#i don’t think i can tag all the characters without hitting the tag limit

[metamatronic]

After three days worth of work, and a whopping 26 hours of pen to tablet drawing time (according to procreate), I present: them.

I was originally going to do no references, but then I decided I didn’t hate myself. Then I was going to do no symmetry tool, but then I decided I didn’t hate myself. Not all of these are perfect, but I’m glad I finished it!

[the-bad-batch-baroness]

A Man's Worth

Tup x Fem!Reader

Chapter 1: Death in the Shadows

gif by @kamino-coruscant

Summary: Your date-night with Tup is interrupted when your stalker finds you and won’t leave without you. Tup heroically comes to your defense, but is overpowered by the assailant and you are taken away. After your rescue, Tup struggles with his insecurities and self-worth as he tries to heal physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Pairing: Tup x Fem!Reader

Characters: Tup, Echo, Fives, Fox, Rex, Kix, Jesse, Dogma, Hardcase

Tags & Warnings: 18+, established relationship, domestic fluff, minor suggestive themes, stalking, kidnapping, violence, blood, major injuries, whump, trauma, angst, hurt/comfort, self-worth, masculinity, depression, PTSD

Word Count: 6.7k

Author's Note: This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it decided it wanted to be more. Don’t ask me where the idea came from. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I read the bingo square. Writing this was painful, but chapters two and three are worse, so... As always, please enjoy 💚

Beta Read: By the lovely @commander-sunshine because sometimes I think my work is trash.

@clonexreaderbingo Square: Obsession

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3

“I am so full,” you groan while exiting the restaurant. The fresh evening air hits your face and you take a deep breath to refresh yourself.

“Me too,” Tup agrees as he rubs his stomach. “I’m kind of glad the other place messed up our reservations, because this place was amazing.”

“Right?” you pop a mint into your mouth and offer one to Tup. “This is definitely going on the list of favorites.”

“Absolutely,” Tup agrees while taking the mint. He clasps his hand in yours and you stroll leisurely down the sidewalk together.

Date nights are your favorite nights. You and Tup always make it a point to set aside one night, while he’s on leave, dedicated solely to each other. It’s a time of bonding and learning about each other. Even though you’ve been together for two years now, you don’t want to get complacent and lose the spark that you had in the beginning. In order for the night to be considered a true date night, it must consist of three things: food, fun, and intimacy.

The food portion of the night has happily concluded at the new restaurant you just left. After your original reservation was mysteriously lost, you wandered down the streets looking for somewhere else to have dinner and this little hole in the wall with a crooked neon sign piqued both your interests. The inside had a lively atmosphere and good music. And although the menu was limited, the portions were huge and you barely finished your shared dessert.

The fun portion was completed before the food. You found out the hard way that food before fun only ended up making you both sick, so you switched them around. Tonight you swept the floor with Tup at mini-golf. He talked a good game, but his mini-swing lacked any sort of form. His golf balls landed in the water, in the dirt, over the fence, and in someone's drink cup. You really didn’t think someone could be that bad at mini-golf, but Tup is always surprising you.

Now, all that’s left is the intimacy portion. Intimacy can be anything as long as you do it together and are completely alone. Some nights you will bake cupcakes and make a mess with the frosting, or take a hot shower and wash each other’s hair, or cuddle up with a good holo-film and eat copious amounts of junk food, or just have sex. The day usually ends in sex, but it isn’t the point, or the main focus of date night, so it always falls to the bottom of the list of priorities.

The sun is setting beyond the horizon as you make your way home and you sigh in contentment as you lean your head against Tup’s shoulder. He glances down at you, smiles, raises your clasped hand to his lips, and kisses your knuckles. You smile warmly in return for his affection. Today’s date night is perfect and the weather could not be better. It’s not too hot, which is always a concern in the summer, with a light breeze that brushes gently by your exposed skin. 

You continue walking down the street, clasped hands blithefully swaying in the air like a young couple in love, relishing in each other’s presence. You see a bench coming up in your path and instead of letting go of Tup’s hand and going around it, you climb up it to walk across. Tup doesn’t miss a beat and continues holding your hand from the ground while you stretch out your other arm to balance. Once across, you gracefully hop off the end and continue your journey.

“You’re adorable, you know that?” Tup praises as he leans over and plants a kiss on your temple. 

“Stop it,” you laugh and tap his arm in jest.

Tup flexes his bicep and twirls you around to rest against his chest. He crosses his arms over your stomach to trap you and you giggle. He leans his chin atop your shoulder and whispers in your ear. “Never.”

You close your eyes and place your hands on his forearms as he sways back and forth, slowly dancing on the sidewalk to non existent music. You let yourself melt into his body’s warmth, feeling his firm chest against your back and his strong arms holding you, securing you in a gentle embrace. You don’t care who’s watching and you don’t care what they think. When you're with Tup your inhibitions and insecurities dissipate like clouds on a sunny day.  

You open your eyes and continue to sway when you catch a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of your eye. Your body stiffens and a shiver runs up your spine. You study the figure and your stomach drops as your heart rate increases. It’s him. You can’t believe it. You don’t want to believe it. How did he find you? You try to look away from his menacing presence as he observes you from the shadows, but you can’t. Your blood runs cold as fear washes over you.

Tup feels your muscles tense against his own as you stop swaying with him. The sudden change in your demeanor demands his attention. He notices goosebumps forming on your arms and wonders if you’re getting cold. He mentally kicks himself for not bringing a sweatshirt with him in case you needed it, however, something about your shivering feels off. The evening air is warm, not cool, as demonstrated by the sweat forming on the back of his neck.

“Cyare?” Tup asks in concern while cocking his head to the side.

You don’t answer, too afraid to form coherent words. It’s as if someone glued your mouth shut.

“Cyare?” Tup asks again, this time gently turning you around to face him. The look in your eyes tugs at his heartstrings. He can finally see what he was feeling emanating from your body, pure fear. 

You startle at the movement and look into Tup’s deep amber eyes, searching desperately for safety and comfort. Tup stares back, silently asking what you need from him, waiting for you to speak. You finally mutter the words. “I want to go home.” The syllables are soft spoken, almost broken, as if one more utterance would break an invisible dam, releasing a cascade of emotions. 

Tup doesn’t understand what is happening, but he does understand you, and if you say it’s time to go home, then it’s time to go home. For him, no more words need to be spoken. Whether you want to talk about it when you get home or not is up to you, but that’s not his main concern at the moment. His only concern is your safety and your wellbeing. He nods at your request, giving you assurance, clasps your hand in his, and begins walking towards home.

Tup takes ten steps and you abruptly stop. He doesn’t notice at first and continues walking, but stops when he feels the resistance as your hand strays from his. He turns on his heels and furrows his brow with concern. He doesn’t understand what is causing this sudden trepidation, but he’s growing worried. Is it him? Did he do something to cause this? The thoughts nag at the back of his mind, but he shoves them away in search of something more definite from you.

“Can we take the long way home?” you ask nervously, your gaze fixated on the shadowy figure Tup was inadvertently walking towards.

Tup’s confusion continues. The long way is ten blocks from your position. The short way is only two blocks. Tup scratches his head and searches your features. He watches you pick at your fingers, biting your lip, your legs trembling, and the way your chest heaves as if you’re being deprived of oxygen. He scans past you, desperately wondering what or who is scaring you so fiercely that you want to walk an extra eight blocks home, but nothing catches his eye.

Tup is snapped out of his focused gaze by you tugging on the sleeve of his t-shirt. “Please?” you plead with shaky breath, tears threatening to escape your eyes.

Tup’s heart shatters. He’s never seen you like this before. “Yes, of course,” Tup rushes to say when he realizes he’s taking too long to respond to your original question. “We can stop by that ice cream stand in the park on the way. Sounds good?” 

He gives you a small smile, hoping for your bright and cheery disposition to return at the prospect of your favorite summer treat, ice cream, but you don’t smile back and answer only with a slight nod. Tup frowns, his efforts to lighten the mood fail, but he takes your hand in his and grips it tightly to reassure you of his presence. If anything, he wants you to know he’s there for you, even if you never tell him what’s wrong, he’ll always be there.

You both walk in silence as you wind the long way around to your apartment. Tup continues to scan the surroundings, still searching for the source of your sudden fear, but he can’t locate it. The thought of him being oblivious to such an enormous fear of yours makes him feel insecure about how attentive he is. Maybe he missed it in a conversation or maybe you said it in passing and he forgot. He racks his brain trying to figure it out, but the dots won’t connect.

A cold shiver runs up Tup’s spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, stopping him dead in his tracks. This feeling. He knows this feeling, intimately. He first felt it on Umbara as a shiny and he never forgot it. The feeling of cold eyes watching him from the shadows, waiting to strike him down. Is this what you saw? Is the source of these threatening eyes what is terrorizing his love? His breath quickens and he turns around, putting himself between you and the menacing gaze.

Tup steels himself, his eyes scanning for the source. He knows it’s out there, waiting, coiled, and ready to strike at him with venomous fangs. Then he sees it, the figure in the shadows that’s been watching and following. How long it’s been following you both, he’s not sure, but he’s going to end it here and now. He lets his training kick in and prepares himself physically and mentally. He’s faced many enemies and he’s not going to back down from whatever this one is.

The figure, realizing it’s been noticed, steps out of the shadows. Tup’s eyes grow wide as he looks at the towering figure and he takes a cautionary step back. The man is massive, at least three times his size and built like a gunship. Tup’s heart rate increases as he feels naked and exposed without his armor and his blaster. He understands now, your fear, because that same fear is biting at the back of his spine, threatening to alter his fight response into a flight response.

The large man takes a step forward, and Tup takes two steps back, pushing you back along with him. This isn’t good. Tup scans his surroundings quickly but there’s nothing he can use as a makeshift weapon. If this encounter turns violent, it’s going to be a fist fight and it won’t be pretty. The man steps forward again, chuckling darkly as Tup takes another few steps back. Tup glances over his shoulder and grimaces as he notices you’re both being backed into an alley.

“You thought you could run away from me again, did ya?” the man sneers.

Tup is baffled by his words, but he feels you bury your face into his back and a few pieces begin to click in his mind. “Do you know this guy?” Tup throws over his shoulder as he continues to back you both into the alley.

Your legs tremble as you try to move in step with Tup. “He’s…” you attempt to force the words out. “He’s my stalker.”

Tup curses under his breath as he mentally calculates the different outcomes, none of them ending well. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Tup asks, trying to swing his voice to sound more inquisitive than condemning.

“I thought he couldn’t find me here,” you answer through a shaky voice. “He’s been obsessed with me for years. I have eight restraining orders on eight different planets.”

Tup curses under his breath again. “Do you have a restraining order for him on Coruscant?” Tup continues his inquiry, well aware that it’s a dumb question. 

You nod your head and ball his t-shirt tightly in your fists. This is your worst nightmare. You’ve been moving from planet to planet for years attempting to shake him, but he always ends up finding you. There’s not a police force in the galaxy that has been able to catch him. He’s elusive and cunning, a stark contrast to his brutish appearance, and he’ll do anything to make you his. The sheer terror you feel in this moment is overwhelming and you want to vomit.

“What’s the matter baby?” the man asks. “Why aren’t you happy to see me?”

You flinch at the words. A muscle in Tup’s jaw tics as anger brims under the surface from your terrified reaction. He gives your arm a reassuring squeeze. 

“She’s not your baby,” Tup scoffs at the man’s false insinuation. 

“Oh?” the man raises an eyebrow. “And what are you supposed to be?”

“I’m her boyfriend,” Tup states confidently while using every bit of conviction he has. 

The man laughs loudly and points at Tup. “Him? You chose a clone over me? This subhuman blaster fodder is your boyfriend? Don’t make me laugh baby.”

Tup narrows his eyes as ire burns in his gut. The insults about his existence don’t bother him anymore. Not everyone has the same view about clones, but he’s still flesh and blood, like any other lifeform, and it doesn’t make him any less human if he shares the same DNA with a million other men. He has feelings, a personality, likes and dislikes, just like everyone else. No. What’s really bothering him is your tears soaking through the back of his shirt and it fuels his anger.

The man walks forward. “Come on baby, I’m taking you back home.”

“Over my dead body,” Tup snarls as he steps forward to meet the man’s movement. It no longer matters that he doesn’t have his armor or his blaster. This is carnal. This is something ingrained in him that just feels right. An overwhelming instinct to protect what’s his. No one is taking you away from him, not while he’s still alive and breathing.

The man straightens up to his full height, flexes his muscles, and cracks his neck. “I was hoping you would say that.”

