read any of my analyses on the latter chapters I'm sure you noticed a lot of cope when it came to Eren doing the rumbling... I couldn't stand that one of my favorite characters would do something I find morally reprehensible! lol I was trying to come up with any other answer for his behavior than wanting to enact the rumbling. Once he finally did, it took a long time for me to make my peace with it. Although, in retrospect, it makes total sense for his character and, imo, sets this story apart from so many others and will be what makes it so memorable for decades to come. It gave him more complexity in the end and makes his character more memorable.

I think what helped me not be so initially angry at the ending was actually the conclusion to Mikasa's story and how she was able to overcome her feelings for Eren to do the right thing... both for the remaining people on the planet and for Eren himself. I was happy with her ending - and since she is really my favorite character of all time and my comfort character, I was able to be more at peace with the conclusion of the story.

That being said, I think Isayama didn't do the best with the final chapter - mainly with how he handled Eren and Armin's conversation and there's a part of me that still kinda hates the "only Ymir knows" thing lmao but MAPPA really remedied a lot of that when they adapted it into the anime and tweaked Eren and Armin's conversation. But I remember reading the final chapter and feeling a bit empty. Partly due to the story coming to its conclusion but also just feeling like it could have ended better. I could have still been coping with the rumbling though! LOL

I do like the ending now though. and I give MAPPA a lot of credit for that. I absolutely loved watching the conflict and conclusion unfold in the anime, and I still get chills when I rewatch the finale. I don't think there could have been a more appropriate way to end the story and I appreciate that the ending maintained an aura of hope despite also portraying the reality of human nature and how conflict is something that will never truly end. It was realistic while also giving a good conclusion to the characters and their arcs. And knowing that the surviving characters got to live out their lives in relative peace makes me happy. All in all, I don't think there could have been a better way to end it and I'm happy with it.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Hi Dani, how are you? Just wanted to congratulate you with another amazing fic!

1. I think I liked it more than the original. Maybe it's because characters are familiar, but also I felt like emotions were truer and stakes higher. I have reread last chapters before epilogue, and while reading their emails I thought I couldn't do this in real life. Letters were so intimate and personal, it's hard to imagine how anyone could read them with ease.

2. The poem is really beautiful. Not only it showcases more of David's character, but I think it's a great poem on its own, even if you don't know the context. It was a brilliant idea to name chapters after it. Of course I didn't connect that chapter names are the poem until you mentioned it, but it was just one more reason to come back to previous chapters and see how mavid love develops according to the poem. Question - did you have the poem before the fic, or have you written it along the way? Did you need to change it after altering chapter count?

3. Overall I just wanted to thank for one more amazing read. Your works are an inspiration to me. I picked up drawing again because I had too many emotions after your chapters and needed to realise them somewhere. I hope it's ok that I add my drawing of ldv epilogue. I haven't drawn in a long time so it's very rustic (and I also forgot my eraser), but I hope to get better and draw more mavid 😄.

Thank you so much 🩵

It was very hard for me to write the emails knowing what would happen to them. But we do unfortunately see this happening a lot - people sharing and commenting on leaked messages, nudes, etc of celebrities. It's just sad.

I am very bad at poetry so I am glad to hear you say that! I did write the poem beforehand, yes, but I tweaked it as I published the chapters too. I always put some thought into my chapter titles and this idea of David wanting to be loved in a specific way and the chapter showing Max loving him exactly like that...It just made sense!

THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OMG. I LOVE THE DETAILS (emo about Arthur's heart PJs 🥺). Thank you so much for this. I'm going to print this out!!

I hope you find more inspiration for your art as I do for mine 🤍

[losergames]

I think the start of the game is what makes people curious about how much we will be able to influence the player character and the amount of routes, as it shows a sort of climax before going backwards in time and introducing us to MC and the crew, where we are able to shape our character and their relationship with life and the crew.

However, because the Future MC is shown to be in teasing close friendship with the crew, that they are trusted enough not to mess up the codes, and that they appear to enjoy what they are doing, with a goal of implied "(One-Way (?)) Trip to the Bahamas" after the heist is done, and they scream for a specific person's help when injured, that seems to point to the story being "uncompromising" (for a lack of better wording than anything) and set in a single route on that aspect: one where MC will befriend the crew, they will form a close, optionally romantic, relationship with one of them, and they are in it for an ambigiously selfish goal.

A reluctant MC who just wants to be over the whole situation would go opposite what's depicted. An MC with a different goal (for example, one who wants money for their mother) would clash with the Bahamas goal. An MC who doesn't trust/get along with the crew wouldn't really scream for their help.

