#i want to invest more in these ideas but i always get worried its a bipolar episode or something and im just getting like

[finagled]

im so frustrated tonight. idk why. my brain is buzzing with an angry burning passion against the system but my body is tired from a long day.

i really wish i had the stomach for politics because like... people who meet me irl tend to like me. im good at educating them and persuading them without them getting the impression that im passing judgement. i have some Very Good Ideas that I think very few could argue with and would at least somewhat improve things, i think. i would not be ready yet but i could one day. there are things that could be said, spins that could be spun, that they are not doing. i wish i could

but i know i dont have the money or connections to keep myself and my family safe. that's probably my biggest hesitation in giving it more thought. i would not play the game. not only can you not win by not playing, but you also make yourself a gigantic target. i really think i could make a difference, but there's a reason why there's not more good politicians! they never make it that far

idk im just sorta rambling. ive been tired and im grieving from the anniversary of my dad's death and im stoned and just thinkin. for me none of this means anything unless im making a positive difference. i feel like ive got to do all i can to help because.... what else am i supposed to do? how can i, with a good conscience, put my heart into anything else when i know there's work to be done and i have this deep down feeling that ive got to help do it

if anyone has read this far, am i crazy for thinking like this? not a lot of people really follow my tumblr so i feel pretty okay posting about this without hate mail but like. it baffles me that we don't have somebody out there already saying some of this stuff. like for people who are so concerned about child grooming and shit, how come you're okay with the age of consent/marriage being below 18 in most of the country?? how is that not more of a talking point if child exploitation is such a worry? no its gotta be the trans

idk what im going to do to change things yet but ive always had this drive in me that im meant to keep going, keep trying until i find the answer. the people have power like never before, but we don't know how to use it yet. we make things go viral on accident. what good things can we make go viral on purpose? social media has been shown to encourage anti-social behaviors in us. how can we change things so they promote pro-social behavior? i mean??? am i just missing something huge here?

[sansaorgana]

Buck’s gal getting injured on base (twisted ankle or scrape - nothing major) and him just running off only hearing “she got hurt” to find her

hiii, it's me again 😌 with the second fic today because I'm trying to work on as many requests as I can since I don't have any plans this weekend and the amount of them in my inbox is lowkey stressing me out, not gonna lie 🤣 I love to write for Buck, though, so it's fine 💐

my inbox is open for blurb/short fic requests for major cleven 🤗

You would always wait for him when he was coming back from the missions. You were the only face Buck wanted to see first anyway and he kept searching for you through the crowd each time. Seeing you cheering for him would make him smile and his heart slow down its pounding in his chest.

But this time you were not there. His eyes were scanning through the crowd of men and women but you were not one of them. People approached him to congratulate him and pat his back but he did not pay much attention to it. He wanted to find his girl first. You would be the one to ground him after the mission and only after your sweet kiss he would be able to talk to these people or answer their questions.

“Where’s (Y/N)?” He kept asking but no one knew. Some didn’t even notice your unusual absence.

“You’re asking ‘bout (Y/N)?” Harry approached him. “She’s in the sickbay,” he explained and Buck’s heart skipped a beat at that. How could Harry be so casual about it…?

“What do you mean she’s there? What happened?!”

“I’ve no idea. Some accident. Buck, hey,” Harry tried to grab his friend’s sleeve, “you have to be interrogated first.”

“I don’t care,” Buck drawled out and hurried to the sickbay, not reacting to Harry and other men calling out for him. He was breaking a rule, he was aware. But there were more important things.

You were the most important thing.

Buck stormed inside the sickbay and looked around. One of the nurses sighed at the sight of him, already suspecting who he was looking for.

“She’s over there,” she pointed at the bed in the corner and Buck thanked her before rushing to your side.

You were reading a book and didn’t notice him at first, invested in the plot of some romance novel one of the nurses had lended to you. It was a nice distraction from the pain and from the stress. Buck was up in the air and you tried not to think about it too much.

“Sweetheart, what happened?” His deep voice brought you back to reality. You looked up and smiled widely at the sight of him.

“Oh! You’re back! You’re back!” You put the book away and extended your arms towards him.

“Yes, baby, I am,” he sat on the edge of your bed and took his cap off before leaning in to hug you. “What happened? Why are you here?!”

“You’re going to laugh at me,” you giggled.

“What do you mean?” He furrowed his brows, worried.

“I was in the archives, I tried to reach for the top shelf and I stood on the stool, right…” you started.

“Without taking off your heels first?” Buck sighed, knowing already what happened. He had been warning you about it each time he’d catch you doing it.

“Yes,” you looked down, ashamed. “And yeah, I fell down…” You paused and then you burst out laughing. “Oh, Buck, I’m glad you weren’t there.”

“I’d catch you if I were,” he lifted your chin up so you’d look at his face again.

“Yeah, no. Because…” you giggled, “...oh, baby, I fell down with the whole rack!” You laughed once again at how ridiculous you had to look when you had been found by the Colonel.

Buck chuckled finally, too.

“I’m so clumsy, it’s embarrassing,” you sighed.

“No, don’t say that,” he caressed your cheek. “Where does it hurt?” He asked.

You pushed your blanket aside and he hissed at the sight of your scratched knees and bruised hip.

“Yeah, not a very pleasant sight,” you admitted and covered yourself again. “The Colonel is more worried about that rack, though.”

“Of course he is,” Buck rolled his eyes.

“I’m scared that I’ll end up with scars on my knees,” you whispered. “I’m going to have ugly knees.”

“Well, that’s what you get for not listening to me, doll,” Buck bopped you on the nose.

“Will you still love me when I have ugly knees?” You asked shyly and he laughed.

“Oh, no, I can’t bear such a thought. I think I will be forced to look for a new girl with nicer knees. You see, knees are the most important part of a woman,” he teased but you didn’t find it funny and you pouted. “Oh, darling, I was joking,” he leaned in closer to place a kiss on your forehead. “I will always love you,” he promised and you smiled at him sweetly, “even with ugly knees.”