His intimidation tactic is working as Tup feels an incredible wave of dread wash over him. He discreetly slips his hand in his pants pocket and activates the distress beacon on his comm link. Whether anyone will actually see it and come to his aid he doesn’t know, but it’s better than nothing. Tup takes a deep breath, gently pushes you aside, and stands his ground. He’s a clone trooper after all and he was bred to fight. This is what he’s good at, and he’s going to do it.

“Come on, clone,” the man taunts with a wave of his hand. “Show me what those little arms can do.”

“Sooran ni’jagyc,” Tup shoots back as a challenge.

Your jaw drops in shock. You’ve never heard something so vulgar come from Tup’s mouth, at least not when he’s with you. You imagine his vocabulary must be pretty colorful as a soldier, so it’s not surprising, but it sounds weird coming from his lips. You watch nervously as the two men square each other up, like predator and prey. You slink back to a reasonably safe distance into the alley to give Tup the room to maneuver without you getting in his way. The tension in the air thickens. 

The man lunges forward and Tup quickly evades his first strike. The attacker is large and his movements are sluggish and unrefined, whereas Tup is smaller, quicker, and more precise with his movements. Tup remains weary, even with his slight advantage from years of training. They play a game of hit and miss for several minutes and you fidget with your fingers and tap your foot as you watch. Your stomach lurches at the brutal swings as you wait for one to find its mark.

Sweat begins to form on Tup’s brow as he dodges another swing. His stamina is still good and if he can keep outmaneuvering his opponent, he just might tire him out. The man is getting frustrated that he can’t land any hits and his movements become more erratic and desperate. Tup takes the opportunity to look for an opening, anywhere he can land a hit. He finally sees one and goes for it, but Tup’s fist is caught mid-flight, the man’s hand encapsulating his entirely. 

“Gotcha,” the man says as he peers down at Tup with a devilish smirk.

Dread washes over Tup’s face at the realization that he’s been caught. He knows it’s over. He knows he can’t break free, not from the iron grip surrounding his hand. He once again feels small, naked, and afraid for not only his life, but also yours. A part of him recognizes he may not survive what comes next and he glances back over his shoulder to give you the best smile he can, knowing it may be the last one he gives you. 

“Look away, mesh’la,” Tup orders as calmly as he can. He doesn’t want you to see what’s going to happen next.

You nod, but you don’t intend to look away. At your confirmation, Tup’s gaze snaps back to the man towering over him. He tries to yank his fist out of the man’s grasp, but it won’t budge. The man watches Tup’s feeble attempts at breaking free and laughs. He rotates his fist outward, slowly bending Tup’s arm, forcing the clone to his knees as he winces from the twisting force. Tup grabs the man’s arm with his free one to try and stop his movement, but it’s not enough.

Crack

You gasp at the sound of breaking bone and the agonizing scream that follows. You put your hand over your mouth as your stomach churns. You’ve never heard Tup make a sound like that. It’s an unnerving and frightening sound that reverberates in your mind and echoes through your eardrums as it bounces off the walls of the alley. You should have listened and looked away. The sight of his arm twisted and mangled into a position inhumanly possible is not one that will soon leave your mind.

“Tup!” you yell as tears roll down your face.

“I said, look away!” Tup cries through labored breath, pain radiating through his broken voice.

This time you listen, clamping your hands over your ears and squeezing your eyes shut. You slide down the alley wall, slumping to the ground, and place your head against your knees. You don’t want to see it and you don’t want to hear it. You don’t want to witness this horrific display. It’s unfair that Tup has to suffer because of you. He didn’t do anything wrong and you wonder what you could have done differently to prevent this from happening, but nothing comes to mind.

Crack

You flinch at the fracturing of more bone and the excruciating shriek that follows. You press your hands firmly over your ears, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t drown out Tup’s tortured voice as he groans in pain. You want it to stop, all of it. You want him to stop. You want him to leave Tup alone and both of you go back to the way your night was before your stalker arrived. You flip through images of Tup in your mind and try to focus on his soothing voice and warm smile.

Crack

Your happy memories are shattered like Tup’s body while his anguished cries float across the air and find their way between your fingers and into your ears. You let out a frightened whimper at the noise, even though the sound of his suffering is your morbid reminder that he’s still alive. You want to open your eyes, but you're afraid. Then you hear a different sound, a gasping of breath. No. He’s going to kill him. You finally brave a peek at the scene and you gasp in horror at the sight. 

Your stalker has his hand wrapped around Tup’s throat, holding him several feet off the ground as blood drips from his pant legs and puddles on the ground beneath him. Tup’s limbs are twisted in a way they shouldn’t, with pieces of bone sticking out through bloody skin and ripped clothing. The pain he must be feeling is indescribable. You watch helplessly as Tup wriggles his mangled body gasping for whatever breath he can while using his only good hand to pull at the hand choking him. 

You slam your fist on the ground and sob. You’re desperate for someone to save him, anyone, but there’s no one. It’s just the three of you. The only person who can save Tup is you and you’re not even sure if you can. You think about how Tup selflessly threw himself at his adversary to protect you and you want to do the same. You want to protect him, save him, because it’s better for Tup to be alive without you, than to live knowing his death was your fault. 

You pick yourself up off the ground and stand on shaky legs like a newborn bantha. With one step at a time, you approach the man holding your mutilated boyfriend, stopping as you reach his side. You look up at Tup, his face is almost unrecognizable and his hair has left the confines of its tie with locks of curls pasted to his face with blood. Your heart breaks. “Please,” you beg with a shaky breath. “Please, let him go.”

The man moves his gaze from the bloody toy in his grasp and peers down at you. “Why should I?” he asks with a huff.

You take a sharp inhale and steel yourself. “If you let him go, I’ll go home with you,” you breathe out, completely surprising yourself with your resolve.

The man raises a curious eyebrow at your proposition.

“N… o…” Tup croaks out from beneath the man's chokehold, his eyes trying to meet yours, but all he sees is a film of red.

Annoyed by the talking piece of meat in his grip, the man takes his other hand and slams it against Tup’s jaw, knocking it out of place with a single deft movement. Blood flings from Tup’s face and splatters across yours as he lets out a stifled groan. His head rolls back as he fades in and out of consciousness. You gasp in horror at the violent act and you raise a trembling hand to your face to wipe Tup's blood off, taking a moment to stare at the crimson stain on your fingers. 

“There,” the man smiles satisfactorily. “Now we won’t be interrupted.”

New waves of terror wash over you as shock threatens to take over your system, but you continue to stand your ground, determined to save Tup. “Please,” you ask again with as much sincerity as you can muster. “Please let him go and I’ll go home with you.”

The man contemplates your offer and finally drops his toy. Tup gasps, with what little ability he has left, as he hits the ground hard. You sigh in relief, but it quickly turns to more horror as you watch the man kick Tup in the stomach and hurl him against the wall of the alley. At this point, Tup can’t make any more noises. He just lies against the wall, limp, bleeding, and broken. You look up at the man and beg him to leave Tup alone. You beg and beg and beg, crying for him to stop.

The man walks over to Tup’s mutilated, bloody body and picks him up by the neck again, his twisted arms and legs dangling lifelessly. The man looks at you and smirks. “Do you know where clones belong?” 

You whimper, stifling back a sob, and shake your head. 

“In the trash,” the man laughs as he tosses Tup’s body in the closest dumpster.

You tremble at the echoing thud Tup’s body makes when it lands in the dumpster. You wonder if he’s dead. He must be dead. No one can survive that level of physical abuse. You fall to your knees and sob. You sob for your lost love and you sob because it’s all your fault. You brought your past into Tup’s present and now he’s paid for it with his life. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t the life you wanted and now you’re mourning the life you had. The life you loved.

The man grabs your arm and yanks you up from the ground. There’s nothing more you can do now. You don’t have a choice. All hope has been lost. You have found yourself at the end of a very terrifying road with no one to protect you and no one to save you. You swallow hard and accept your fate, a fate that Tup died in vain to prevent. You reluctantly go with the man who murdered your love, turning back to look into the alley one last time to mouth a silent I'm sorry.

“You’re overreacting,” Fives criticizes while putting his hands behind his head. “He probably hit it by accident.”

“That doesn’t sound like Tup,” Echo argues as he concentrates on the beacon. “He could be in danger.”

“It’s date night,” Fives reminds Echo with a cheeky grin. “The only danger he’s in is getting blue balls.”

“Real mature, Fives,” Echo rolls his eyes without looking up from the data-pad. 

“Listen,” Fives starts, “I was having a great night until you dragged me out here, in full kit no less, to track down Tup and his girlfriend.”

“Yes, I’m sure your hand is missing you very much,” Echo jokes with a small smirk.

Fives flicks an unamused look towards his brother and scrunches his nose to mock him. “Ha-ha, very funny.”

“Just shut up and focus,” Echo says with annoyance.

Fives crosses his arms against his chest in protest and continues walking beside Echo in silence. They follow Tup’s distress signal, winding their way past shops and restaurants illuminated by fluorescent neon signs. The vivid colors and bright lights dance across their armor against the dark backdrop of the night. They stop momentarily when the beacon alerts them to the location of Tup’s comm link being only a little distance up ahead. 

Trading concerned looks between each other, they warily continue forward. Echo watches the beacon closely, the beeping pattern matching his anxious heartbeat. There’s no reason for Tup to be here in an empty street like this. They walk past an alley and the beeping from the beacon slows. Echo puts a hand across Five’s chest to halt him, then takes a few steps back. The beacon beeps faster as he approaches the entrance of the dark alley.

Odd is the only word the two Arc Trooper’s can come up with as they share a nervous look. They step into the damp alley, flicking on their helmet lights to see into the darkness, but nothing catches their gaze. There’s nothing in the alley other than garbage, dumpsters, and mysterious liquids littering the ground. They continue to look around, the beacon guiding them to the distress signal. The beeping is loudest by the dumpster and they move towards it to investigate.

“I knew it,” Fives sighs as he puts his hands on his hips. “He lost it and it ended up in the trash. I told you it was nothing to worry about.”

Echo grumbles at Fives’ words, crosses his arms in annoyance, and leans against the opposite wall.

“He owes me for this,” Fives says as he walks toward the open part of the dumpster. He grips the metal side with both hands and hoists himself up to peer inside. He prepares himself for the stench, but nothing could have prepared him for the horrific sight. A beaten and bloody clone. His breath hitches and his stomach jumps into his throat. He swings his legs over the side of the dumpster and jumps in.

He kneels next to the clone. Their body is so mangled and twisted, he can’t tell who it is. He brushes the hair out of their battered face and his heart sinks. A blood stained teardrop under their right eye. No. It can’t be. This can’t be Tup. Fives’ heart races. He puts two fingers to the side of his brother’s neck, checking for a pulse, repeating ‘please don’t be dead’ to himself over and over again, a silent wish. Then he feels it, a faint rhythm pushing back.

“Hang on vod’ika,” Fives whispers as he gently brushes more strands of the blood-caked hair away from his face. “Hang on for me.” He debates whether he should move Tup himself, but with the amount of bodily damage, there’s no good way to pick him up without injuring him further. Fives curses to himself. “Call the corries,” He orders through comms. His voice is steady, but conceals a bitterness.

Echo is startled out of his roaming thoughts and pushes himself off the alley wall he was leaning against, “What did you find?”

“I said call the corries!” Fives yells, his voice now demanding as anger and worry seeps through. “And get a medic!”

Echo is taken aback by Fives’ aggressive tone and jogs over to the dumpster to see what he found. If they need the Corrie Guard and a medic, it can’t be good. He jumps up the side of the dumpster and leans over to see Fives kneeling next to a bloody body, a clone trooper’s body. Echo’s face contorts beneath his helmet and he wants to gag, not just at the smell, but also at the morbid sight of bones sticking out of the beaten trooper’s lifeless body. 

He stares for a moment longer when the realization washes over him like the raging waves of Kamino. The distress beacon, the alley, the dumpster, the bloody clone. It’s Tup. There’s no denying it, those lengthy curls, the tattoo under his eye. It’s him. Echo’s blood boils and he lets go of the side of the dumpster, landing back on the ground with a soft thud. He calls it in, his normally stoic voice steeped in fear and anger. Fear for his brother’s life and anger at the perpetrator.

After the call is made, Echo makes a second terrifying realization. He looks farther down the alley, scanning it for another life. A second cold wave washes over him. You’re not here. You’re not in the dumpster. You’re not in the alley. You’re nowhere to be found. The thought that you did this to Tup flashes across his mind, but dissipates just as quickly. There’s no way you could do this type of damage to a clone trooper. No, it must have been someone else.