While it allows room for a reluctant MC to get into the heist and befriend the crew, it can fall at odds with an MC who, say, doesn't like the crew, and/or the situation and is in the definition of "teeth-clenched teamwork" with them.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that sort of story— I don't mind stories that come with semi-set MCs and single-direction plotlines on certain aspects, but in the light of recent discussions about the still far away ending and the options available for us to take so far, I feel like the prologue/flashforward depicted is liable to fall at odds with the choices we can take up until that part of the story comes.

ooo okay, this is really good feedback! the prologue could definitely be more ambiguous in terms of the relationship with the crew and maybe the mc's personal goals?

there is no 'bahamas goal'. the bahamas line is more of a hyperbole for how MUCH money the mc is in for, not actually referencing they want to go to the bahamas - but this can be edited if people are getting the wrong idea.

as for the name that's called when the mc is injured, it's more of a set up for when the time actually comes. yes, if the mc develops a relationship with one of the crew members then it'll probably be turned into a variable and end up being the name you shout out (spoiler alert). but, there are so many other people at that party; KJ is a good alternative i've thought about. maybe even Jonno or Natasha depending on where your friendship stands with them. plus, without giving much away, there are still characters you're yet to meet that could be involved or present at that moment.

also, personally, i think if you got shot you would scream for help from anyone nearby LMAO, even if if you didn't like them. still, we're in episode 2, i don't think we've touched on too many choices that are going to affect the end game climax, there's a lot of building to do! people making assumptions about the game and making conclusions from those assumptions is unfortunately something i can't control, but it is interesting discussion and leads to really good feedback that i am very grateful for.

i love the prologue, it's cinematic and sets up the story differently than other games. even if it's working against me right now, i'm still very proud of it! i do appreciate the feedback, i'll think about tweaking the prologue and adding more ambiguity for a later update. thank you! :-)

[drabbles-mc]

Catching the Red-Eye

Juice Ortiz x F!Reader

Request by Anon: I just saw a funny post that gave me a fic idea: Friend says “Our flight is at 3am so we could go drinking and then straight to the airport.” Y/N: “Sound like a great idea!” Narrator: “It was not a great idea.” Can I request a Juice x reader where she & her gf (maybe Tara or someone?) are coming back from a girls trip and Juice(&Jax or whoever) have to deal w/ whatever state they find their girls in? 😂😂

Warnings: language, alcohol

Word Count: 1.9k

A/N: I started a draft for this months ago when you first sent it in and then my computer deleted it. But I got back to it tonight because apparently my muse is only awake between 11pm and 1am these days 😂 I did tweak a couple little things from the original request but the idea of writing reader an Tara as friends just made my heart way too happy. I love them so much and I hope they have many adventures together going forward. I've missed writing slice of life stuff like this. 🥰 (Also I can't lie this made me want to write more fic for Jax and Tara. It's such a small glimpse of them here but god I mourn the missed opportunities of them just having normal relationship moments man idkidk)

A/N 2: My requests are closed this is an old one that's been sitting in my inbox for literal months. Unedited and unbetad as always lmao

SOA Taglist: @espieviolet99 @littlekittymeow @chibsytelford @juicyortiz @meadowofsinfulthoughts @i-just-read-stuff @bport76 @withmyteeth @buckybarneshairpullingkink @paintballkid711 @jitterbugs927 @fanfic-n-tabulous @mijagif @frattsparty @winchestershiresauce @beardburnsupersoldiers @choochoo284 @artemiseamoon @yourwinchesterbros @nessamc @garbinge @narcolini (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

It was the first time that you’d ever actually been drunk on a plane. For all the times you heard people talk about airport bars, and all the times that flight attendants had offered you cocktails, you had never really thought much about it. You were always on the go through the airport, always had a book or something to keep you company on the flights. You had never even been buzzed near a plane, let alone drunk and on one.

Apparently the missing ingredient had been traveling with Tara. You had no idea what you had been missing out on until you had it. All because of a trip for a hospital conference. The two of you had spent the better part of your week sitting through lectures and seminars. Sure, the information was interesting, and sure, you were both thankful for the opportunity. But after an entire week in a swanky resort it felt like the two of you had nothing to show for it.

Then to top it all off, your flight got delayed. So you and Tara were stuck at the airport with a few extra hours to kill. It wasn’t long enough to justify leaving just to have to go back through security, but it was too long to just sit there doing nothing. You had no interest in the book in your backpack, and the way that Tara was looking around the airport had you thinking she was in the same predicament.