“Cleven,” Colonel’s voice made you both look up, “you should be in the interrogation.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I’m going now,” Buck put his cap back on and stood up.

“Both you and your girl are such menaces today,” Colonel Harding gave you an unpleasant look and you giggled.

“Oh, Colonel,” you rolled your eyes, “don’t you know trouble comes in pairs?”

MASTERLIST || BUCK MASTERLIST

[duskyvenus]

A flower blossoms for its own joy: How will you bloom?

A PAC about your blooming moment and how you will get there. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Open your eyes and choose the photo that speaks to you. 3 piles left to right. This is for entertainment purposes only, take what resonates. Feel free to check other piles if it doesn't resonate :)))

Pile 1

I'm seeing that we have some shy people here or people who put a lot of thought before saying something in the sense that they don't want to provoke someone. The message here is to be little unapologetic about certain things. You don't have to be worried about how others perceive you. "Say the weird thing!" I know this can be hard especially if you're not around the right people but the trash will take itself out if you are more open about your likes and dislikes. This is the way you will find the people that are truly meant for you, by letting go and cutting some people off. Also, I'm seeing that you need to practice gratitude and mindfulness. Keeping a journal can help. Travel to places you have always wanted to visit. The last thing that you need to do in order to "blossom" is to accept help. I get that it is nice being independent but being humans we need community. I'm not asking you to be very social and have too many friends, cuz remember the earlier point of not gaf about what other people say; yeah just do enough so that you're comfortable :) Remember that this is going to be a new chapter in your life so the key is balance. I think you can imagine your blooming moment by now. For some of you I'm seeing the presence of a significant other. This will probably be a slow burn.

Here's a moodboard for you:

Songs:

Thank you for reading!

Pile 2

I'm mainly getting the vibe that you don't take care of yourself enough. Like no skincare, self care or you're not eating healthy. I'm not asking you to follow strict regimes to become flawless, I'm just saying that maybe something's missing, some deficiency perhaps (?) idk. I also get the vibe that you are tight on money or grew up in a low income household. There's a lack of self love in this pile. You feel like you don't deserve love or that you're low maintenance because of your past relationships. (That's just not true!) The remedy for all of this is investing in yourself. You don't have to go broke looking after yourself; keep a journal, write down your thoughts, write down positive affirmations, maybe change your wardrobe (clothes carry energy), have a candle light dinner with yourself, etc. I'm also seeing that you could be really good at handicraft so maybe you should start a business. You could even be a good photographer. You just need to start posting you're a true artist! If you do things that make you happy and calm you're going to get closer to your blooming moment. You're going to have a really beautiful house. Your house will be adorned with pottery, paintings, etc. I get a self-satisfied vibe :)

Here's a moodboard for you:

Songs:

Thank you for reading!

Pile 3

I'm getting that this pile is very different from the last two. You probably have everything anybody could ask for or, you are working towards it. You are really close to blooming but that will need just a little more effort. You will bloom if you acknowledge your roots. You have to be very humble and thankful. Maybe you have lost track of your identity due to the grind and the struggle. Taking short breaks from time to time could be a good idea. You will bloom when you include others into your plans. Try giving gifts to friends just because. Tell them that you are glad to have them in your life. Go camping or hiking, reconnect with nature. For some of you I'm seeing an ancestor that protects you because you remind them of themselves :)) Apart from this I see that you're good at your job and leave on the dot which may have ruffled the feathers of a few people. But you don't have to worry about that. Just be your usual self. "Your coworkers can very rarely be your friends so make time for the friends that you already have." - words from your ancestor. I see you happy and smiling in your blooming moment. Shaking hands with important people, doing what you love to do :)) Your ancestors and spirit guides are smiling too <3

Hers's a moodboard for you:

Songs:

Thank you for reading!

[another-lost-mc]

Omg a fellow F1 enjoyer here!! I absolutely love all your works, but I especially loved that one even more! 🥺 can I request for the dateables and side characters too pleaseee? 🫣

a/n: I'm glad you liked it! the demon bros were more like mc's little crew and it was such a cute idea. I think the others would still support mc in their own way too.

➤ when MC is a professional F1 driver | the dateables + mephisto

1.3k words | sfw | gn!reader | fluff & slice of life shenanigans

cw: developing relationships with the other characters (except for baby brother luke who is strictly platonic and mc's #1 fan).

related versions: the demon brothers

Diavolo

— He's thrilled that you're forging your own path in the Devildom and that the demon brothers are involved.

— He's impressed by your abilities but he still worries about your safety.

— Every morning when Barbatos brings him his morning paper, he scans the front page and sports sections for articles or photos about you or your latest race.

— He saves clippings of all your newspaper/magazine appearances and keeps them in a scrapbook.

— His original intention was to give it to you as a gift when you finished your year in the exchange program. He ends up making copies for everyone who wants one and keeps the original for himself.

— He has his own impressive vehicles. your excitement is palpable when he shows you the collection in his garage. When you go out together, he offers you the keys and hopes that you'll take the wheel. (He can't explain why he likes it so much.)

Barbatos

— He's a skilled driver himself even though he rarely needs to drive. Portals are so much simpler.

— The Devildom racing league tightens up its safety and security measures when you join. Barbatos personally oversees that their lax approach to rules and safety are amended. He argues that there's a fortune to be made for having the novelty of a human world driver on their track. He promises with fake smiles that their license and investments will suddenly be forfeit should anything happen to you due to their negligence.

— Barbatos doesn’t have a lot of free time to watch your races in person, but he follows your Devilgram account and watches the highlight reels that Asmo posts when he is done working for the day.