The Coruscant Guard, led by Fox, finally arrive on scene. Flashes of red and blue illuminate the area and the alley is marked off with yellow crime scene tape. Late night bystanders stare in curiosity at the commotion, crowding the corrie guards as they try to keep the public out of the way. Echo gives Fox a rundown of the situation and mentions that you were out with Tup and are now missing. Fox records the information and places a reassuring hand on Echo’s shoulder.

“We’ll find who did this to your brother, and locate the missing girl,” Fox promises. 

Echo worries his lip and takes his helmet off, tucking it neatly under his arm. “With all due respect, sir,” Echo begins, pausing for a moment to decide whether he’d like his next words to be a question or a statement, "we’d rather take this one.” He knows they have no jurisdiction on Coruscant and no business taking on local crime, but this is different. This is one of their own. This is their brother. He has to try. He has to find a way for them to be involved, to get revenge.

Fox pauses at the bold statement, his expression hidden behind his helmet. He studies the ARC trooper in front of him, a level of burning passion and rage alight behind his eyes. He can already tell there’s no stopping this clone, or his brothers. Even if he orders them to stay out of it, they’ll never obey, and that will just create more paperwork for him. Fox sighs, hoping he doesn’t regret his decision. He points to his men. “The boys will give you what you need.” 

Echo nods his thanks and Fox nods back before returning to his men to explain the new situation. Echo grits his teeth and clenches his bicep around his bucket. He’s angry. No. He’s furious. His brother is lying in a pool of his own blood, straining for air, and walking a thin line between life and death. His only thoughts now are retribution. Whoever did this is going to pay in blood. He takes a deep breath to calm himself and walks back to the alley to check on Fives.

Extricating Tup from the dumpster is no small feat, not with the amount of damage done to his body. The corrie guard had to bring in special tools to take apart the side of the dumpster piece by piece. Fives stays inside the dumpster with Tup and shields him from the sparks as they cut the bolts loose. Once the side of the dumpster is removed, medics work delicately to lift Tup out of the garbage and onto a stretcher. Fives does his best to help, but the medics push him away.

Echo watches the medics work and approaches the hole in the dumpster once Tup is safely removed. He peers inside and sees Fives still kneeling in the garbage, his armor covered in blood. Covered in Tup’s blood. He watches as Fives picks up the flashing comm link that was hidden beneath Tup’s body. He grips it in his hand and chucks it past Echo while yelling in frustration. He pulls his bucket off his head, leaving blood stains behind from his soaked gloves. 

“How did this happen?” Fives asks, his voice angry and quivering.

Echo drops his gaze and kicks the ground. He has the same question with the same nonexistent answer. He lifts his gaze back up to meet Fives and offers a hand to help him out of the dumpster. Fives takes a deep breath and grabs his brother’s hand to pull himself up. They both sigh and lean against the wall of the alley, neither knowing what to say. Their silence is broken when Fox comes back around to grab their statements and to let them know he contacted Rex.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the squad to show up. Some in their civvies, some in their armor, and some in gym clothes, but all with worried looks plastered onto their faces. Echo and Fives maneuver out of the alley to greet them, waving back to Fox in thanks for his help. Their brother’s eyes plead for answers, for explanations, for anything that will tell them what’s going on. They see the blood stains on Fives’ armor and murmurs erupt between the clones.

“Maker!” Captain Rex exclaims when he sees Fives. “What happened to you?”

Fives chews on his lip, unsure of what to say when he realizes Fox didn’t tell them what happened. “It’s...” he pauses, the thought forming into a painful crushing weight on his chest. “It’s not mine.”

“Then who’s is it?!” Rex questions vehemently while looking around and doing a mental headcount of his men, desperately trying to figure out which one of them is missing from the ranks. 

Fives casts his gaze to the side, unwilling to meet his captain’s anxious and questioning eyes. He doesn’t want to say it. He doesn’t want to keep saying it. The amount of times he’s already had to recount what he’s seen is one too many. The words are like poison, slowly peeling away at the layers of his tongue, making it raw with emotion. He doesn’t want to think about it anymore. It makes him sick. The words, the smell, and the image twists his gut in discomfort.  

“It’s Tup’s,” Echo answers when he notices the distant look in Fives’ eyes. The words are like sharp needles pricking his lips as they exit, leaving a bitter and bloody aftertaste. 

Shock sweeps over the group of clones like billowing smoke, stinging their eyes and stealing their breaths. Their respective nights had been interrupted by an emergency comm from Rex notifying them that one of their brother’s was the victim of a crime. Dinners had been left cold, warm beds had been abandoned, and activities had been ditched at a moment's notice. They thought they were prepared for whatever this crime was, but they were wrong, very wrong. 

“Hey!” Kix hollers after scanning the area to locate Tup. “That’s my trooper!” He runs over to where the medics are attempting to stabilize Tup for transport and demands a debrief from the lead medic. 

The two medics argue back and forth about Tup’s condition and who has jurisdiction. Kix gets in the lead medic’s face, pointing a finger at his chest, and yelling expletives. No one gets in Kix’s way or tries to stop him, because they all feel the same way, the same fear and anger. Fox overhears the heated discussion and intervenes between the two clones before a fight breaks out. He sees the same fire in Kix’s eyes as the ARC trooper and lets him take the lead of the medics on scene.

Fives watches the ordeal and rubs his hand across his chin, pulling at his bottom lip in exasperation, while absent-mindedly leaving a trail of blood across his chin and goatee. Echo notices the striking smear and cringes at his brother’s appearance. He steps in front of Fives and brings his hand up to his twin’s face to wipe it away. Fives leans his head back in resistance to the odd gesture, but the glint in Echo’s eyes convinces him to trust what he’s doing. 

“You should change into something else,” Echo mentions as he works to wipe the blood off. 

Fives looks down at his armor and a small alarm sets off in the back of his brain. He drops his bucket and looks at his hands, pressing his fingers together while watching the blood ooze from his soaked gloves. He was so wrapped up in helping Tup, he didn’t even notice just how much of his blood was on him, staining him with a constant reminder of his brother’s mutilated body. He rips his gloves off and starts yanking his armor off, stripping like a madman in the street.

He needs it off. All of it. He doesn’t want to see it anymore. He doesn’t want to remember the disgusting images in his head. He’s seen blood before, lots of blood, but not this blood. This blood is different. This isn’t the blood of the faceless enemy, this is the blood of his brother. He claws at his blacks, desperately trying to remove them from his body in a frenzy. Through his hysterical haze, he feels Echo place two firm hands on either of his shoulders and he stops. 

Fives looks into Echo’s eyes as Echo breathes in through his nose and out through his mouth. He copies Echo’s breathing, slowly bringing his panicked breath in sync with his brother’s calm breath. Once he settles in the new rhythm, Echo closes his eyes and leans his forehead against Fives’, silently reminding him that he’s not alone and that Tup is still alive and fighting. Fives closes his eyes and lets his mind go blank, mentally preparing himself for what comes next.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3

Masterlist

A03

Tag List: @nahoney22 @kixs-husband @commander-sunshine @sunshinesdaydream @padawancat97 @verndusk @starrrgazingbunny

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[toxicanonymity]

Do you ever struggle with feelings of discouragement or inadequacy if your fics don’t do as well as you had hoped?

I’m struggling with that myself. I try not to get so hung up on it but it’s very hard, especially when something I’m so proud of doesn’t do as well as my other works.

I don’t even feel motivated to write bc I don’t wanna set myself up for disappointment

Discouragement, sure, I think that's natural sometimes. But I really don't feel like stats have anything to do with adequacy. Baring my soul, yuck. But fuck it we ball. Sorry it's a long answer.

I don't think I've ever answered a serious ask aside from the time i created Dr. rock which hardly counts but I've seen a lot of people struggling with this lately and hope this might be idk comforting to a person or two without leading to debate/discourse.

You mentioned something you're proud of isn't doing as well as your other works, and I can see how that would be disappointing. For laughs, I'll compare 2 of mine. These fics are impossible to compare (as are most, I think) but I def understand the urge to measure yourself against what you see as the potential. Aches: <1k popular trope I banged out in no time, wasn't sure about it, literally thought "people don't have to like it" before I hit post. >4 notes per word. Left in Lincoln: >22k posted so far, challenging, writing it for months. Has possibly driven me crazy bc I had this passing thought the other day and not about TLOU. (I didn't feel like re-reading it all): "I should just rewatch the movie. . .wait." 🤡 The whole Lincoln series combined has fewer notes than Aches lmao. But it's far more rewarding in getting to see it come to life, quality of engagement, and stretching myself 😏. It's not for everyone, for various reasons. Surely would have better stats without the twist I went with. But at what cost??

-------

Often, if people don't read or like something, it's a reflection of their own interests, limitations, and assumptions. And the right "fit."

I don't rly read much in general, but specifically, I rarely read long stuff (if I do I prob scan a lot tbh). I normally only want, if any, just enough plot/premise to build sexual tension. I don't read fluff or angst. I don't have the attention span / commitment to get invested in original characters. I tend to avoid stuff similar to what I'm working on. I make assumptions - If there's no word count, maybe it's too long. I know a lot of the fics I skip for these reasons must be fantastic. Assumptions I experience - I've seen very popular fics in the wild that strike me as dark, creepy, or pervy but aren't tagged that way. So some things that are tagged dark, etc., including plenty of mine, might not be dark in the way people assume based on their own ideas, or based on what others do tag. Also some people think I only write dark when sometimes it's just horny (see master list).

I've sometimes found myself thinking "It sucks more people don't read this bc i bet they would enjoy it" (not just my own fics). It might sound egotistical but I think it's often true.

------

Of course I want engagement because that means more people reading something which can mean more interaction, discussion, learning what you liked, what you think, etc. that's what I love.

But notes aren't rly near the top of what I care about, even though it does feel great to get them and I truly appreciate every single one.

Night walks doesn't get nearly as many notes as some of my other stuff, especially these days, but it's fun to write and I like to feed his feral fans who only get more into him with time. Same with raider: among those who do read and engage, I sense rising enthusiasm, thirst, and rate of falling in love with him (my bad). That's all worth more than 1000 likes to me. I have a good time writing these guys, so I write them more than other ones that get way more notes 🤷. I'm not saying notes don't matter at all, I know they affect exposure and engagement. But if just did what gets notes, I don't think I'd have such high quality engagement bc I'd just bang out more stuff with the most popular tropes instead of our fave Joels and those destined to become our faves bc they offer something special.

My outlook was the same before I had so many followers btw. Rock Bottom (22k) was what I felt like writing, still more ambitious than anything I've done in the Halloween fandom. I was disappointed it got way less attention than my one shots, but I know it's a banger, just certainly not for everyone lol.

-

I'm sorry for what you're experiencing and feeling, but I think it's very common and hope you can reframe it to not feel inadequate. I especially hope it doesn't discourage you from writing. ❤️

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

hi! i hope you don't mind me asking, but one thing i've noticed in your writing is that you sometimes switch up your perspective very quickly to show a character's thoughts. for example, in The Turn's summary: "He crouched down and silently screamed into his hands. I am going to die!"

izuku's thought at the end there hasn't been changed to italics, and yet i still find it natural and evocative. is there a trick behind not making it jarring besides transforming thoughts into italics or continuing on in third person (could it have something to do with narrative distance)? mostly i'm just interested because i was taught not switch them up. hopefully this made sense. thanks!

Only thing i can really think of is to keep character’s thoughts in paragraphs already about them or what they are doing. Try not to have a paragraph of third person description of something separate with first person thoughts throughout; if you change the subject, start a new paragraph. You could probably fudge this if the thoughts are the character reacting to the thing being described, but then it should start with thoughts. Character’s thoughts follow the same rules as dialogue, so you need to start a new paragraph every time someone new starts talking. Don’t front load a big description, then have a spoken/thought line at the very end without hitting the enter key.

You can also cut off tags like “he thought” if it’s obvious enough who’s thinking, same with talking. My fics are usually 3rd person limited and thus only have one perspective at a time, so i do this a lot.

Another tip in general for giving your writing a ‘natural’ feel is to read all your stuff out loud to yourself as you edit. Sometimes you don’t realize how clunky or awkward something is until you have to actually hear it. Also great for catching spelling errors.

Hope this helps!

[abbottgiftexchange]

The Abbott Elementary Fandom Gift Exchange Challenge is officially HAPPENING.

Hello friends and welcome to my (@straperine) love letter to this lovely fandom: organizing a gift exchange for wintertime/Christmas time/Holidays time, whatever you would like to call it. Let’s get into the nitty gritty without any further ado.