Then she turned and looked at you, eyebrows raised and a little bit of a glint in her eyes. “You know,” she leaned on the armrest between your two chairs at the terminal, “since our flight isn’t until three now, we could just…” she shrugged casually, “hit one of the bars here and head straight to our flight afterwards.”

You chuckled, trying to gage just how serious she was. “R-really?”

She shrugged, “Why not? The plane has a designated driver. Plus,” she stood up from her seat, “I think we deserve something besides pamphlets and lecture notes for the week we’ve had.” She held her hand out for you to take. “Come on. Closest bar is just a few gates down.”

Despite knowing that it was most likely going to end in a hangover on a plane, you slapped your hand into hers and let her pull you up from your seat and down the hallway. The amount of laughter erupting from the two of you were the sure sign of an impending good time.

It was such a good time, in fact, that it was a just before midnight when your phone started buzzing in your pocket. You pulled it out to see who was calling at such a late hour. You half-stifled a giggle as you showed Tara the name flashing across your screen.

“I forgot to tell him the flight got delayed.”

Her eyes widened as she laughed, taking a sip of her drink before saying, “Oh. When you tell him, make sure he tells Jax.” She let out another laugh. “I forgot to tell him, too.”

You were laughing as you answered the phone. “Hey, baby.”

“Hey,” Juice had been confused the second he dialed your number, but the drunken lilt to your voice only made him more confused. “Are you good? We're at the airport and—”

“Promise me you won’t get mad?” you asked, still giggling.

“He better not!” Tara chimed in with a laugh before ordering the two of you another round of drinks.

Juice couldn’t help but to laugh at the fact that Tara was also drunk. After getting it together, he said, “I promise I won’t get mad. What’s up?”

“Our flight got delayed.” You laughed. “Until 3AM. We aren’t,” you took a sip of the drink that Tara handed you, “we aren’t gonna be home until morning.”

Juice sighed but he wasn’t mad. All the shit that you went through because of him being in the club, all the changed and canceled plans for a myriad of reasons, you more than earned this one. Tara too.

“You’re mad,” you said.

He laughed. “I’m not mad. Just, you know, don’t get carried away and miss your flight.”

You smiled even though he couldn’t see it. “We won’t.”

“Text me later with an ETA?”

“As soon as we board the plane.”

“Alright. I love you.”

You were beaming. “I love you too.” He was halfway through saying goodbye when you remembered, “Oh! Shit. Make sure you tell Jax! Tara forgot too.”

Juice laughed. “Yea, I think he might have figured it out by now.”

You heard Jax's muffled hello on the other end of the line, laughing before finally getting around to saying one more I love you to Juice and saying goodbye.

The rest of the night into the tiny hours of the morning flew by in a bit of a blur. There was a lot of laughing, a lot of drinks. If your memory served right there were a decent number of them that you and Tara didn’t have to pay for yourselves which always seemed to make a drink taste better. It was a great time, and despite the amount of alcohol in your systems you still made it to your flight on time. You even remembered to update Juice.

The two of you managed to get your laughter somewhat under control for the sake of the other passengers on the plane. You didn’t want to keep them up with fits of giggles so you dialed it down. It didn’t take long for Tara to drift off to sleep, but you knew that wasn’t going to be happening for you until you home and in your own bed. And, with any luck, curled up with Juice.

Not sleeping had the unique upside of allowing you to nurse another drink or two on the flight. Just enough to keep you buzzed, to stop you from getting slammed with a brutal hangover. You kept yourself perfectly amused on the relatively short flight home. A few hours on a plane seemed to go by faster than in the car. Being able to watch the sun come up while still having a buzz certainly didn’t hurt.

Tara woke with a groan when you nudged her shoulder after the plane landed. She shook her head at you, not opening her eyes all the way as she felt around on the floor for her purse. “This is why I don’t drink,” she grumbled.

You laughed as you stood up, slipping your backpack on your shoulders. “No, you don’t drink because we always have to be grownups.”

“If we’re both grownups, why am I the only one who’s dying?” she asked as she reached over and snatched your sunglasses off the top of your head and put them on.

“I stayed up,” you laughed as you walked through the airport towards baggage claim, “and I stayed drunk.”

She had to laugh at that. “Smart. I’ll have to remember that next time.”

“Next time?” you said with a grin as you pulled your suitcase and then hers from the carousel. “Hell yea.”