— He receives your fan club's newsletter. He's also purchased some merchandise as well, including a coffee mug he uses when he drinks tea privately in his chambers

— The Little D’s are some of your biggest fans too. Some of them make zoom-zoom noises as they race each other in the halls of the castle. (Little D Number 2 has tried to "borrow" Barbatos' fan merch, several times, but always gets caught.)

Simeon

— He's not sure why humans are so fascinated in sports or activities that look far too dangerous. He admires your passion and hates it at the same time.

— He’s a little nervous the first time you offer to take him out for a joy ride, but later he admits it was surprisingly enjoyable. (Anything with you is enjoyable, though.)

— He and Luke go to your races and both of them have a small collection of your fan merch.

— He’s very concerned about your safety. He knows humans are less durable than demons are and he watches from the stands with the pent-up energy of a bird about to take flight. If something happens, he's going to be out of his seat and flying to your side to help you.

— He secretly hopes you’ll retire from this career sooner rather than later because he’s terrified you’re going to get hurt (or worse) one day.

Luke

— He’s fascinated by the sport and how talented you are. He thinks it's a little scary how fast the race cars drive and he reminds you before each race that winning isn't important, as long as you're safe and having fun!

— He makes cupcakes and other yummy treats for you to celebrate your big wins. The cake and icing is dyed the same bright colours as your racing car.

— He loves it when you give him a chance to visit you behind the scenes at the track: exploring the pit, letting him sit in your car with your too-big helmet teetering awkwardly on his head.

— The others get a little jealous when you show Luke special attention, like when you wave to him in the crowd before a race or hug him when he runs up to you after.

— Luke likes sitting shotgun when you drive him and the others around town or for little day trips. Mammon even gives you permission to take him for drives in his own car sometimes. (Mammon lets Luke sit in the front seat with you if the three of you go somewhere together.)

— Luke talks about you constantly with his roommates in Purgatory Hall. He also mentions you a lot to Michael and even offered to send him some of your fan merch.

— (Michael grows more curious about you with each story or photo Luke shares with him, but he won't admit it to himself or anyone else.)

Solomon

— Solomon doesn't have an interest in most human sports, but when he meets you, his interest in the racing world is piqued.

— Whenever he wants to go out somewhere, he insists that not only should you go with him, but that you should drive, too.

— (There's something about your cool confidence and quiet joy behind the wheel that makes him feel things.)

— Your fan following in the human world is almost as impressive as your growing popularity in the Devildom. He goes on a little shopping spree, buying up the various official and fan-made merch that was sold during your rise to success.

— He keeps his favourite items for himself but lets the others have their pick. You think it's embarrassing how he even managed to find some of this junk (really, who has a pristine copy of an old racing calendar?). The demons and angels divide it all amongst themselves without too much arguing—at first. (You leave when someone suggests Rock, Paper, Scissors to settle some of the arguments over the most coveted items everyone wants for themselves.)

— Solomon rolls his eyes when Mammon claims loudly that this stuff is gonna sell for a fortune in the Devildom, but he knows the Greed demon has no intention of selling any of it. (Asmo confirms later that Mammon keeps everything he claimed, including the little collectible figures of your old racing car, on a shelf in his bedroom.)

Mephistopheles

— He's completely unimpressed with you when you first arrive, and he really doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. So what if you're human? You're completely ordinary and boring and unremarkable, so why should he care?

— The revelation about your human world profession, and your dramatic debut into the Devildom racing scene, changes his mind. Professionally, anyway.

— It's hard to refuse his next assignment when the prince himself takes such an interest in you. Mephisto is the RAD Newspaper Club representative tasked with covering your career and setting up interviews and photo-ops that the rest of the school are clamoring for.

— Mephisto really underestimates your popularity. He grits his teeth when Asmo cackles on the other end of the D.D.D. and informs him that he'll be added to the list of news outlets that want an interview with you.

— Seriously???

— (He refuses to be affected when you admit bashfully that interviews are something you'll never get used to, and that maybe if he's feeling generous, can he be kinder than some of the human world reporters used to be?)

— He gets special access, along with one of the Newspaper Club photographers, to the front row staging area so they can capture the best shots of you before, during, and after each race. He hates your bright smile when he grudgingly hands you a photo afterwards. Don't get the wrong idea, either: it's for his younger brother. Mephisto couldn't care less.

— (His brother is over the moon when Mephisto gives him the signed photo later. If he's smiling, it's only because his brother is happy!)

[earl-grey-teacake]

what if my world is becoming you sounds delightful and i am SUCH a fan of all the snippets you’ve posted! however.. do you have any more ideas for the victorian loscar au? bridgerton has made me even more enthusiastic for how their courting will go. and your descriptions of long suffering carlos w his love sick son oscar always amuse me, not to mention george’s over protectiveness and alex torturing him by helping logan 🫶

I absolutely have more ideas for the Victorian Loscar AU. The AU is abo/omegaverse but I am changing some of the rules and stuff.

Courting gifts- they are a big deal. Traditional courting gifts were expected to not be super expensive since it could be interpreted as a bribe. At the beginning of the courtship, the recipient would be sent books, flowers, and sweets. As it got more serious, it would be things geared towards personal interests like hats and hat pins, soap, scarves. The most serious would be jewelry (often bearing family crests or colors), perfume, and most importantly gloves since they cover the scent glands.

Hierarchy- So in this society, the hierarchy from top to bottom is title -> secondary gender -> gender. As a result, secondary gender is what decides if someone can inherit a title. Lia, who is Logan’s younger sister in this AU, is actually the heir after George because she is an Alpha compared to Logan, who is an omega even if he is the eldest son.

Very close knit family. I just want Logan to be loved and happy and supported. Everyone is invested and supportive of Logan and Oscar’s courtship. His family genuinely wants him to find love and not worry about having to marry for title and money.

Oscar is very much ‘I never cared about dating and now I have to date and court and it’s a nightmare” - (this is me)

Carlos is “we paid so much for you to go to school and travel the world and this is the result?”