What is a gift exchange?

Basically, a challenge where you create a fanwork for another person based on their set of preferences/requests and in return you get a fanwork created for you based on your set of preferences/requests!

How will this gift exchange work?

To sign up, you’d have to fill THIS GOOGLE FORM and give information about the kind of gift you would like to receive and the kind of gift you can make. You would also say if you’re willing to pitch in as a replacement/make more than one work for possible dropouts (see below) or if we have an uneven number of participants.

Once sign ups close (see timeline), I will match up pairs of gift giver/gift receiver based on how well their preferences line up and send out the information to the gift givers.

You (the gift giver) will then confirm you’re still in and get started, woohoo.

About 10 days before the deadline (again, see timeline) I will check in with you (the gift giver) to see how it’s going with the gift and see if you need an extension or a replacement, so everyone gets a gift in the end for sure.

Once the deadline hits (timeline!) I will make sure everything’s ready to go, and then over the span of a week the gifts will be posted, gift givers will be revealed, and we can have fun!

What can I make as a gift?

Write a fic!

Draw a fanart!

Make a moodboard!

Edit a video!

Make a playlist!

Record an audiofic!

Make a gifset!

Create a photo edit!

Create a manip!

Write a poem!

Write a song!

Whatever you can think of as long as you put some thought and effort into it! <3

Are there any limits on requests?

Nope. Give any ship, character, prompt etc. you’d like to see. You can give multiple options for your gift giver to fulfill (recommended!), just please don’t go too too specific so your gift maker has some leeway to work and can create any kind of gift out of your request.

Timeline

Sign Ups Open: October 25th! Now!

Sign Ups Close: November 25th 23:59 PM UK Time

Matches Announced: December 1st by 23:59 PM UK Time

Check In Date: December 27th by 23:59 PM UK Time

Deadline: January 3rd 23:59 PM UK Time

Posting: January 5th – January 11th on a day that will be designated to you.

Extensions: upon request!

Some General FAQ:

You do not have to have either a tumblr or an AO3 account to participate! I will create an AO3 collection for the challenge for those who would like to post there and there’s this tumblr blog to have all the works/links to works collected under the same roof, but you can post the gifts wherever and in whichever way you’d like, or I can post them for you on this blog.

There’s no limit on ships, ratings, genre, etc. I’m not limiting content warnings as well, but I will declare (though I do believe none of us are here for this kind of content but just to make sure): this challenge will not promote works that encourage racism, homophobia, misogyny, or bigotry or violence of any kind, and any triggering content should be handled with the appropriate care.

When making a gift, please respect your recipient’s preferences, paying close attention to ratings and dislikes so you don’t accidentally make anything that they don’t want!

If you need to drop out or request an extension do that at the latest by the check in date, please no later than that. That’s what it’s for, and that gives time for replacement gifts to be made as well.

If you can, please please sign up as a possible replacement/someone who’s willing to create more than one gift! It helps make sure everything works out well in the end and no one is left empty-handed. If you do that and I end up having to take you up on that offer I promise I will make you an extra gift myself.

When posting the gifts

You can include your work in the AO3 collection if you post there.

Tag ‘#abbott elementary gift exchange’ when posting on tumblr and send me the link to the post so I can share it on the blog.

Send me links to any other platforms so I can post them on this blog if posting in any other way.

If you’re on twitter and think we should have a tag for the exchange there let me know! but I can't moderate that.

That’s it! Any questions you can either drop an ask here on this blog or email abbott.giftexchange@gmail.com

And again, sign up form is HERE!

Spread the word! If you wanna help organize also give me (@straperine) a shout.

[thistle-nightshade]

Reading with ADHD/BIPolar

Have you ever sat down, cracked open a book, and your brains goes, we are going to die.

And you tell your brain firmly, “No. Not dying. Reading.”

So you read one page and your brain goes Dying. Must get up immediately.

And you try and tell your brain that no, you are not in fact dying. But you realize that you haven’t comprehended a single word that you’ve read on that one page anyway. So you give up and go do something else instead.

Just me?

Reading used to be my escape when I was younger. I could disappear into a book for hours and not even realize my legs were cramping. As I grew older, it turned into more of a chore. There wasn’t enough stimulation, not enough positive impact for my brain to stay invested in a story. Books started to make me anxious, and it took me months to finish just one.

Here is what I have learned about myself that has allowed me to enjoy reading again:

Spoilers are the best thing ever.

Hear me out. The one exception to my reading hiatus was fanficiton. I couldn’t finish a book, but I could stay up all hours of the night on AO3 reading. It came down to knowing what is going to happen. Fanfiction follows known characters on new journeys and often includes a lot of really well known tropes. I could click on a new story and know exactly what to expect from the tags. This one was sad, that one had a happy ending, this one was all about a specific kink. Each new story felt safe because I knew what to expect from it.

I have recently started to incorporate this into all new media I consume. If you want me to watch a new show, you have to spoil everything for me first. My husband will pre-watch shows for me and then tell me what happens in them. My business partner recently spoiled the entire Alanna series for me. Rather than taking away from the excitement of the story, it gives me peace of mind. Instead of feeling anxious and wanting to get away from the new experience, it feels safe. I can sit back without a worry and just enjoy the tale as it unfolds.

Don’t set a 1 book limit.

My currently reading list — not to be confused with my to be read list— is 28 books long right now. I track it on StoryGraph and that sucker is SCROLLABLE. This baffles some people, but it’s a system that works for me.

I used to restrict myself to finishing the book I was currently reading before I started another. And it seriously slowed me down. There was all this pressure to slog through the words on the pages in front of me, whether I was enjoying them or not. I didn’t get much reading done that way.

Now, I start a new book whenever the mood strikes me. One thing that gets my brain involved in tasks (overcoming my executive dysfunction) is newness. A new book is exciting and I can’t wait to sink into a new world and meet new characters and taste the flavor of the writer’s writing style. That alone can often take me fifty or sixty pages into a book. But usually after that I slow down. And down. And down. Until I am not reading anymore.

But if I can pick up another new book and start the process again? Hells yes.

But what about all the unfinished books? you ask.

I return to those books when the excitement for them returns. I read a lot of different genres at once. History, culture, fantasy, sci-fi. And some things just hit right at different times. (I have been informed this is called Mood Reading). Sometimes I’m in a mental frame to tackle a big and heavy book on anti-racism. Or I can take it in small doses and read a light romance in between. Sometimes I stay in a book and a world for days, taking everything in and finishing a book. Sometimes I read a bunch of it, set it down for a few weeks or months, and then finish it later.

This allows me to read so many more books, and enjoy reading so much more, than I was before. Is it chaotic? Oh yea. Do I sometimes forget what was happening and have to recap? Occasionally, but not as much as you might think. Is every surface with relatively enough space for a book stack filled with a book stack? You bet.

It’s ok to not finish a book.

Sometimes a book just doesn’t vibe right. I used to force myself to finish a book, force myself to care about the writer’s words. I believed, and still believe, that everyone has something important to say. And I wanted very deeply to listen to all of them. But the reality is that I can’t. There are so many voices and so many books. I will focus on reading the ones that don’t drain me. If it is work to finish a book, I don’t finish it.

There are a few exceptions here. Some books are worth the effort. I try to read works from a lot of different perspectives. It’s been painful to read books that reframe the way I consider USA history. But they are important. Those books make the cut. But I give myself as much time as I need to read them. I take them in small doses, and I read something fun in between those doses.

Keep your trophies.

Part of what makes reading fun to me is displaying the corpses of dead trees that have been tattooed on my shelves. I am 100% a book hoarding dragon. I love my stash. I take aesthetic photos of my stash. I bask in it. Books and books and books arranged all around my home make me happy.

Maybe you save all the books you read from the library on digital shelves. Or you post a little blurb from all the ones you loved on your Instagram. Or you buy books and hoard them on your shelves. However you do it, keep a record of all the joy you got in reading your books. Then you can carry a little memento of that joy into the future. (This is important for those of us with shitty memories. Give yourself mementos to hold on to!)

Anyway, that is what has helped me return to loving reading.

In chaos and kindness,

Alyx

[duckprintspress]

“Aim For The Heart”: Campaign Updates and Spotlights on Artist Jennifer Smith and Author R. L. Houck

The campaign to fund Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers” is now halfway done and going strong! For those not super familiar with how campaigns go, usually the bulk of funding comes in during the first 48 hours and the last 48 hours of the campaign. I personally usually look to see us at 50% funded by the end of the first 48 hours; if we hit that metric then I can say with a fair degree of confidence that we’ll reach our goal. This campaign did hit that, handily, and now with 15 days left, we’re only $750 shy of our goal! While I’m not hosting any parades yet, as I check in midway through our campaign…we’re doing great.

A huge, HUGE thank you to everyone who has backed so far, and also to everyone who has helped spread the word about the campaign. Word of mouth is 10000% the most effective way to help people find out this project exists and get them interested in buying the anthology; we’d never get to the goal without our supporters, and we’d never get there without every person who says, “hey, have you seen this?” Y’all rock. We love that we get to bring you awesome books.

Anyway, on to today’s contributor spotlights!

Knight and Squire by Jennifer Smith

About the Artist: Smith has been drawing since a young age. With a focus in traditional drawing techniques, she has recently started using digital mediums to imitate traditional styles. Her focus is in portraiture and landscapes, especially with watercolor. You can find more of her art on her Tumblr.

Link: Tumblr

Allergy Girl and the Hate Arrangement by R. L. Houck

About the Author: R. L. Houck (she/her) still has one of the first stories she ever wrote, all the way back from elementary school. It was about flightless penguins reaching the sun and was a good indication of her boundless imagination and her love of animals. The latter became a full-time veterinary career; the former keeps her occupied with fanfiction and original fiction in her downtime.

She’s sometimes found wandering the woods around her house in Virginia with her dog. If not there, she’s sitting on the couch, catching up on a Netflix series, and smothered by her five cats. Sometimes, there’s even space for her wife.

Links: TikTok

Story Teaser:

“Oh, no! Mom’s been very supportive of me being trans. I just meant the name change. For an English lit professor, she has a real hard-on against Shakespeare,” Portia said. “It was one of the main reasons I chose the name.”

Christa didn’t want to bring the conversation down by discussing unsupportive parents of LGBTQA+ kids. Instead, she jumped on the mention of Shakespeare. “Well, Portia was a kick-ass character too,” Christa said.

“Right? Thank you!”

“You’re quite welcome. Oh! Phoenix! Is that why you chose the tattoo? Never mind, you don’t have to answer that. I apologize—I’m being super nosy,” Christa said, immediately backtracking.

Portia laughed. “You’re fine. That is exactly why I chose the phoenix: rebirth. And those pictures are sent; tell me what you think.”

A few seconds later, Christa got a text message from an unknown number. She opened it to see a gorgeous flower arrangement shown in several pictures taken from multiple angles.

“Wow. This is beautiful,” Christa said, voice faint from awe. “Are you sure this says, ‘I hate your guts and wish abstract misery upon you for the rest of your natural existence’ in flower language?”

“…in so many words, yes,” Portia said, sounding amused.

Tags: allergies, attraction at first sight, character has a different gender than in the source material, customer service representative, deadnaming (accidental), f/f, florist, getting together, the language of flowers, meet awkward, modern, past tense, pining, pov third person limited, siblings, tattoo, triplets, trans

We’ve already raised $7,250 to fund this anthology, and we’re 90% of the way to our goal. Come see what all the fuss is about, and help us spread the word by sharing today’s awesome teasers or any of our past posts!

[edenstorm]

beta spoilers ahead!

(will have this tagged appropriately ofc but since I’m on mobile I can’t add a readmore, apologies!)

———

something I think tgc REALLY needs to learn is that there’s a difference between making something challenging and making something tedious.

the new update to Eden manages to add a little challenge with the new dynamic for the latter half of stormlock (what was once all endless rain) but that new crawling mechanic for the last stretch just… sucks the fun out of it. it’s not suspenseful or difficult or engaging, it’s just a frustrating test of patience holding the virtual joystick waiting for your character to crawl at a snail’s pace towards the next statue. they tried to lower the walking speed for when you run out of light before, people didn’t like it so they backpedaled, and now they’re bringing it back with a new animation? It’s a little different this time, since they’ve essentially cut the infinite rain area in half, but even the half the remains is just… painful to sit through. if the penultimate level of your game makes me say “man I wish the core mechanic of this area was literally anything else, I’m so bored,” that’s a problem!