When the two of you stepped outside, Tara immediately let out another groan at the bright morning sunlight. You couldn’t help your laughter as you continued walking, looking for either your car or Tara's. She followed along behind you, trusting you to do the real scouting on her behalf.

It wasn’t long until you saw both Jax and Juice standing on the sidewalk, leaning back against the side your car. You waved to get their attention, picking up your pace, not caring about the suitcase rolling and bouncing along behind you. The second you were close enough, you let go of the suitcase and ditched it on the sidewalk in favor of running up and hugging Juice. You hopped up, wrapping both your arms and legs around him as you buried your face into the crook of his neck.

He laughed, the impact of your jump making him stumble a step but he still caught and held onto you. He hooked his arms underneath you, holding you as your legs wrapped around his waist. He hooked his chin over your shoulder, holding you tight for a moment before you let your feet hit the ground again. Pulling back, you kissed him hard on the lips, leaving the both of you breathless and somehow still laughing.

“I missed you too,” he said with a chuckle. He leaned into it as you cupped his face in your hands. “The trip was good, then?”

“It was great!” you beamed. “Missed you, though.”

“Looks like you two did just fine without us.” He paused, looking over at Tara who was leaning into Jax as he chuckled at her hungover state. “Well, one of you did just fine.”

Jax kissed the side of Tara's head. “Rough trip, babe?”

She shook her head. “The trip was great. I’m still dying, though.” She hugged him and kissed him on the lips. “Take me home so I can die in peace.”

He laughed. “Is this how I am when I’m hungover?”

“You’re worse,” all three of you replied in unison, laughing when you realized.

Jax rolled his eyes but he was laughing too as he picked up both your suitcase and Tara's to toss them into the trunk of your car. “Let’s get you party animals home.”

You immediately ran towards the front of the car. “I call shotgun!”

You were comfortably slouched in your seat with your feet on the dash before Jax and Tara finished settling themselves in the back seat. Jax had his arm draped around her shoulders, keeping her tucked snug against his side as she got ready to lightly doze for the duration of the ride home.

Juice reached over, resting his hand on your thigh as he drove. You interlocked your fingers with his, watching the scenery through the windshield and the passenger window.

Juice squeezed your hand. “How the hell are you not, you know, super fucking hungover?”

You were too busy laughing to answer the question, so Tara piped up from the back seat for you. “Hair of the dog,” she mumbled.

You laughed as you nodded. “Something like that. I just didn’t let myself sober up all the way.” You saw the way Juice peeled his eyes off the road to look at you for a moment and shrugged. “What? The flight attendant offered! Who was I to say no? Don’t worry,” you patted his hand, “when I wake up from my nap in a few hours I will be plenty hungover. By then Tara will be doing better than I’m doing now.”

Juice dropped the two of them off at Jax's. You said a lazy goodbye from the passenger seat, the exhaustion of the week and the all-nighter finally catching up to you. You were starting to close your eyes when Juice got back into the driver's seat. He looked over at you before he put the car back in drive, unable to stop smiling at the sight of you.

You didn’t have to open your eyes to know that he was looking at you. “Yea?”

He laughed quietly. “Nothing. I love you.” He leaned over the center console so he could kiss the side of your head. “I’m glad you two had fun. I’m even more glad that you’re home.”

You opened your eyes and looked at him with a smile. “You’re a sap, Juan Carlos.”

He chuckled as he backed out of their driveway. “You love me, though.”

You couldn’t deny that. “I do. But remember that you love me in a few hours when I’m cranky and hungover.”

“When you’re trying to bury yourself in all of our pillows and blankets?”

“And trap you there with me.”

“And all of your crankiness.”

You laughed, resting your hand on top of his on the console between you. “Exactly.”

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

Maybe this question is more on me but my brain seems overwhelmed with possibilities and contradictive ideas I can't seem to sort out. Though, my main goal right now is to create the world - actual plot/story can come later. So the key to my world building is the idea of having diamond rains on ice planets being important to the world. So here comes ideas about whoever can get there and farm them for the universe is rich and powerful. But this seems to make it like not many can go there since if space travel is easy for many, would it truly be a monopoly? It would sound more like the world wouldn't be very peaceful with such a precious resources in one hand. Another idea is that the majority of worlds do not have space travel and those that do generally don't care about uniting the whole universe but travellers exist and its diamonds get around. And all ideas in between.

Addy: So first, diamonds are actually very plentiful, even on Earth. They're expensive due to a variety of reasons that I think other folks can cover better. Also, gems can be grown in labs, so the price of various gemstones is going down IRL.