Lando is “yeah, don’t write that in a letter to Logan. Alex might not care but George will definitely care and I do not need to hear him go on about it.”

One of the biggest things I know I want to include is that Oscar is not good at courting. He’s rich, titled, good looking, but he’s not suitable in the marriage market because he just doesn’t know the correct way to court. For all its speak of finding love in marriage, there were very strict rules on how to go about it and how to communicate and Oscar is very bad at it. He fumbles, messes up but gets up and tries again and again. Carlos is exasperated, George is worried for the future of his child, and Alex admires Oscar’s refusal to give up.

I hope you enjoy these. I tried to give a variety of world building and of the characters. These are subject to change but not likely. If you want more or for me to delve into specifics, feel free to let me know 😊

[darkvioletwonderland]

Hi! I had this thought in mind for a long time but I never ask for headcanons before. So please be patient with me! Its my first time asking for this things and Im not sure if I know all the rules for asking for hc 🥲

I was wondering if you could write Heartsteel Kayn hc (or Aphelios or Yone. Or maybe the three of them hehe) making love for the first time with female reader. I always had this feeling that behind that rockstar badass attitude, Kayn can be the softest and cutest person ever, a side that only one person can see.

I hope you like this idea! And sorry for my bad english! Its not my first language. And sorry for writing so much! Thank you for your time ❤️

-> Hey! Thank you for your submission! No worries at all ffksfkf english is not my first language either. I love the concept! Hope I can do it justice for you! <3

𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙇 Headcanons - First Time ♥️ Mildly NSFW, suggestive language

-> 𝙁𝙚𝙢!𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙭 𝙆𝙖𝙮𝙣/𝘼𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙨/𝙔𝙤𝙣𝙚

Kayn

Kayn is a wild card no one could seemingly tame, a fact everyone knew by default. It's wasn't a surprise to anyone who met the walking menace. But behind closed doors, it was a completely different sight to behold.

Behind his confident and smug grin, laid a slightly nervous and observant man. As the two of you got down into doing it for the first time, Kayn wouldn't stop just looking at you. Even with his face just bursting from how much he was blushing.

With rough hands, he explored your body. Familiarising himself with your breasts and the shape of your hips. Always keeping an eye on what got you to make beautiful noises and what not. Teasing your chest most of all while his fingers roamed down bellow.

He'd kiss your lips and bite your neck to muffle his own noises of pleasure. You couldn't escape getting bitten by him. Though, you did had some advantage on your side. A dog collar around his neck and the leash in your hand to keep him in check. Surprising even yourself with how much Kayn needed to be yanked back. And how much you liked having control on such a smug man.

After the fact during after care, he offers to massage you. Brushing your hair gently and hugging you tightly from behind. Fuck you were perfect, just truly perfect. Laying another blanket of kisses on the nape of your neck. His affection after doing it for the first time becomes ten fold. As well as the amount of bites. He absolutely seeing marks on your body and knowing he was the culprit.

Aphelios

Aphelios is a rather calm soul, letting his music be the thing that fills the silence. Enjoying his bit of time pulling pranks on his closest friends. Surprisingly though, behind the curtain lied a rather playful soul.

Doing it for the first time, he was hesistant with touching. Even waiting for verbal approval, wanting to know you wanted this as much as he did.

His actions spoke better than any words could, taking the time to truly know your body like he depended on it. Praising your features with his hands and with kisses, delicate intimate touches that would just sent delighttful shivers down your spine.

It was a rather hot sight to see him so invested in between your breasts, fondling them and seeing his mouth kiss them gently.

After doing the deed, he cuddles with you. His aftercare is pampering you with affection and love. Using a finger to draw hearts along your bare skin. Kissing you softly and lightly whispering how much he loves you.

Yone

Yone is a professional in his field within the music industry, having plenty of experience to back up his skill. Which is why it's no surprise that he's quite knowledgeable when it comes to bed activities.

His professionalism takes a step back and let's a more romantic side of him show when it's both your first time doing the dirty. Staying quite respectful of you and letting you familiarize yourself with him before touching you. Guiding your hand, showing you it's okay and to not be afraid to enjoy this.

When it's his turn, he know exactly where to touch. Absolutely worshipping your body like the temple it is. Taking his time with pleasuring you more than himself. Specially down below in between your legs.

His almost perfect look gets ruined, but you do see a more untamed version of him. One with loose long hair, towering over you while he pants over you. Looking at you and only you, like you're the only star in the night sky.

At the end during after care, he completely takes care of you. Pampering you with kisses and whispers of sweet nothings in your ear. Holding you close and promising to never let go.

I know it's not perfect and I definitely lacked on the whole female reader aspect, but hopefully next time I can do better! If you've read this far, thank you! <3

Check out my pinned for my Headcanon rules

[pruneunfair]

My feelings on villains are destined to die and how it writes a toxic family, what lead them to where they were and if they chose to end the cycle or repeat it.

For one I can see why it's so popular, the plot is unique for its time since it was one of the first villainess centered manhwas and there characters are 3 dimensional. VADTD has its fair share of flaws as all media do but my problem is with the fanbase who seem to get the idea that liking something or someone means you must support it at all times otherwise it means you support the opposing party.

This will be mostly centered around our FL that you've probably seen somewhere before even if you haven't read VADTD, Penelope Eckart

If you think I'm here to dog on Penelope don't worry, I think she's a beautifully made protagonist that is actually morally gray and not a bitch with morally gray excuse. So despite how much the fandom says she's a perfect girlboss, Penelope isn't a good person. She sees everyone as just a video game character in the beginning so she doesn't care if characters like Emily would get hurt or how Eckles felt, that isn't too unreasonable since she did get transmigrated into a video game but there are lines that she crosses, she knows the horrors of abuse very well from her past life which is why she's so attached to the og Penelope, but it's clear she is willing to repeat the cycle for her own needs.