I do plan on leaving beta feedback on this ofc, but some concepts (unlikely to ever be implemented in entirety, but maybe some bits and pieces?)

remove infinite rock rain entirely. or, have it surround the Eye, and only the Eye. (more on that in a bit.)

have the player’s call get weaker the closer they get to the Eye or the more damage they take. this would limit people cheesing Eden by spam calling, but would also make it unnecessary to gut a major part of a cooperative mechanic in a cooperative multiplayer game.

for the part that is currently infinite rain in beta: have it still be rain in waves, but make the rocks much more damaging and remove sconces. no recharging. if you can make it through and light everything without being hit, maybe you can make it to the Eye.

initially, I was going to say “add more statues to the end, the last three are super tedious as-is and almost not worth the time.” but canonically, it makes sense that there would be fewer to make it that far, and I think something else could be more rewarding.

Okay, now to talk about that whole Eye thing. At the end of the statues, past any shelter, the rock rain should be constant and horrendous. crawling here would be fine and dandy. but I’d like to see a point to it. a final destination, only accessible once you’ve done Eden enough times to learn the routes and the timing and collected enough light to survive the rain (maybe ~150, factoring in the statues lit? it’s the current benchmark for 11 charges and achievable with fairly consistent play over a few months’ time, but it’s not a huge grind or year-long ordeal. so, ~70 for statues and slip-ups, and 80 lost in the infinite rain/Eye itself? that’s not too bad.) it should also only be accessible provided you’ve given light to a certain number of statues (or all of them?) in the current run, to prevent people just making a beeline for the Eye without lighting anything.

if you wanted to be really mean, slap a krill here. add small shelters to crawl under. engagement and all that. with that being said, lore-wise, I can’t imagine even a krill would brave the worst of stormlock.

what would be in the Eye? well, I don’t know. some kind of lore, hopefully. the King’s body or spirit, corrupted as they may be? the truth behind Eden? the “true” ending of the game, in which the King doesn’t want to be saved, and so you must go to orbit without them again? Megabird? a ton of statues? who knows. it shouldn’t be safe or somewhere you can stand around, though - no home option (if the game closes you respawn here instead of home,) and maybe it could be a “the day after tomorrow” situation, where there aren’t any rocks knocking you over (so you can stand and explore freely) but even just being there saps the light from you. or super-crabs. or another leviathan. give me weird implausible murder weather (eerie version) or Big Dog please and thank you

all in all, I hate seeing them take something somewhat challenging (and occasionally tedious) and make it… just more tedious. keep me engaged, tgc!! I don’t need an Advanced Gamer Parkour Arena, but I would like to see the last part of the most challenging part of the game be something other than… Hold Joystick And Wait To Push Button. hell, you can even keep the crawl mechanic! but give people a chance to avoid that slog by learning the route, and add a reward to make those who brave the worst of it feel it’s worth the time invested.

[pedrito-friskito]

✨kay’s ultimate pedro ranking✨

ok ok ok ok @mandosmistress did this a while back (like a few days lmao what is time) and tagged me and I HAVE BEEN T H I N K I N G let me tell you.

so without further ado, under the cut is my (not so definitive) pedro pascal character ranking…..! (based mainly on attraction/how much I enjoy writing them)

FRANKIE MORALES. frankie. frankie frankie frankie. my man. sunshine of my life (haha see what I did there). there is just something about this character that really crawled into my chest, wrapped himself around my heart and said ”hi I live here now” and I’m cool with it. handsome in that rugged way, a little bit damaged, and good with his hands? done. hook, line, and sinker.

DIN DJARIN. oh the sweet soft-spoken tin can space man. in all honesty, him and Frankie fight for the top spot on a daily basis and sometimes the beskar-covered bounty hunter wins, and he truly was my pedro gateway drug so he’s gotta be high on my list.

JAVIER PEÑA. ohhhhhh mama I love me some Javi. (do I mainly blame my gargantuan crush on @the-ginger-hedge-witch and her brilliant Crush series YES AS A MATTER OF FACT I DO) something about those tight fuckin’ jeans and the stache and the aviators like yep honey take me I’m yours

JAVIER GUTIERREZ. sunshine baby angel too good for this world I just wanna give him a little kiss and carry him around in my pocket and make sure no harm every comes to him (no I haven’t written anything for him yet but I been thinkin’ thots okay)

DIETER BRAVO. ✨the trash man✨ another one I just wanna carry around in my pocket, also the hair does things for me (same with Javi G) like just let me run my fingers through it and I’ll die a happy gal. questionable life choices maybe, but we’ve all been there, right?

OBERYN MARTELL. oh my HEART. *cue adele* we could have had it AAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL. I would say spoilers but it was legitimately 8 years ago but he was so CLOSE and then so SQUISHED. tbh oberyn is the most intimidating to me to even think of writing but maybe someday….

MARCUS PIKE. I do really like Marcus. cheesy as hell? check. bit overboard sometimes? double check. BUT I really like the history of the character we got in limited scenes AND I have a fic idea for him I’ve been sitting on FOREVER and I def have to use it soon!

PERO TOVAR. okay I love me a grungy fantasy man okay like that’s my bread and butter. add in the grouchiness and the obvious way to his heart through his stomach? it’s go time, baby, I got plans for him too!

JACK DANIELS. oh darlin’, he hits the middle of my list for the sole reason that pedro and that whip awoken something in me that hasn’t shut up since I watched that movie and if you don’t think I’ve watched that clip where he pushes his jacket back and it’s a crystal-clear shot of his ass you are WRONG

EZRA PROSPECT. fits the grungy, violent thing pedro seems to work with half the time, and honestly, the linguistics of this man make my head spin (the main reason I haven’t written much for him because it’s a looooot of effort to try and think up dialogue for him!!!) BUT I do love that little moon-touched spot and the scar and the smile and just ugh yum

THE THIEF. full disclosure: I haven’t read a lot of fics about the thief (if anyone has recs let me at ‘em) buuuuuut I really like the whole vibe he has and the outfit? spectacular.

MARCUS MORENO. the glasses definitely do it for me but idk something about him I just…meh. have definitely read some fab fics about daddy moreno (maybe I’ll revisit him at some point). still hot, still delicious, just not my number one fav.

MAX PHILLIPS. maybe not the biggest asshole pedro’s played but definitely up there? I sat through the movie just for him, honestly the scene of him on the couch made it worth it and the smarminess is something else, but idk if I could ever write him! (kudos to all that do!)

DAVE YORK. ok ok ok ok OKAYYYYYYY. listen. he’s the baddie (and like a really bad baddie) so I gotta put him low on my list as far as attraction goes (plus I have mixed emotions about P without facial hair but I digress…) BUT I do have ideas. they are on the horizon. keep your eyes OPEN.

MAX LORD. I haven’t even watched wonder woman 1984 and I know he needs to be down here. maybe I’ll get some form of intoxicated this weekend and power through it, just for shits and giggles!

well KUDOS if you made it this far, this was actually so fun to do!

tagging a few pals just because, no pressure 😇

@prolix-yuy @pedropascalsx @mandoblowmybackout @mindidjarin @allfoolsinluv @iamskyereads and obvi anyone else who wants to play!!!

[hexedsouls]

Disclaimer:

I am not in any way associated to the creators of any existing series on this blog.

I expect it to be understood that the actions and views of my muses are not reflective of my own values, they are reflective of the character in their environment. Mun ≠ muse.

About the Blog

Many of my muses are divergent. Fanon and word of god especially hold no sway here.

This blog is 21+ If your blog does not say that you are 21+ ( doesn’t need to be specific ), I will not follow / write with you. I will block minors that follow me. My blog will contain content not suitable for those under 18.

I don’t format. I don’t mind if my partners do. My use of icons is sporadic at best.

I don’t like posts, I’ll reply instead. I am the maniac that actually utilizes likes for organization- and I cannot stand ‘ghost likes’. Generally instead of hitting the like button, I’ll drop an emoji or short comment using the reply box.

Interaction

PLEASE DO NOT REBLOG DOSSIERS, HEADCANONS, VERSES, OR META. You are free to ‘like’ whatever you wish!

Following:

I do not follow for follow. Most interactions are mutuals only. I follow blogs that I want to interact with. I may unfollow if the interest is not reciprocated, or we aren’t super close & haven’t interacted in a while. There are no hard feelings! We can always reconnect later!

I do look at all blogs that follow me, though it may take me a week or two do do so & follow back if I am going to.

I will unfollow / softblock for — Abundant real-life politics / news — Callouts, bullying, ship/character/actor/etc bashing, ship wars, etc — Any other discourse / drama

I will only interact with OCs that I approach first. Meaning if I follow your OC without prompting, we’re gucci, but please don’t ask to to RP with your OC if I haven’t followed you first / followed back. It’s not because I think OCs are trash, it’s because I have trouble interacting with characters I don’t have at least a baseline familiarity with.

Activity & Partners:

With very few exceptions, I do not do mains/exclusives. I am however here pretty much purely at the behest of @holmesdepot, as a resident purse bunny.

My blog is very low-activity, and I don’t seek out many new partners. Please don’t be offended by this. I’m a busy self-employed artist with low spoons. Mainly, I meet RP partners because they are friends-of-friends.

Inbox & Starter Calls: HC Memes/General Questions ⯎ Open to all Interaction Memes ⯎ Mutuals only Starter Calls ⯎ Mutuals only Anon/Inbox Interactions ⯎ TENTATIVELY open to all (I make no promises about replying to inbox interactions, but these were fun back in the day! Just keep it light!)

)

NOTICE: If you need fast replies / daily communication, I am not the blog for you. I am slow. I have limited energy. I am a busy. Just because I don’t send messages every day does not mean I love my friends & partners any less.

Triggers & Adult Content

Potentially triggering & adult content will be present on this blog. I tag any triggers I can think of using ‘trigger cw’. If you need something tagged, you are free to ask and I will do my best to accommodate.

Do NOT under any circumstances attempt to police my writing. I will not ever fight over the moral high ground. I expect my partners to be aware of the warning labels and curate their own content, rather than restricting mine. If there is questionable content happening in a thread, you can bet it’s been thoroughly discussed with my partner, & we are both aware of its nature.

I will not actively write the following topics. Those marked with a #, I would greatly appreciate being tagged so that I can block. Those marked with a * may appear in backstories, be mentioned off-screen, or in headcanon, but will not actively be written about.

— #Animal violence / death / injury — *Acts of sexual violence — #Zombie Apocalypse Scenarios ( zombie-like & undead characters are fine- it’s the whole apocalypse/hoards of endless infected thing for me ) — Racism & Transphobia

Please be aware that, because I write queer characters in historical settings, mild homophobia may be a relevant topic to some muses. This will always be tagged, and you are more than welcome to tell me to avoid it even in passing in our threads if we interact.

Shipping & NSFW

All muns and muses must be adults to ship.

⯎ Feel free to tell me if you ship our muses, ask about OTPs/NoTPs/OT3s/etc, and send fluffy memes to test the waters ⯎ Please do NOT assume a ship without discussion, assume canon ships are acknowledged/automatically okay, or send unsolicited NSFW interaction memes if we are not already shipping.

I will not auto-ship. This means that whether or not I ship the thing OOC, I may not automatically ship the thing with your interpretation.

I will never pressure someone into shipping. Chemistry that is agreed upon by both partners is a must.

I will typically utilize fade-to-black rather than writing smut. I do write sexual themes, and will participate in Sinday through memes, drabbles, and suggestive starters. All suggestive text will be tagged ‘ mind the citrus ’.

NSFW imagery may be present on my blog. This includes but is not limited to NSFW fanart and image/gifsets, however all suggestive imagery will be tagged ‘ NSFT ’ (Not Safe For Tumblr). I am looking into the idea of implimenting citrus scale in tagging as well.

[muffinrecord]

How good are my supports? I have trouble figuring out which memoria are the best to use as it’s hard to tell what the skills are without looking them up every time, and i have trouble remembering what symbol means what, so i usually go for whatever ones have the best stat increases. I’m working on getting better with choosing memoria though.

I’ll probably replace Felicia later, I’m working on training up Mikura since she’s really good but I don’t have her maxed out yet.

All of my girls have their Doppels unlocked, too.

(Forgot to add) please let me know if you have any tips on how to make my supports better, and what memorias you recommend using! I’m still working on leveling up my memorias, many of them aren’t at their max level yet. I’m trying my best, heh

Hopefully it’s alright for me to publish this publicly?

Anyways, I want to quickly plug my memoria review blog. I actually have a tag specifically for memoria that are good to use on Support-- a lot of them are limiteds, but some of them include free event reward memoria too!