I think this can be expanded to a more general question of "space is big, how do limited resources stay limited?"

Like say you've got some dilithium equivalent, something that's important for making spaceships or for fuel or for whatever. How do those resources stay scarce?

Generally, that's by

1) the resource doesn't occur on all planets or in all systems

2) the resource can be difficult to process or procure, or perhaps requires safety equipment or training for proper handling. Dangerous substances can still be very valuable and useful, even if they're also expensive to process/handle/make less volatile. So there is a limited pool of people with the capabilities to process/use/extract this material/resource -- even if the material itself is plentiful, you're still limited by your ability to process it

3) the material is common in low-quality forms, but is rare in high-quality forms. Higher-quality forms require less processing, which drives up value (see #1 and #2)

4) hidden locations. Space is big! Even on Earth, people didn't know where the cinnamon sellers got their cinnamon from for... a very long time. You hide the source of the substance from the buyer, limiting their ability to cut through the middleman. It is a lack of knowledge about where to find the resource. The resource could be plentiful, it could be scarce (see #1), but where it comes from is a trade secret.

5) processing the material requires another, more rare material. Material 1 is cheap, material 2 is expensive. *jazz hands* supply lines!

6) Processing the material is expensive. That's it, that's the only limit. Where it comes from is known, how to get it is known, how to process it is generally known (like making cake vs making Grandma's cake, there might be some tweaks between groups, but the general process is known), but it's just really really expensive and capital-intensive to process. If you don't have the necessary materials & equipment, you just don't have the physical capability. This can also get into travel costs, as just getting somewhere can also be expensive. Think of taking a plane between major airports vs booking a private flight to take you to a specific island where there's no runway.

Some combination of these.

So why do people want [resource]? And what's stopping people from starting a gold rush on it?

[snowflakepenguin14]

*Slams table hard*

BAMM EVIL PINTO STORY!!

*One day while Pinto was at the Octopod he heard of a dangerous mission he wanted to go but Peso said no*

"It's not like I have a choice you're making me stay in the library with Professor Inkling" Pinto said rolling his eyes "Don't get into any trouble" Peso said going to tell at Pinto before Captain Barnacles interfered "Now Now you two" He said chuckling at the brother's slight argument "Pinto will stay out of trouble Peso" the Captain continued "He better" Peso said rolling his eyes as he walked to the GUP-A "Pinto do you promise to stay out of trouble?" The Captain said looking at the young penguin who was fixing his scarf "I promise I won't"" Pinto said looking at The Captain "Good" Captain Barnacles said walking to the GUP-A "Tweak open the Octohatch" Captain Barnacles ordered "On it Cap!" Tweak said opening the Octohatch.

"Please can I go Peso Please Please Please" Pinto begged and begged his older brother to let him go "No means no Pinto" Peso said slightly raising his voice at the younger Penguin "It's not safe" He continued "But why is it not safe!" Pinto asked annoyed at the fact he wasn't allowed to go "Because you're too young and you don't know what's out there okay!" Peso said yelling a bit while getting his medical bag "Peso you ready to go" A familiar voice said, Peso and Pinto turned around to see Captain Barnacles standing at the door "Just coming" Peso said walking out the door before turning to Pinto "And don't dare think of sneaking in a GUP like you did the last time" He glared at Pinto.

"Tweak matey where's my GUP-B!" Kwazii asked shocked to find it missing "Our GUP-B Kwazii it's not yours I built it" Tweak said annoyed at Kwazii "Wait where's Pinto too he wasn't in the library" Tweak continued Kwazii connected the dots "Arrg that scallywag took it" Kwazii said sounding more annoyed but a bit impressed "Oh Me Oh My he's going to get hurt!" Tweak said before sounding the Octo-Alert "Octonauts to the launch bay" Tweak ordered.

At the Library Pinto was bored he had asked Professor Inkling tons and tons of questions and now he was trying to see how many times he can go up and down the stairs in a minute then he looked at Professor Inkling and saw he was asleep Pinto giggled as he left the library and went into the Launch bay he saw that Tweak wasn't there so he thought that Her and Kwazii where arguing again "Time to teach myself how to drive a GUP" Pinto thought to himself as opened the Octohatch and climbed in the GUP-B he closed the glass on the GUP-B and after a while he managed to figure out how it starts he also managed to find the GUP tracker and find the GUP-A so he set off to find Peso and the Captain.