Introducing one of the most controversial characters: Eckles (or Eclis/eclipse)

Eckles as a character was designed to make you feel uncomfortable. He's a slave bought by Penelope at an auction and trust me, she isn't very nice about it. He's always wearing a collar with a spell that causes him to be paralyzed and unable to speak if Penelope touches the Ruby ring given to her by the auctioneers, (Because there's no way that could be abused) and everything about him just seems to miserable, his life depends on Penelopes love and care for him and he's willing to keep the collar just so he can be useful..everything about him seems to be the embodiment of Stockholm syndrome and a lack of identity. The saddest part? He knows why Penelope wants him around and he despises her for it (reasonable) yet he still "loves" her

Word for Word, this is what Penelope said to him when she bought him + a few more she says that are concerning to say the least

"Look at me Eckles. This is the face of your master who paid 100 million gold for you. I didn't pay such an extravagant price for you because I'm rotting in money, not even an insane noble would the equivalent of castle for a slave from a fallen kingdom, what is left for you even if you were able to resist and escape from here? You don't even have a country to run to. I despise those who don't know their place. I saw potential in you and that is why I invested in you, that is all our relationship is. Prove your worth so that I have no regrets about the price I paid for you, otherwise I'll send you back here with no hesitation. Do you understand?"

"A dog should act like a dog Eckles! What use is a son of a bitch who bites his master!?"

"You dare bite your master?"

That is NOT good person behavior, Penelope is desperate to live yes but that was one of her lowest moments. Buying a man, contributes to the buisness of slavery with 100 million gold, straight up threatening him to sell him back to slavery if he doesn't obey, and manipulates him for means of an end. But that's the point. Penelope is a gray character so naturally on top of all the good she can do, she still is capable of repeating the cycle of abuse on another person.

They have a sort of co-dependent relationship later on, Penelope views him as a beast and her way of keeping him on her side is buying him a bunch of gifts and then leaving him for long periods of time, forgetting that all he asked of her was to visit him. Of course Penelope is in no way obligated to do so just because Eckles loves her, and by love, I mean obsession to the point where Eckles starts to commit extreme acts all in the name of his obsession for her. He's no longer a person, he's just Penelopes worshipper who also "betrays" her.

Thats another thing people hate him for, for betraying the woman who bought him and treated him more like an animal than a person. And yeah, bringing Leila back to the mansion was a dick move not to mention betraying his own people but when it came to betraying Penelope.. you can't really owe your slave master loyalty, I saw this more as a consequence of Penelopes actions rather than a "poor pene" moment because im just gonna say it: Penelope had no right to be that upset when the slave she treated as an animal wound up betraying her. There was no right in that situation just two wrongs and yet there's a ton of people who solely blame Eckles for not being grateful that Penelope didn't do anything extremely egregious when she owned him (wtf!?)

Yes Eckles isnt a great person either, as i said he put all of his country to death when he snitched on them so he could stay by Penelopes side but just because Penelope is the protagonist with a tragic backstory, that doesnt mean shes an innocent lamb and while fans will glorify the toxic relationship, the way the narrative portrays it is too uncomfortable to be a romantic path, it's meant an abusive past where Penelope can choose to stay at her worst and that would honestly be depressing if she did get with him, itd be a twisted master-slave relationship where Penelope can do whatever she wants to Eckles and he can't say nor will he want to, and I think she knew to some degree that she wouldnt want to be that monster and what she was doing was inhumane which is probably she stays far away from him since she's beginning to see these people as humans and not code. It's both a mix of desperation for her own life and a desire to not repeat an abusive cycle just with extra steps.

A slave and their master isn't a forbidden romance, it's just Stockholm syndrome covered in glitter.

Now on to the other characters, the love interests/ brothers.

Theres a lot of love for Callisto and I can see why, he's not a cardboard cutout and has a personality that didn't revolve around Penelopes goals. I'll admit I didn't like him at first but he's grown on me

But I have a feeling there's another reason fans adore him outside of his character and goals. He's the only love interest that isn't an abusive one. Unlike Eckles, Callisto is closer in equality to Penelope and he's you know, not her fricking step brother. After all when the other options are lava and toxic chemicals, you would much rather stick your hand in a mysterious substance that could benefit you even if it could also kill you. That's what Callisto was when we met him, he's the one who killed OG Penelope the most in hard mode and when he first speaks to Penelope, he's putting a sword at her throat, even though he's killed Penelope in so many timelines, the timelines where he doesn't are the happiest... which I honestly don't know how to feel about that.

then there's Derrick, and uh yeah, I don't blame the fandom this time, he does suck and he has a sister complex.. Fantastic

Still though for such a hateable character it's done so well. He's not always so in your face about it, Derrick is still a 3d character with a "reason" that explains his stepbrother-stepsister love he has for Penelope, he's afraid of losing her like he lost Ivonne (that just opens so many weird doors though with how they imply it) and even if you take that away he's still a perfect example of abuser. No matter what Penelope did he's consistently blaming her for the negatives of their family, he loves her but he also controls her and makes her feel like shit. It's like another form of Eckles and Penelope which is kind of depressing since it's more portrayal of repeating cycles of abuse. *SPOILERS* He also gets to live normally after that and apparently becomes a loving uncle to Penelope and Callistos daughter which I interpret as the harsh reality that abusers who are family aren't likely to go away especially if they are older and hold more power over you, they can stop it all they want but that wound never got treated.

Reynold is another one I have a weird relationship with, he's not as terrible as Derrick but the shit he put Penelope through is yet another example of generational abuse that he started

Reynold represents the regret an abuser can feel after the harm is already done. The entire family has issues in general and communication is one that's seriously lacking but Reynold indirectly started it and justified it when he found the og Penelope praying that Ivonne would never return and from both sides, you can understand why. Penelope doesn't want to go back on the streets and Reynold is still grieving over his sister and the replacement was just wishing for that little sister to dissappear or die, but no matter the reason, abuse is still abuse. But he was willing to change after hearing her true story, but he continues to reprimand her for the past, not letting go so easily which made him a easy target for Leila to brainwash, as I've said, the damage is already done and while the two can remain civil, I wouldn't be surprised if Penelope never feels comfortable around him again.