When it comes to memoria, passives >> actives. Passives give passive ATK stats while active memoria don’t, and passives are always in play while actives need to be activated. So, your Alina should swap out those two active memoria for some good passive ones.

Next up, people tend to prefer blast characters over anything else. This is because it’s the easiest way to farm. I’d swap your Melissa and Yachiyo’s spots, so that Yachiyo is in the “All” spot and Melissa is in the “Aqua” one.

Speaking of which, since most people tend to default to the “All” spot, I’d make sure Yachiyo has the absolute best memoria you can give. That means everything is MLB at least and has good ATK stats. (Also: a LOT of players sort their support lists by who has the highest ATK stats. A really easy way to make sure you hit the top of the list is by boosting that character’s ATK!)

A really easy way to sort out your memoria is to give one passive Attack Up memoria and one passive Damage Up/Damage Increase/whatever else memoria. 

Here’s an example from my Star alt account (it’s not really a great example but bear with me). Each character starts out one Attack Up passive memoria, then their secondary memoria will be whatever compliments them best in my opinion; but you can easily just do generic things like Damage Increase/Damage Up or even another Attack Up. But imo, it’s important for each unit to have at least one passive Attack Up passive on them.

Here’s how you can tell what is good to equip:

Red Sword Icon= Attack Up

Yellow Sword with a little spiky wave around it= Damage Increase

Red Sword with a spiky wave around it = Damage Up

(Note that the icon is dependent on what effect is placed first, so some memoria might not show that it has attack up / damage increase even if it does have, just because a different effect is placed first).

So if you are completely confused by what to use, the one thing to keep in mind that will be helpful is look for memoria with swords in their icons and tbh, that should be good enough. You don’t need to memorize what is good or bad as long as you follow that simple rule.

Any other advice I’d give is kind of covered by that, haha. For example, you’ve given your Felicia a guardian memoria (meaning she’ll take hits) and a memoria that gives her increased mp regen... But Felicia is not a tank and she also isn’t going to be using magia often. But I imagine that’s because you’re trying to boost her stats in any way possible and also because you may not know what the memoria does. I really miss NA... Being able to read what memoria did without needing to look up shit was so helpful ;_;

Additionally, make sure you always complete the event story quests. The free event reward memoria you get is really helpful for accounts: a lot of them will come with a generic 15% attack up/damage up/damage increase and that coupled with their passive stats is CRUCIAL. 

As for actives, tbh I don’t think people even tend to use them that much. I know that I don’t-- I always turn actives off when I farm, and most of the time characters can easily kill things without needing to use them in the first place. But I’ll just say that you can follow the same principal outlined above and just use memoria with sword icons. Everyone likes to deal more damage.

Let’s see... characterwise, yeah I’d say that Mikura is good. She has Bind on her connect, making her useful for Bind Cheese.

The only other thing I’d say is that characters should have their Doppels and their Spirit Enhancement filled out. You don’t need to go fully 60/60 if you don’t have enough materials to do so, but you should at least grab their active SE.

Lastly, one of the most important things you can do is log on every day. You don’t even need to do anything, just log on, log off, and repeat. People will unfollow unactives because they want those tasty support points, and if you aren’t online then... you’re not doing much for them, you know? I’ve unfollowed a lot of people who had an amazing support lineup because they were offline for two weeks, and I’ve kept following people who only had uncapped support because they log on every day.

------

You know, this makes me think I should write a guide on how to make a good support lineup... hm...

Anyways, I hope this helps! If you still have questions please let me know.

[figsandfandoms]

✨2022 Writing Year In Review✨

I was tagged by @lassiesspanishaccent​ so here goes!

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 25!! Holy Hannah. That’s a bit skewed by the fact that I participated in Flufftober this year.

2. Word count posted for the year:  62,626

3. Fandoms I wrote for: Psych and SG-1

4. Pairings: I was quite the multi-shipper this year lol

Juliet/Shawn (Psych)

Daniel/Vala (SG-1)

Gus/Selene (Psych)

Carlton/Marlowe (Psych)

Carlton/Shawn (Psych)

Shawn/Gus (Psych)

5. Story with the most: 

Kudos: “One night in the chief’s office”  (225 Kudos)

Bookmarks: “One night in the chief’s office” 49 Bookmarks)

Comments: “You've got comments “ (56 Comment Threads)

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): 

I think I answered this question in another AO3 round up or review, so hopefully I answer it the same this time haha.

But I think I’m most proud of two works: How many one-night stands equals a relationship? and One night in the chief’s office.

For How many one-night stands equals a relationship?, I’d say I’m proud of the poetry of it.

For One night in the chief’s office, it was my first major M/M smut, and I’m proud of how it turned out, and proud of myself for pushing through with it.

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why):

I honestly don’t know. This has given me the opportunity to read over some of the fics that don’t get a lot of attention, but I’m still proud of them and proud that I wrote them.

Do I think that the writing could have been better, that maybe I could have spell-checked a little more? Sure. But I wrote something and created something. So, I’m proud of them.

8. Share or describe a favourite review you received:

Oh gosh. Like Swattie said, I love each and every comment I’ve received. I don’t think I’ve deleted any of them from my inbox! (side note, does the AO3 inbox have a limit???).

That being said…

The ones that really stick out are the times when people have told me I’ve written the characters ‘in character’. The characters I wrote for are an eclectic bunch, and getting their tone and style of speaking down pat can be hard. So I love it when people tell me that I write them in characters.

9. A time when writing was really, really hard:

Hmm… I’d say maybe the beginning of 2022, when I got such a horrible round of migraines. At least two a week for about a month or so. Back then, opening my eyes was hard, let alone writing a fic.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

Writing for Cam in Cameron Mitchell's Diary was kind of surprising. The idea for the story came outta nowhere, and I hadn’t really thought of writing from Cam’s perspective.

11. A favourite excerpt of your writing:

I’m gonna cheat and pick two:

From ‘How many one-night stands’

He nods, and they kiss and hug and touch and undress each other and try to make each other feel good because they know this feeling won’t last long. He pours kindness and caring into every clash of teeth and tongue, telling her without words that it’ll be okay, that she’ll be okay.

I hit the poetry hard with this story, but this is my favourite line.

From ‘You’ve got comments’

Shawn thought for approximately 8.5 seconds before he enacted his plan. It was twice as long as he normally spent looking before leaping, so he gave himself a literal pat on the back before starting.

That line makes me giggle.

12. How did you grow as a writer this year:

I took more risks this year, and my writing has improved.

13. How do you hope to grow next year:

By doing what I did last year- keep trying new things and seeing what happens.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

The Santa Barbara After Dark discord! Swattie, Birdy, Noz, Avotah, Aut… You all are so amazing!

I’ll also be sappy and say my husband is my biggest cheerleader. He cheers me on and takes over household chores so I can write. He’s my best friend and I love him. Love you babe!

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

Chapter four of Flufftober- Psych stories was partly inspired by my husband and the way he supports my powerlifting.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

New wisdom? I don’t think it’s ‘new’, but I would say ‘don’t be afraid to write something different’. you never know what might happen.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

I’ve got a couple of WIPs that are almost finished that I’m looking forward to getting over the line.

Other than that, I’ve got a couple of ideas that I’d like to get started on, as well as an original work.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

@emachinescat @missmultifandommessdom @r1ver-6r-6

[tigerkirby215]

Talking about the Wonders of the Multiverse UA like three weeks late

(We still use League of Legends artwork because why not. Artwork by Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

Oh right I have a Tumblr account.

I’m writing this for a few reasons: partially to get it off my mind, partially because I feel bad leaving this account to rot for so long and this is a good way to get back into the swing of things. Don’t know when it will be posted but these are my thoughts on the latest UA, and there’s certainly not initial impressions lol.

Glitchling

If the mechagnomes weren’t enough for a “definitely not Warforged” race then here’s your full on cyborg race. Yes I do know they probably existed in Spelljammer or something but counterpoint: we don’t need three robot races when we don’t even have an official dog race yet? At least that’s my opinion.

Anyways this race continues the mechagnome trend of giving robots tons of free stats and abilities because “they’re a robot, I guess.” They’re a Construct (immune to Hold Person) but can still be healed by Cure Wounds, they have 14 + DEX AC (+2 Studded Leather?! 1 more than Mage Armor?!) because why not, can turn a 9 or lower on a d20 into a 10 (Rogue’s level 11 ability / Clockwork Soul’s level 14 ability) a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus because why not, have advantage on Insight checks and saves against charms because why not, and to top it off they can fly.

Like it feels like I’m reading crappy homebrew! This genuinely feels like a comedy sketch: like a Tiefling Fighter is complaining about their Glitchling Wizard by saying “they have better armor than me, never fail at anything, know if anyone’s lying to them, can’t be persuaded, and what else can they do: fly?” before the Glitchling takes off and leaves the Fighter dumbfounded.

For what it’s worth I think Vestigial Wings is fine. We’ve seen traits like this with the Ascendant Dragon Warlock and I’ve seen traits like this on homebrew races. I think it’s a very balanced way to handle racial flight and it allows for interesting combat, exploration, and roleplay without being overpowered. But that being said holy shit this race has too many abilities.

I’m fine with innate AC in concept but holy shit it shouldn’t be 14 + DEX lmao. I feel like they should either make the innate AC be equal to a Breastplate (14 + DEX max of 2) or take a book from the Loxodons and use CON-based AC. Everything else however just makes the race way too strong: turning fails into 10s (again: 11 Rogue / 14 level Sorcerer ability as a racial trait) is way too strong, advantage on Insight checks “just because” is dumb and the same can be said for the advantage against charming effects.

Keep this as the limited flying race and give it a few other positive benefits: maybe the Construct tag, maybe the innate AC, maybe boost some skill checks idk. But it shouldn’t have all this when the flight alone already makes it an incredibly strong race.

Fate Domain Cleric

It’s cool conceptually but some abilities are more hit-or-miss. I think the Channel Divinity is way too strong for its own good, essentially being the Foresight spell (a 9th level spell!) as a Channel Divinity option. And Insightful Striking feels like it should have synergy with your teammates (the Eloquence Bard is better at weaving fate than the Fate Cleric?)

But beyond that the subclass honestly seems fine. It plays a bit weird from the looks of things but I’m sure you can make a very interesting character with the kit.

Backgrounds

Seeing as the backgrounds actually have more to them than just “you get a feat because you’re associated with (clan)” I’ll talk about them: I like them a lot! I’ve always liked extraplanar and supernatural characters and having backgrounds related to them is really cool!

Gate Warden is a simple but effective background for a character that you want to be planetouched, Giant Foundling is neat for a variety of characters even if the background is kinda inflexible, Planar Philosopher is a little boring ngl, and Rune Carver basically exists for Rune Knight Fighters and Artificers lol.

Feats

We saw a lot of reprints of old feats and a lot of somewhat new ones, so I figure it’s fitting to talk about them one by one. That being said we still have the feat trees so I’ll try to bundle them all together.

SCION OF THE OUTER PLANES

Since there’s so much versatility between the options I’ll “rate” each one on the basis of the cantrip you get, damage type you resist, and the feat that you can get later on with your choice.

Astral: Damage type is good, Message is a good cantrip, but because there’s no alignment you can’t get any of the fun feats.

Chaotic: Damage type is mediocre, cantrip is mediocre, the next feat is super fun though.

Evil: Bad damage type, bad cantrip, bad extra feat. Evil doesn’t pay.

Good: Radiant is one of the rarest damage types but Sacred Flame is a decent cantrip. The feat you get for opting for goodness is kinda bad though?

Lawful: Again Radiant damage is very rare, but Guidance is an amazing cantrip and the feat you get for opting for law is also really fun. Easily the best option you’ve got.

Outlands: Mage hand is nice, Psychic damage resistance is nice, no additional feat because it’s the Outlands.

Agent of Order

It’s basically a Wisdom-save version of Stunning Strike... so cheers to devaluing the Monk lmao. To be fair this is a feat that requires a previous feat so I think it’s fine. It also doesn’t have any inherent synergy with your own abilities since it goes away at the start of your next turn, but it has good teamplay synergy which I think should always be promoted in 5e.

Plus the visual is just really cool. I’ve always liked the idea of binding someone down with magic and it’s kinda a shame that Hold Person and other similar spells feel really boring in all honesty? Like Hold Person / Hold Monster are very strong but I’d rather be casting something more flashy. So this strikes a nice middle ground, especially since ranged characters can use it. Even ranged martials! So the Ranger gets to have some more fun with their Wisdom score.

Baleful Scion

Holy shit guys they finally added Lifesteal.