As all the octonauts apart from Captain Barnacles and Peso gathered in the launch bay they were wondering what happened "What happened" Dashi asked Tweak sounding worried "Pinto took the GUP-B and snuck out" Tweak said showing the GUP finder on the screen showing the GUP-B at the GUP-A's place "Jumping Jellyfish! This is bad" Shellington exclaimed "Oh dear he could get hurt or worse" Professor Inkling interrupted.

As Pinto got to the place Captain and Peso where he couldn't help but notice a purple gem it was entrancing he couldn't look away he went to go and investigate the purple gem Pinto's eyes glowed purple as he got nearer the gem "Take it" a voice rang out from the gem "I know you want to no one is stopping you not even your brother" The voice continued Pinto reached for the gem it was like he couldn't control his body Pinto took it and held it in his flipper he smiled mischievously as he now had power.

At The Octopod "We need to help him before he gets hurt!!l" Dashi exclaimed not knowing what was happening "But what will we do?" Shellington asked "Hmmmm well he might not listen to us but he might listen to Peso" Tweak said suggesting an idea "But we can't just rat out Pinto Peso's going to be raging if he finds out" Kwazii interrupted "But it's the only way" Tweak argued.

"Oh Peso" Pinto's voice rang through the cave "Pinto you're not meant to be here" Peso said behind Pinto, Pinto turned around and knocked Peso out cold and brought him to a cage in the cave after Peso woke up he was confused and scared "Pinto get me out this instant or else I'm telling Mum!!!!" Peso shouted "Oh but Peso I'm not your brother anymore" Pinto laughed as his eyes glowed purple "Who are you and what did you do to my brother!!?" Peso shouted even more trying to break the bars of the cage "You don't want to know" "Pinto" said before being lifted up by a figure "Let me take that" The figure said trying to get the gem off Pinto "Captain Barnacles!?" Peso said happily that he was going to get rescued "No!!" "Pinto" Struggled to get out of the Captain's grasp but managed to do so.

As the Captain tried to get the gem off "Pinto" he used his powers to knock Captain Barnacles to the ground "MAUAHAHAHAH" Pinto's evil laugh rang through the cave which alerted a certain bunny "Quick this way" Tweak whispered to Kwazii, Shellington and Dashi "Who's there?" "Pinto" said looking around, as Pinto was looking around Kwazii snuck up behind him and was soo close to getting the gem but Pinto spun around and managed to knock him too the ground.

"HAHAHAH NO ONE CAN STOP ME!!!" "Pinto" said before turning around and knocking Tweak down noticing her before she got to him, Dashi and Shellington hid behind a big rock before hearing another manic laugh "Oh do you two think I'm stupid!?" "Pinto" said lifting the two up in air with his power "N-No not at all Pinto" Dashi said trying to be nice so that Pinto let's them go "Actually we think you're really intelligent" Shellington said as well "Really?" "Pinto" asked "Yes of course" Dashi said while motioning for Kwazii to take the gem off Pinto.

Kwazii snuck up behind Pinto and unclipped it while Pinto was distracted Pinto's eyes stopped glowing purple and his powers disappeared as Dashi and Shellington fell into a lake that was in the cave, Pinto fell to his knees "What happened" He asked confusingly "It's a long story" Captain Barnacles said getting up and getting Peso out of the cage, Peso ran to Pinto and hugged him "Are you okay are you hurt!?" Peso asked worriedly but Pinto could hear the anger in his voice "I'm fine" Pinto said reassuringly "that's good now what do you have to say for yourself" Peso said his anger in his voice taking over "I'm sorry" Pinto said looking to the ground "We forgive you Pinto" Peso said tightening his hug "Awwww" all the other Octonauts said watching the two brothers hug.

The end.

Also credits to @aaapril0987 for supporting me while writing this

Hope you all liked it ^^

[sea-jello]

to my movie morro enjoyers yall got me curious so i did some research and tweaked the laws of youth criminal justice cause it's a movie about legos

WHOOH i expanded on this a lot and its not even all the options

uhhh should i tag the people who said they wanted to see my half ass ideas

@star-ocean-peahen @here4dragons i know hes TECHNICALLY not the villain here yet,, but its coming Soon. just ignore if you dont care SORRY BOUT THE TAG 💀💀

so morros role in the gang is he like collects intel n shit, scouts and/or recruits new members, makes plans and gives orders from the boss (preeminent) so hes sorta like the preeminents ambassador. general?? right hand man?? number 2?? something. occasionally he participates in very low key crimes where his face and identity could be hidden. never does anything big and flashy, so hes the least likely to get caught and thats one of the reasons hes so high up. the boss usually has a business to cover for the gang so the preeminent has a bar or a nightclub or something where they allow you to cover your face and morro works there to be like,, closer so its easy to recieve orders/info or something yk. when asked he says hes small for his age with a VERY obvious undertone and they leave it at that, cause so what if the nightclub is a little sketchy, goddamn this kid whips out drinks faster than anyone. hes very in the shadows undercover and thats why they couldnt catch him/had no evidence he was high ranking (i need a gang name help should it just be cursed realm?? cursed spirits maybe)