EDIT: I thought about it and maybe "never feeling comfortable around him again" might be a little too far, OG Penelope probably wouldn't but I think the current Penelope would be more likely to move on.

And now for the figurative and literal embodiment of the lost/ghost child: Ivonne who represents how we handle grief and lost child syndrome.

Almost nothing is known about Ivonne for a long time, the family has fond memories of her but we never get to see what it was like beyond a single memory of the siblings sneaking out to the festival the night Ivonne went missing. In grief we tend to over fantasize the person we lost, usually as a perfect being who did no wrong. Thats what Leilas control represents, Ivonne is dead, her skin is cold to the touch like a corpse as described by Penelope , the goddess Leila who took over her body represents flaws the deceased may have had or a toxic coping mechanism in general and causes everyone under her control to only think about the best of her.

For Ivonne as a character, she is lost child personified, she's literally lost so it's already right there, a lost/ghost child is the type of child that stands by the toxicity of the family, they blend in and no one really bothers about them, though this is more of a reach then the other two, there arent a whole lot of chapters that mention Ivonne beyond comparing her to Penelope and the chapters where she actually does appear, shes separated from everyone else. Even her own father who spent years searching for her, he still gave up and what pushed Ivonne to become a literal ghost child is when she sees the Duke take Penelope off the streets to be his replacement daughter when his real child was staring right at him. Ivonne ends up in a mirror forever, where all she can do is watch the family from afar.

final main character is Winter, and he was the trickiest to place.

I forgot about Winter half the time since he kind just shows up at random, his introduction is literally happening to be there at the right moment when Penelope is running away from Callisto. So I wasn't very interested in him until the battle against the Leila cult, but even though I wasn't interested in him, I still preferred at the time if he was the love interest instead since he was the least violent of all the guys, he actually wanted Penelope to be happy, and very protective of nor just her but the sorcerer children so it was just green flags all around with the exception of the age gap. (I don't know how to feel about since Winter is 26 and Penelope is physically 18 but mentally she's in her 20s)

My interpretation of him is that he could be the friend/therapist that's outside the family, the one to give a little break from the disaster of a homelife. But a therapist or friend can really only do so much and in rare cases they could start suspecting you as a liar since they are also people who are dealing with their own set of problems. Kind of like how Winter starts to lose Penelopes trust when suspects her to be from the Leila cult.

Conclusion: VADTD is popular for a good reason and it has tons of great commentary on toxic households and that no character is truly innocent, but it doesn't get enough credit in that department since tons of people misinterpreted it as yet another basic reincarnation girl boss story where everything is black and white.

This is part 2 to a series I want to call "my feelings on", I'll read through a manhwa/anything one webtoon and I'll either critique it or come up with my own interpretations of it.

[in-act-ive]

Okay so could you maybe write something were the reader and carl talk about their future together and just plan out everything in full Detail and like just fluff and more fluff with them beinge excited for it

Yeah sure! You're gonna make me cry Anon ( joking! )

Carl Grimes x NB/GN!reader

Request : yep!

Type : story

A / N : I hope this is what you wanted! I apologize for no w/c. I totally forgot to do it! This takes place before Glenn's death because i stopped paying attention after that ( I'm not as informed on anything after that! ) I also don't remember everything an I need to rewatch some parts so I apologize if its at all wrong!

★────────────★

Carl, Rick, Glenn, and yourself were out on a run. You ended up in a huge forest and even if Rick wouldn't admit it, you were probably lost. Glenn was at the back and Rick was at the front leaving you and Carl in the middle.

Carl was way too focused on his dad and what he was mumbling to himself so you decided to break the very awkward silence.

"So, Carl, what do you have planned for the future?" You asked, taking a small step to stand in front of him. You spun around slightly to face him. You didn't mind having to walk backwards. He hummed thoughtfully before speaking.

Carl looked slightly annoyed when he stepped in front of him, his grip on his gun tightening slightly. "Dunno." He shrugged

You gasped in offense at the comment. Carl rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. Once the conversation starter failed your ears were filled with the sound of four sets of foot steps crunching the dead leaves, pine needles, and loose sticks below them, Rick's soft mumbling that seemed to just be nonsense, and Carl's heavy breathing. You sighed and fell back to Carl's side with angry huff.

You four sat in silence for the next half mile or so. The only real conversation was Glenn reassuring Rick that he knew what he was doing. And that he didn't need to worry.

You let your head fall back in anger at the silence. You looked up at the darkening sky and the sudden sound of Rick's voice made you jump and pull your gun up, your grip on it tightening.

"We should set up camp. You three look exhausted." Rick spoke firmly. When he watched you jump and move your gun he put his hand out to stop you. Carl put his hand over the barrel of your gun and softly pushed it down into a less threatening position.

'Setting up camp' was more of 'roll your sleeping bags out' cause Rick never let you carry a tent. You pulled your bag off and used the strap at the top to hang it on a low hanging branch. You pulled the sleeping bag out from its stop on your bag and you threw it out with a small noise.

You flopped on the thin fabric and sighed. Carl set his down beside you.

After Rick set up a fire and made you some ehat you assumed were beans he made his own food and went to bed. Glenn followed soon after leaving you and Carl up alone.

"Okay Carl, I'm not going to call you a liar--" You paused and tilted your head to the side to think about it. "Never mind I am going to call you a liar. You've got to have some plan for the future." You pushed. Carl looked at you kinda irritated before sighing.

"Tell me about your plans sense you're so invested." Carl commented. You didn't even take the time to consider that Carl had just avoided your question.