I mean, the damage is bad and the healing is bad, but I know there are people who will really love this feat. I really feel like this could come back on a Short Rest and it would still be balanced. But if you consider that when you grab this feat (at level 4) it heals / damages for 2d6 + 4, and even at its theoretical maximum value (at level 17) this feat will only give you 6d6 + 36 total damage / healing. To put 6d6 + 36 into perspective: that’s a slightly better Fireball of damage / healing. By level 17.

I like this feat a lot conceptually, but I realize it’s less “I like this feat” and more “lifesteal mechanics beyond the spell Vampiric Touch and Enervation should’ve been added to 5e about 5 years ago.”

Cohort of Chaos

Mini Wild Magic Surges, which are all more fun than the actual Wild Magic subclass! Lmao they really need to publish an updated Wild Magic surge table.

Disruption Field is pretty bad in most situations, although it can be good for a martial character. Battle Fury is kinda just... universally good in combat? Like you can give this to any martial character and they’ll be happy. Unbound is pretty cool and generally applicable enough to be useful. And Wailing Winds is a bit too situational and kinda overkill in my honest opinion.

This is a really fun, silly feat that I know a lot of people will enjoy. My only recommendation would be to nerf Wailing Winds (because 60 feet is excessive.) Disruption Field at least has its uses for a melee character, and it can be funny in the moment.

Outlands Envoy

Wait what the fuck this is literally just the Fey Touched feat?

Like, you get Tongues as a spell? That’s arguably good? I’d still prefer Silvery Barbs, Gift of Alacrity, Bless, or Hex? Honestly this feat just feels kinda lazy to me. Like your best idea was just the Misty Step and Tongues spells? Like you couldn’t even learn a language?

Planar Wanderer

Damn first you made Archfey Warlock into a feat I guess we can just turn Horizon Walker Ranger into a feat too?

I mean, this feat is basically just a roleplay feat. Honestly I’d just let a player character do this if it was part of their character or the plot demanded it. It seems like a weird feat considering it does literally nothing else?

Righteous Heritor

This feat blocks 2d10 + 4 damage when you get it, and a maximum of 6d10 + 36 damage when you’re level 17. I again go back to the fact that you’re basically shielding a 4th level Fireball’s worth of damage.

I don’t get why these relatively weaker feats don’t recharge on a Short Rest. And no: “WoTC is abandoning Short Rests” is not a reason.

CARTOMANCER

I like this feat a lot because I literally have a Warlock who’s more-or-less based entirely around cards and gambling.

Card Focus is fun; it’s a few extra d4s of damage that won’t break anything.  Card Tricks is cute flavor. But of course the real meat of this feat is Hidden Ace. I don’t have to explain why having an extra spell is good, nor why casting an action spell as a bonus action is strong. At pretty much all tiers of play this feat is strong: when you get the feat it basically gives you a whole extra caster level (whole extra “spell slot”), and even as you reach the higher levels having an extra 4th, 5th, or even 6th level spell is kinda crazy. I don’t know if every caster ever wants to lose an ASI for what’s effectively “you can cast one spell for free” but like... I’m pretty sure there’s an Epic Boon that does this? So uh... this feat is basically an Epic Boon?

I do find it weird that it’s restricted to the Arcane Casters. (Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock.) Like I understand why Druids / Rangers / Clerics / Paladins don’t get it but... not Bards? Really? I mean, I guess it’s not a big deal because you can get this feat with just a 1 level multiclass dip, and 2 levels in Warlock is already one of the better muticlasses you can do.

I really hope this feat doesn’t get nerfed, even though my objective balancing side says this feat is overpowered lmao. Because it’s just so fun and thematic, and I really don’t think it’s going to break anything.

STRIKE OF THE GIANTS

Much like with the planar feats I’m going to rate both the initial effect of the feat and the additional feat you can get.

Hill: Extra damage and knocking people prone is very good! The feat you get after this one is alright too but I wouldn’t really go out of my way for it.

Stone: Pushing people is pointless, but the feat you get after this is so good it’s honestly worth taking just for the extra feat.

Frost: Good because it’s Cold damage, bad because it’s a CON save, and the feat that comes after this one is kinda bad.

Fire: Damage is damage, and the next feat you get gives you some cool utility in hectic fights.

Cloud: Cool to see they brought back the “invisible to one target” mechanic, but honestly the damage is so bad I don’t know if I’d even bother with this feat, even if I was playing a Rogue or something. The feat that comes after this one is also alright but nothing to write home about imo.

Storm: Effect is good, damage type is good. CON save is bad, feat that comes after this one is bad.

I will say that I like that they’re giving new weaponized bonus actions to martial characters, and that we’re getting support for both melee fighters and thrown weapon fighters! I think it’s really cool that you can choose to make your next attack more powerful a few times per day.

Ember of the Fire Giant

Did they buff this from the last UA? It feels like they did but I genuinely forget what the differences are between the last UA and this one. Anyways my opinion remains the same: it’s really cool to give martials new combat abilities and pseudo-maneuvers to vary up their combat some more. I really wish something like this was tied to a magic item or just general combat ability instead of a feat, but I will happily accept it as a feat.

Fury of the Frost Giant

This feat was definitely changed. Thing is it’s still kinda mediocre? Like, I’d rather the Gift of the Gem Dragons feat from Fizban’s as pushing melee enemies back is more useful than slowing them, and slowing a ranged enemy is pointless.

Like, this feat is cool and flavorful? But I can’t help but feel it’s ultimately useless.

Guile of the Cloud Giant

Really gonna just powercreep Gnomes like that, huhn? Back in my day you used to have to be a specific race or subclass to teleport or turn invisible as a reaction. But now you can just do it with a universal feat!

I mean, Gnome Cunning and Archfey Warlock prove that having a panic button is nice. Hell, the Shield spell proves that having a panic button is nice. It’s a flavorful feat and also a useful one.

Keenness of the Stone Giant

I like this feat for simple reason: it gives melee characters a practical ranged options. Having an attack that both has decent range (none of this 30/120 javelin crap) and can knock enemies prone (notably this will knock flying enemies out of the sky if they don’t have a hover) is a really big asset for any Barbarian or Paladin. You really won’t need more than proficiency bonus uses of a ranged attack in my opinion (and you can always carry javelins as well if you’re really worried about that.) Add in the fact that this can be based off Strength, Constitution, or Wisdom and it’s really nice!

And this feat gives Darkvision too? WoTC you’re too kind! Honestly I thought the ranged attack was already good enough. I know Stone Giants having Darkvision is kinda a “thing” (based on the Rune Knight Fighter) but like... you don’t need to make this feat better? Even if I was playing a Druid or something I’d unironically consider this feat because it’s just that good to knock people prone at range. It falls off a cliff in higher tier play but even then it’s mostly going to be used for backup, and some damage is better than none.

Soul of the Storm Giant

I preferred the evasion tbh is all I can say. This new wind wall thing is weird.

Vigor of the Hill Giant

Behold the new, cooler Durable feat! This obviously benefits characters who are going to have high CON and take a lot of damage: you may think Barbarians but I’d actually honestly argue this is maybe worth it for a Monk? (I mean, excluding the fact that the prerequisite feat takes your Bonus Action.) The problem is that I’m trying to find a use for the anti-knockback part of the feat.

RUNE CARVER APPRENTICE

This feat is basically the same as it was in the last UA, right?

I mean opinion still stands: Comprehend Languages is a boring spell, and beyond that this is basically just a grab bag of spells. A midway decent grab bag (Disguise Self, Command, Entangle, and Sanctuary are all good spells) but still just a bunch of 1st level spells?

I do find it funny that you can cast Chromatic Orb without the 50 gp diamond, but honestly I don’t find Chromatic Orb to be that good of a spell.

Rune Carver Adept

Yup so they’re ditching the Rune Carver Wizard, because this feat is basically that subclass.

I mean the feedback on Rune Carver Wizard seemed fairly unanimous that the abilities didn’t fit a Wizard, and they they should “just be a feat.” So it’s interesting to see that they just made that ability a feat.

I wonder if we’ll see a return of the Rune Caver Wizard? Maybe as an Artificer? Probably not.

SCION OF ELEMENTAL AIR

This is very strong! Not only is Minor Illusion a damn good cantrip, but being able to fly (even for a round) can get you out of a lot of dangerous situations and into a lot of advantageous ones! Not to mention that it’s just cool to reposition yourself imo; I love strategic movement and varied terrain, which this feat takes advantage of.

SCION OF ELEMENTAL EARTH

WoTC stole my buff to the Earth Genasi smh.

I mean this is just a cool aesthetic? Straight out of Avatar The Last Airbender where you pull up a rock wall to block attacks. Not the strongest but definitely neat.

SCION OF ELEMENTAL FIRE

...Really? Your best way to embody the Element of Fire was the Dancing Lights cantrip and the Produce Flame cantrip? Like sure you can cast Produce Flame as a Bonus Action I guess... I don’t know why you’d bother taking a feat for that? Especially when the Metamagic Adept feat lets you cast better cantrips as a Bonus Action, such as Eldritch Blast?

SCION OF ELEMENTAL WATER

Thaumaturgy was the best spell you could think of to embody water? Really? Like, not even Acid Splash like the Water Genasi? Broooo they really need to just make the Elemental Evil cantrips official...

Anyways pushing and pulling people is cool, although maybe not all that practical. Again reminds me of Avatar The Last Airbender. Kinda wish they let you do some cool stuff with ice like they did it ATLA but...

Spells

Reddit was very angry about these I remember. I will say that I really love these spells thematically but the power level is kinda hit-or-miss.

Antagonize

Behold! Upcasted Vicious Mockery! I mean, the effect is cool but the damage is fucking garbage for a 3rd level spell. Add in the pitiful range and the fact that this spell does nothing if the target succeeds and it’s kinda a hard sell for me.

House of Cards

WoTC... why are you printing an errata for Leomund’s Tiny Hut in this UA? Like, this spell is just objectively worse than Tiny Hut most of the time? It’s also worse than Galder’s Tower, but that spell is technically unofficial so...

I mean this visual is awesome and I thank you for it, but this spell is just needlessly bad compared to Tiny Hut and Galder’s Tower. Like you can’t even cast this as a ritual why?

Spirit of Death

I mean cool visual but I can’t shake the feeling that other summoning spells are better? I mean, this thing can walk through walls and has permanent advantage, but it also disappears when the target falls over? This is a good spell for a boss fight but a bad spell for general combat I feel. And I can’t help but feel that this spell could��ve just been a generalized summon instead of having the mechanic where it attaches to someone. I understand it thematically but it doesn’t stop it from being a bad spell imo.

Spray of Cards

So this is either a slightly better Color Spray with a saving throw or a... really bad Burning Hands? Like why is the damage so aggressively terrible? 2d10 is nothing my lord.

Can’t shake the feeling this should just be a 3rd level spell that combines both effects with more damage and perhaps a wider AoE. (20 foot cone?) As the spell is currently it’s kinda laughably bad compared to other 2nd level spells, or even upcasted 1st level spells. Like instead of getting within 15 feet of an enemy I could just cast Blindness / Deafness on them. Yes this spell can theoretically blind more people but you don’t need that many people blinded.

Summon Warrior Spirit

“omg guiz u canz cats a 7th levul spel slit 2 maek a fitur az da weezurd who iz betar dan de figutr hiz i amz redit i am so smrat i complan dat cazturz r strungur dan mashulz!!!!!1111″

Can you tell I don’t like r/dndnext?

“This spell makes a better Fighter” aside: this spell is a bit overtuned? The damage output is incredibly good (unless you pick the Monk lmao, but the Monk can knock people prone.) The Fighter in particular completely devalues Summon Celestial imo, as it distributes a similar amount of temp HP for very little effort.

Even if I think Reddit overreacted to this spell I can recognize an overpowered spell when I see one. The Barbarian does too much damage, the Fighter “heals” too much, and the Monk has too much CC.

-----

tl;dr final thoughts:

Glitchling - Comedically overpowered and has way too many abilities for its own good.

Fate Domain Cleric - Cool but lacks cohesion and has some overpowered abilities.

Backgrounds - Very fun.

Feats - Some misses mostly hits.

Spells - Cool flavor bad balance.

This UA has a lot of really fun ideas and while I don’t think anything is overly experimental I will say that the balance is really out of whack. The one good thing about this UA is that most of the “reprints” from previous UAs are way better balanced, so it seems like WoTC is understanding what people want and how to give it to them. I really hope that most of the stuff in this UA gets balanced to an acceptable level because I will be happy to support it.