IF we want morro to just have general shenanigans with the ninja then hes on parole. if you dont know what parole is basically they let you out after 2/3rds of your sentence to let you integrate back into society or something, but youre still under supervision. so the timeline is morro starts his criminal activity at 14, gets caught and arrested at 16 and then gets released at 17. if youre worried about the 3 years in the above post trust me the logic checks out

they KNOW morros the criminal mastermind running shit behind the gang, they just cant find any way to prove it so he only gets sentenced for gang affiliation. he spends around a year or so in juvie and they let him out for the next 6 months

they let morro stay with wu cause hes like,, the head of the fucking ninja team he can handle himself, BUT he has to have security guards accompany him to school to keep an eye on him/watch for signs of him actually being highly involved in the gang. lloyd is real fucking embarrassed about it cause morro loves to come up and bother him, and it attracts even more unwanted whisperings about garmadons cousin who went to JAIL. morro bothers him even more because of it

no one knew morro was lloyds cousin, so when the ninja show up to the garage one day and find the fucking ex convict just chilling on lloyds mech theyre like ??? WHY ARE YOU HERE. they knew lloyd had a questionable cousin when he mentioned he got out of jail, but they didnt know it was HIM. like i said, morros infamous for being a mastermind escape artist (i kinda want to give him an alias so drop suggestions 👀👀) even better wu walks in and he goes "ah i see youve met my son morro!!" and the ninja go batshit cause wu had mentioned visiting his son in jail which already rose so many unanswered questions back then, but not THIS GUY

im debating on whether lloyd knows morro was a criminal during the three years or not. cause if he didnt know it would be really funny when morro/the gangs arrest was on the news and lloyd goes 👁👁 THATS MY FUCKING COUSIN. but if he DID know he sees him on the news and hes like "lmao get fucked wait till i tell uncle wu" (again,, drop the opinions)

wu knows he was a criminal pretty early on and absolutely does not give a shit cause movie wu is bat ass crazy and jaded to fuck. he sees morro on the news in his like gang getup and goes oh look at him go 😄😄 i hope he remembers to tuck in his feet like i taught him to 😄😄😄 morro was terrified when he got caught by wu, but all he did was lay out two hard rules. 1. no killing innocents and 2. no drugs. morros like ?? thats it?? and wu just sort of stares at him and goes ‘‘i believe so. now don’t you have somewhere to be?’’ and morros like yeah.. i got a bank to rob at 2. JUST TO BE CLEAR morro has NEVER ONCE KILLED ANYBODY just to be safe, even though wu was all for dismantling the dictatorship or patriarchy and whatnot. when morro gets arrested wu visits him just to laugh at him (im copy pasting most of this from tags from this post lmao)

wu absolutely makes morro train the ninja cause lets be honest theyre dogshit without the mechs. morros idea of training is jumping them all around the city at random times. he bullies them so hard jay is on the verge of tears every day

(thank you @l0on for so many of the ideas 😌😌 find them in the reblogs)

morros got the cool older cousin vibe who acts like he doesnt care and he actually doesnt care. idc what yall say he does NOT go easy on lloyd just because theyre cousins.

this is all set after the movie btw. morro only got away with so much for so long because everyone was occupied with garmadon

soo if we want him to be like the actual villain thats gonna be in another part cause god DAMN this got longer than i thought it would

[flightyquinn]

AI Haters, Please Read to the End

I see people celebrating every time something bad happens in the AI art world, and that makes me very sad. Because I am partially colorblind, and have ADHD, clinical depression, and other health issues that I'm less comfortable talking about. Because I can't work, and rely on family for housing and government assistance to afford essentials. For someone like me, the barrier to entry on art is high. I'm never going to own a drawing tablet, I can't get professional lessons, my focus sucks to the point where it's hard to follow tutorials no matter how much I want to, and even if all of that could be sorted, my own eyes are against me.