You thought for a moment. "Well! I wanna find love, obviously. Definitely get myself my own house of some sort. Get like my own sanctuary kinda thing!" You smiled happily as you explained.

Carl smiled, seeing you happy anf talk about something that made you so excited made him happy. You'd always brought a smile to the boys face no matter what you did. He thought of you as one of the few people who genuinely stayed happy in this whole mess.

Once you had finished talking he decided to give ideas. "Well... You could make a town of sorts. Find any animals, if there still are any, and raise them and such so food. Make it near a river so you can have water--" Carl was cut off by you speaking.

"You could help me run it!" Your eyes lit up. Carl looked at you confused for a moment. Not even knowing if he could deal with all that. He shook his head while smiling.

Carl finally looked up at you again before speaking, "I don't think so. I think you'd do much better without me." He spoke softly.

You were very offended. You pulled your head back in mock disgust before laughing softly. "I beg to differ!" You huffed at him.

You and Carl had always been attached at the hip. Even if he was a lot tougher than your more excited and happy self. You two rarely did anything without the other and you did not plan on changing that tradition, at all.

You'd been the one to calm Carl's constant need to be cool and show off to the adults. While on the other hand Carl was there to make sure you didn't let everyone push you around and to make sure you didn't fo anything too stupid.

Carl sighed at you and you sighed back, mocking him. He finally thought of what to say. "Y / N, as much as I'd love too you need to learn that you can live without me for five minutes." He looked very serious but his eyes were laces with something you couldn't quite put your finger on.

"Shut up! You know you'd love to help." You crossed your arms across your chest in frustration.

Carl laughed and set his hand on your knee, something he often did to make you know he was there. Or when he was about to say something he knew would make you happy.

He looks at you, deadpan. "You know I would." A small smirk plays at the side of his lips. "What's your plan?" He watches as your face lights up.

You're practically screaming with excitement at that. He quickly has to put his hand over your mouth to ensure you don't wake Glenn and Rick up.

"Really?" Your voice was muffled through his hand. Carl nodded softly.

Carl pulled his hand away and wiped it on his pants. You roll your eyes but kept your mouth shut for the time being. Once you actually found the words you spoke excitedly while whisper screaming. "You actually wanna hear?" Your eyes were shining.

Carl couldn't help but laugh at yout excitement. "Yep, of course." He nodded, his voice seemed a lot smoother than usual. Clearly he was trying to calm your excitement.

You didn't even know where to start. You hadn't planned anything around Carl being involved so you'd have to tweak some things.

You hummed while deep in thought. Carl looked intently at you. "Well.. Once we find a good town thats not completely rundown we can make walls around it! There's forests for miles so that means a lot of wood." You explain. Carl really didn't need the extra stuff about how you'd get wood but he didn't want to interrupt your excited rant.

Carl just nodded and made small 'mhm' noises as you spoke about resources. "Like you said it'd be helpful to be near water and hopefully some farm land for food. Maybe if we find any animals in this mess, which I highly doubt, we can have pastures!" You went on. Clearly not stopping for anything.

Carl softly smacked your knee to make you go silent for a moment so he can add a suggestion. "You could have a small market. Dad talks about these things called farmers markets. People bring stuff they've grown or made and sell them." Carl tilted his head to the side as he watched you think.

You nodded excitedly. Carl and yourself talked for hours until Glenn woke up na d told you both to sleep.

The next day, neither adults were excited to deal with the two exhausted teens

Note: This was not spell checked nor grammer checked! I apologize in advance for the mistakes

[psshaw]

You have been one of the most unapologetically yourself artists Ive come across and I dont mean that in the cliche way I mean like... your idiosyncrasies seem particularly unstifled. Your art is purely yourself and the mainstream isnt gonna go for it but the audience you do speak to gets to feel like an alien finding someone else from their homeland. AI image gen feels like a beautiful cake with flowery frosting and when you cut into it its actually frosting all the way down and has nothing of substance. I obviously can speak only in metaphors lol so I just wanted to say I appreciate reading your thoughts on AI and tho I feel strongly abt it I have a hard time putting exacting words to what about it is so worrying to me. As an artist it energizes me when I see artists who are wildly unique and expressing themselves without a care to their skill limitations or personal strangenesses (read: mainstream unmarketability). Manga artist ONE and his charming and funky style is a great example. Anyway I love your thoughts and wanted to say thanks and also throw words at you

FUCKIGN DAMN DUDE, ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRY? Why is the weather getting misty on my face specifically. Thank you. My most contentious trait is that I keep forgetting to care what people want from me.

It's really interesting following people who are very honest but more mathy than me, because the way they talk about art and AI lately has gotten... increasingly callous. Even bitter. It's partly justified, because artists tend to suck at defending themselves charismatically. ("AI art isn't real art"; the "AI can't do hands" thing was always destined to age badly) But also, I can't stand the sheer selfishness of people who claim to be rational but don't seem know how to investigate what art at its best is for and why they view it the way they do. When I read "AI is great for hobbyists" I'm like. 95% of the time, I'M A HOBBYIST... I would never generate a script, or music... javascript maybe, but I'd feel guilty about it... but the excitement? I think some guys are just looking to suckle on a feeding tube. Cos they were done a disservice by thinking they had to stop visual art after fingerpainting!

I don't think AI NEVER has substance, but the type of person who gets excited about AI doesn't tend to do interesting things with it. And what really bothers me is that I can never tell exactly WHAT they did, versus how much was a coin flip. This is useless for understanding your voice as an artist. I don't care to see more by you.

ONE is a perfect example. His style MAKES that story. The manga and the anime feel so different. That's why I hate when people say that hating AI is discriminating against people who can't draw, cos like... if you can't make something intentional and real without using what's functionally a search engine, why would I believe you're having ideas worth the cliche conceptartdotcom overrendered AI polish at all? Not to be a dick, but like. In terms of rate of return on my attention investment, so far I'd do better by sitting at a craps table.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

My Thoughts on Santalla

lul bad just use Eyja instead

Are they gone? Did I bait them into trying to find the upvote button on tumblr? Good good.