Also gotta beg my DM to let my Bardlock use a deck of cards as their focus.

[bluemojave]

what color are my ocs?

tagged by the fantastic @allthearchetypes @hoesephseed @adelaidedrubman @quentinbecks and @preachercuster to do this lil quiz for my ocs and ok ok i finally did it :p this has gone around a lot so i’m not gonna tag specifically but if you haven’t done it yet…do it. i’m tagging you.

also ok maybe i over-complicated this tbh but the answers didn’t feel wholly accurate for some of them so i bolded or italicized parts i agreed with (or struck through wrong bits lmao)- these answers are long so if you wanna see who got what hit the read more!

Red: Cain, Rei (Cain is bold, Rei is italics- was done to show when i think a trait only fits one of them lol)

- Red characters tend to be both quiet and observant as well as loud and dramatic. They are often brash and impulsive, and tend to act on instinct rather than planning ahead. They are quite self-sacrificing, often veering into self-destructive, and they push themselves to their limits trying to succeed. They tend to be stubborn, and it might take a lot to change their mind. They have a hard time expressing their feelings, and may come off as either emotionless, self-absorbed, or perpetually angry. They don’t have a ton of friends, and when they do, it’s often by circumstance rather than choice (although they grow to fiercely love their friends). They are not usually innately good at fitting into social situations, and can be awkward and out of place in them. They can come off as unhumorous because of how sincere and honest they tend to be, but tend to just have a dryer, sarcastic sense of humor. They do often think of others first, but their motivations for it might not be entirely selfless. They usually have a hard time conceivably lying, and are quite earnest without meaning to be. They put their full effort into what they do, and push themselves to improve at all costs. They get easily defensive, and feel like they have to prove themselves to earn anyone’s respect. They have a strong sense of internal morality and high standards for themselves. They also hold others to their internal high standards, which can cause a lot of conflict if not worked out. They tend to have bad relationships with their parental figures, who were usually either absent or abusive, and contributed to their toxic view of themselves. At their core, red characters want to be loved and accepted, but have often been denied it, leading them to build up lots of defenses. Others need to be patient with them and give them a safe space to be themselves as they open up and begin to flourish.

Orange: Valentine (mostly right!)

- Orange characters are charismatic and talented. They push themselves to be the best at everything they put their mind to, and get upset when they can’t meet their own standards. They tend to be prodigies, seeming almost superhuman in their genius or abilities, but they often base their self-worth off of how well they can perform, making them feel isolated from the others around them. While most people see orange characters as cocky and self-absorbed, they are actually quite insecure in themselves (i don’t think it’s in the same way Atlas is seen as cocky or self-absorbed though, if that makes sense). They want attention and validation from others, but because of their faux confidence and the constant (and often somewhat empty) praise from the people around them, the people that are truly closest to them often withhold it from them. This often leads them to push themselves beyond their limits to succeed and/or act out in unhealthy and self-destructive ways, in an effort to get some kind of recognition. These characters seek to impress, and have a hard time telling praise from love. They have a constant need to be the hero, in whatever context that means for them. These characters usually have a sense of humor and wit that can tend to flatter themselves (although much of what they say is rooted in truth), but it’s contrasting to some of their more self-deprecating natures. (This man only knows humor in dry sarcasm lol) They can be serious loners, since they isolate themselves from others in an attempt to protect themselves. Although they would never admit it, they crave acceptance and belonging. Others generally don’t see this, because orange characters are loathe to admit weakness and build up defenses by making it clear that they don’t care what others think, although they do. In childhood, it is likely that their parental figures were either absent or (in this case and) abusive, often holding them up to high standards while not providing enough positive reinforcement. Other characters need to treat orange characters not as an annoyance, or give up on them quickly, but to make it clear that they are willing to love and support them regardless of how useful they can be, and to voice compliments where they are due.

Green: Atlas

Green characters are often hotheaded and brash, unafraid to speak their mind. They make for excellent leaders and teachers, and tend to be most devoted to a specific field, which they do well in. They have a lot of confidence in themselves, and although they can’t always see themselves positively, they are good about respecting themselves. They have a lot of common sense but are equally likely to strategically plan something out as to rush in on an impulse. They often have to work hard to get others to respect them, and sometimes receive less of it when people find out who they are. Still, they are not afraid to make others uncomfortable by being themselves, and are unlikely to waver when someone wants them to change against their will. They can be brash and loud, but also very quiet and secretive. Their humor can be a bit rude, and they don’t always display friendship and affection to the people they care about in the most conventional ways. However, they’re quite easygoing, witty, and fun-loving people. They don’t like when people are flighty and prefer to work with people who don’t quit and stand their ground (he is flighty himself but is a hypocrite lol). They stand out from others, both because of the way they approach the world, and because of how skilled they tend to be at what they do. Some people may not suspect that they are harmonious because of their blunt nature, but they are surprisingly good and reasonable diplomats, and can employ a lot of meaningful tact when the situation calls for it. They may feel a sense of distance or abandonment from their parental figures (his actual ones are long dead and Jax was murdered so yeah lol), as they often became emotionally or physically absent sometime in their life. Green characters hate being told what to do and put into a box, and are likely to challenge authority. They can be hard to work with at times due to their stubbornness, but they bring a lot to the table and tend to round out their friend groups. They need people in their lives who respect them, care about them, and listen to them, as well as offer them companionship without requiring them to conform to a certain preset standard.

Dark Blue: Miles (this one is the most accurate imo)

Dark Blue characters are kindhearted and responsible, driven to care for others around them. They are good at strategizing in the heat of the moment, but are also quite impulsive and rush into things without a plan when they are fired up. While calm people and patient teachers, they are quite hotheaded and not afraid to stand up for what they believe in. Their sense of morality guides them, both into battle, and into healing. They get along with a wide range of people, but do have a temper that causes them to get into short-lived disagreements. They don’t like to be seen as inferior, as much of their strength comes from the softness inside of them. They like being needed and helpful, and want people to agree that they know what’s best for them, although others can get annoyed at what they perceive as nagging. They take turns being the voice of reason and the reason for the voice. They can hold their own, and believe in respecting everyone as long as everyone is respectful in turn. They often had to grow up fast and mature early, which they both take pride in and resent. They are likely to join a just cause on a whim, and do what it takes to develop the skillset they need to best help the cause, although they prefer to be at the center of the action. If they feel no one is doing anything and it needs to be done, they’ll step in. They are often close to prodigies, having some sort of incredible skill that they can expertly hone. They are inspirational and have a lot of emotional maturity. They can both maneuver people through their hardships and inspire them to rise up. They can often ignore their own feelings and needs in the process of being a sort of martyr for others, however, and can grow resentful when no one pays attention to them like they do for others. Dark blue characters need people in their lives who will encourage and uplift them in whatever cause they choose to support, as well as give them space to talk out their feelings. They also need others who will recognize when they are taking too much responsibility on, and take some time to give them care and support and affirm their willingness to care.

[dearsnow]

BYF

Blog rules

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Request rules

First and foremost, I would like to state that requests are taken as suggestions. I may not be able to fulfill all of your requirements and I’m not obligated to write what you suggest in the first place.

Please note that I am very slow at fulfilling requests and honestly most of them are just rotting in my inbox and will never be touched 😭 if you want to ask about the status of your request, please dm me or send an ask off-anon so I can respond to you privately. I won’t ever condemn you for being curious as to where your request is at.

1. Do not send a request multiple times (unless you think it might have not gone through). Chances are, I’ve seen it and am just waiting for the inspiration to hit me

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5. I will only specify what reader looks like in very certain situations that I myself am comfortable with. Please ask if it’s okay beforehand!! I also only write for gn / fem reader

6. Please do not ask me to write about potentially triggering things as it is uncomfortable for me

7. I tend to not write specific personalities for reader when it’s part of a request, but I will if your suggestion resonates with me

8. Fandoms I write for: the quarry, genshin impact, game of thrones, house of the dragon, lord of the rings, haikyuu, tokyo revengers, 10 things i hate about you, spiderverse, marvel, dc, house md, dead poets society, the outsiders, etc.

Tags

✦ - orion's orbit. - navigation

solar eclipse. - writing

lunar eclipse. - reblogs

to: the void. - random posts

interstellar radio. - asks

broadcaster: [name]. - asks from specific people

astral connection. - matchups (mutuals only rn)

[the-resurrection-3d]

I feel like Elon Musk trying to buy Twitter fascinates me so much because I agree with a lot of his assessments of it -- but the more I think about it, the more I find the project of rehabbing Twitter’s reputation incredibly daunting. (and also I’m fascinated by web design and its effects on behavior.)

Tumblr partially rehabbed its image only via a mass exodus of users-- certainly staff has been making some positive changes, such as tipping and the “non rebloggable” option that allegedly will exist soon, but I think we can all agree that the reason Tumblr is seen by many as calmer than before is because of the porn ban.... whereupon all the worst users went to Twitter.

I’ve already posted about the content moderation issue that plagues most social media sites. (Fun new example from Youtube: I was watching a stream where one superchatter was asking for advice about how to comfort his elderly, COVID+ father, and another chatter was suggesting a bath of Epsom salt for aches and it got fucking deleted as COVID misinfo while the streamer was reading it out loud.)

Multiple posts/threads/videos have been about this, but I think that so much of Twitter’s user interface is designed to make you want to tell people to swallow glass that to actually tackle the harassment problem-- as Musk indicated he wanted to do very recently --you’d need to redesign the whole thing. A few “the devil is in the details” things that stand out to me personally:

the What’s Happening tab stands out the most to me because I actually recently installed a Ublock Origin filter to get rid of it. There should never, EVER under any circumstances be a trend-- especially a political trend-- that I am not able to banish to the fucking Shadow Realm. Ever. 

this feature can also amplify harassment by directing people to the Twitter Main Character of the Day. Though, to be fair, this is really a problem with the site’s users and not so much the feature in a vacuum.

Inserting random shit onto your timeline also needs to go. Part of the reason I don’t like using my professional account is because I’ll get a bunch of “liked by whoever” tweets that are about people’s family members dying or OP getting diagnosed with cancer, which obviously the person I follow liked out of sympathy. 

quote-retweets are pretty much only used for dunking on other people. Even visually, the quote-retweet is “pushing down,” as it were, on the OP, privileging their voice over OP’s. I think part of the problem with them is that they cut notifications off from the source-tweeter; this is why so many artists have “NO QRTS” in their bios. But this means that you can reap all the dopamine of a “hit tweet” by QRTing someone else. 

also worth noting that, though you’re allowed to RT things onto multiple accounts from the app, you still have to go into QRT mode to select the account you want.

oh god remember during the election when they made QRTing pretty much mandatory

Something I’ve noticed that is Twitter seems to be dealing with this trend of mass-QRTing people into oblivion by arbitrarily pretending the QRTs aren’t there. I’m sure other people have noticed this, right? The page with the parakeet with the big cut-out human eyes? Very odd. 

This one is probably the most obvious, but as many others have noticed, the way longer threads are displayed does the work of taking shit out of context for you. 

The character limit. Oh, the character limit. This will always be a fundamental problem with Twitter so long as people treat it as a real website and not an RSS feed.

Things I like about twitter got gov dot net that should stay: 

Allowing you to go private at any time without blocking your followers from viewing your content. This is one thing I think Twitter has over Tumblr, hands-down. 

Private bookmarking, though I think there should be some way to organize them, similar to how ao3 has bookmarking tags and collections. 

Allowing people to make lists of users to follow that’s separate from their “main” list of followed accounts. I follow one list of nothing but magazine accounts and it’s great. 

That time during the election when Twitter (at least the app) had a pop-up chiding you for retweeting a link you hadn’t opened. I think they should bring this back. Honestly, it might even be worth it to outright block you from retweeting links you haven’t opened, or at least tweaking the algorithm so that likes/RTs from people who haven’t opened the link are discounted. Musk mentioned recently that he thinks free speech and shadowbanning people can co-exist (which I find funny, because a lot of the people who complain about censorship also complain about shadowbanning), so this change would work with that idea.

downvoting replies is hilarious and I love it 

Of course, part of the problem with the site, too, is that people are trying to break its features over their knees to make it work for a ton of different communities with tons of different needs. 50+ tweet threads are the best example of this-- especially when you see one and the very first, most-liked reply is someone @ing the thread-unroller bot so that it’s in a more comprehensive and readable form. And THEN OP complains about it because it’s stealing money from them, somehow. 

Honestly, Musk should pull a Fortnite and take the site offline for a month or two while it gets revamped. All the worst users will kill themselves and the problem will have sorted itself out!