But I still have ideas. I still have pictures in my head that want to get out. Characters that want faces, scenes that want to be expressed, and the like. I'm still creative. I just can't properly express that creativity. Nor can I pay someone else to express it for me. However, I can tell an AI what I'm trying to depict. I can tweak the settings, make small changes, spend hours on end generating and re-generating, tweaking and re-tweaking, and making small edits that are within my power to do, until I have a picture that satisfies my need to bring the thing in my head to life. That's not "stealing". It's not pushing a button and letting the computer do the work for me. That's me having my own ideas, and trying to use the tools at my disposal to turn them into something that other people can see.

Plus, there's one other thing I can do. This is a picture I generated with AI that I'm actually quite proud of.

And do you know why? Because it started as this.

I fed my terrible MSPaint rough as hell doodle into an AI, and told it what the picture was supposed to be. And I tried again, and again, and again, until I was able to refine the result into something that I was happy with - which took a whole lot more than just pressing the button again, let me tell you.

This is my idea, from start to finish, and my shitty art became something that actually looks halfway decent. Yeah, I'm aware of the wonkiness and AI jank. I know the jawline's weird, his eyes don't match, and there's something up with his ear. It's not perfect, but it's a whole lot better than what I could do on my own.

Look, when it comes to stopping the commercialization of AI art, I'm right there with you guys. Fuck corporations that want to replace their whole art department. Fuck people who want to impersonate other artists, or take commissions to turn someone's description of what they want into a prompt. Hell, fuck the people who take the first result they're given without trying to refine it at all!

However, I don't want AI to die. AI is an accessibility option. AI is a tool that lets me go from saying for years, "I wish I could have art of my first D&D character, I have so many fond memories of him." to having that one picture. It lets me stop stealing every time I want a character portrait for a new TTRPG that I'm starting up. Because you know what? I don't have the ability to be a "real artist", and I never will. There's too many barriers for entry.

...and my situation is mild compared to what some people have to deal with. Sure, there are people who find ways to make traditional art despite disabilities, but that's an exception. It could be the rule. Why shouldn't it be?

As far as "theft" goes, I have yet to hear one explanation of why it's okay to use references, but not AI, that didn't boil down to "it's different when we do it". And what about collage? Is a collage art, or is it "theft?" What about sculptural works that use reclaimed objects? They didn't create that. They just decided how it would be arranged. Hell, what about pieces like "The Fountain" for that matter? That's a big problem I have with all this hate. If you applied the same standards to other things as to AI, then there's a lot of things that currently are art we'd have to say aren't any more.

If you have a problem with AI, why not work to make it better, instead of trying to deprive people who rely on it for self-expression of a creative outlet?

[dominateeye]

Damn it's disappointing that Cohost is shutting down. I didn't use it nearly as much as I'd have liked; I never really felt like having a mobile browser interface was a sufficient replacement for having an app (having fewer things saved to the device meant that there were slightly more and longer loading times than an app would have, and that adds up to a slow-feeling experience), and to be honest I did miss the numbers aspect of knowing how many people enjoyed what you posted (even just a basic count of likes and followers would have been enough for me on this), but I really admired what they wanted to do and I wanted it to work. If for no other reason (and there were other reasons) than having a backup plan for if Tumblr implodes.

Yeah, having all of their funding come from a single investor was probably not going to work out long-term, and I think they knew this and were trying to get revenue streams established that weren't based off of exploiting user data and attention. But from the updates I read, pretty much every revenue-generating feature they tried to introduce got hit with roadblock after roadblock, and I think they just ran out of time to try different strategies and break through those blocks.

I saw someone else talk about how moderation may not be a problem that can be ethically solved, at least not under capitalism, and I think that might be right. Having not spent a huge amount of time on the site, I don't know what the culture was like recently, but I can imagine that having only one full-time moderator was probably not enough. And while I understand the principle of not wanting to rely on unpaid labor, and the potential social pitfalls of having a system like this, I really think they should have given more of a chance to having community-sourced moderators. Without being able to hire more mods, community mods would be the next best thing. But even professional mods have to deal with really disturbing things now and again, and the point about that just being a thing we have no real idea of how to account for and keep from traumatizing people is a really strong one. I imagine that a reluctance to expose unpaid users to that sort of thing was at least part of the decision, and if so I can't fault them for that.

It's unfortunate that their funding model means the site's code was their loan collateral, and that means it can't be open sourced, and that means it's not a situation where a new team can easily come along and stand on Cohost's shoulders. I have to wonder if it could have worked with some tweaks and a few more conventional social media features.

Maybe someday there will be a viable better way to do social media.