Now I'm going to do a lot of work arguing Santalla from a position of general good faith and wanting to encourage others to experiment with her. That cannot be done without acknowledging that her class, the Splash or AoE Caster, is one of the worst in the entire game. They have very high DP costs, limited range, and pretty low attack speed. This results in a pretty poor DPS even for a class that's meant to manage crowds of enemies. I'm sure we can all post funny numbers about how Eyja does like 8 billion damage. Let's push past that for now. Splash Casters still have their perks. Santalla HP: 1,640 (+155 from Module) ATK: 770 (+90 from Trust) (+32 from Potential 4) (+70 from Module) DEF: 123 RES: 20 Redeployment Time: 70 seconds (-4 sec from Potential 3) DP Cost: 33 (-1 from Potentials 2 and 6) (-8 from Module) Attack Interval: 2.9 seconds Talent: After being deployed for 20 seconds, this unit gains ATK +15% and Status Resistance (+3% ATK from Potential 5) (-5 seconds and +5% ATK from Module)

Let's start with a discussion of the basics. The stats. While not super notable, she is the bulkiest of the 5-star Splash Casters, having better HP and DEF than all of them. She's a little less bulky than either Mostima or Dusk (and considerably less if its Module X Dusk, which it won't be), but this isn't a tanking class so its not a major deal.

Her offense is the key part of the show here. Her ATK with just her trust bonus is 860, which doesn't stack well against Lava's 888, Leonhardt's 863, or Skyfire's 874. Mostima's 939 and Dusk's 1,028 ATK seem to have pigeonholed Santalla into a bulky, unoffensive position.

Santalla's talent is an incredible saving grace here. It's easy to activate and will always be active when her skill is up, and the resulting 15% ATK boost puts her effective ATK at 989, making her more comparable with the 6-stars. The key here, when compared with Leonhardt's, Skyfire's, or Dusk's talents is the general ease of this talent. 20 seconds sounds like a lot, but at Mastery Level 3, her S2 has a 20 second charge time on deployment, so its downtime that's already covered.

If you were to push Santalla to her peak performance, here is how her ATK would compare to the others:

Santalla: 1,183 Lava the Purgatory: 950 Leonhardt: 1,013 (He will always have one stack of his talent due to how video games work: with 8 enemies in range his ATK is 1,351) Skyfire: 977 Mostima: 1,055 Dusk Module Y: 1,144 (Potential max of 1,556 with 18 kills) Dusk Module X: 1,142 (Potential max of 1,690 with 24 kills)

Truthfully, the raw attack stat isn't the most relevant thing on the block. But it does give a decent indicator of what exactly Santalla is working with, and the fact that she can hang with the 6-stars while off-skill is genuinely really impressive, although Leonhardt is probably a little bit better than her at that.

Also worth noting that she gets Status Resistance from her talent. This is cool. Not like, the most insane thing in the world but getting less owned by status occasionally comes up.

From this point forward, I will be discussing what I consider Santalla's base (Max Level and 100% Trust) and near max power (all the goodies, except for potential BUT you get whipped cream to use as you like), and that her talent is always active. This is to give players who maybe are a bit worried about investing her module some idea of how much it impacts her. For the latter, keep in your head that her ATK with her talent up is 1,116.

Her base DPS, assuming she is attacking an enemy with 0 RES, is 341 damage per second. With her module, this increases to 384.

Skill 1

I'm not going to go over this one in detail. No one is wowed by Swift Strike gamma. But to go over what it does to her DPS briefly: +45 ASPD is enough to reduce her attack interval to 2 seconds flat. At base, Santalla's ATK will go up to 1,376, giving her a DPS of 688, about a 102% increase. With her module, she will have an ATK of 1,534, resulting in a DPS of 767, or a 100% increase.

This makes sense. Since Santalla's talent already gives her a decent ATK buff, the improved ATK buff from her module will create a little bit more diminishing returns, and on the whole, the DPS increase is than the expected amount at 210%. On a whole, if you raise this all the way up, Santalla does double damage over 35 seconds. Probably not jumping out of your seats on that one.

Skill 2

Oh boy, this skill. This skill has a lot to cover, let's start with the description.

[Attack Range expands, Attack Interval shortens massively, and attacks now summon icicles over random areas within range. When the icicles fall, all enemies in the area are inflicted with Cold for 1 seconds and dealt 90% of Santalla's ATK as Arts damage.]

Going over it in detail: -Santalla's range expands to include the 4th row, identical to Marksmen snipers -Her attack interval is reduced by 2.4 seconds, all the way down to 0.5 seconds. This means she will attack twice a second, getting in 30 attacks over her skill duration. -Randomly is both correct and not correct. It's time to bring in diagrams.

Icicle falling is semi-random. One icicle will fall in column B (the left column), followed by an icicle in column D (the right column), and finally by an icicle in column C (the middle column). Using the diagram as a metric, you can consider it like this:

Random(B1, B2, B3, B4) THEN Random (D1, D2, D3, D4) THEN Random (C1, C2, C3, C4). (Yes, she can target her own square, this is a reminder to always double check your thinking lol) -Her icicles explode with a radius of 1.5 tiles. To explain what this looks like:

Here is an Attack on "C2". Fortunately, Santalla's effects make it really easy to visually confirm this. Even as she is slaughtering Originium Slugs.

-Cold for 1 second might initially give the impression that Santalla needs to chain together back to back hits with her skill in order to inflict and sustain freeze. This isn't true: she does however need to score a hit within the next two hits.

I would watch the first six seconds or so on 0.5x speed and count. Santalla is allowed to miss one of her hits and still keep her cold and freeze going. This is going to be really important once we talk about how her probabilities work.

-Each attack will deals damage equal to 90% of Santalla's ATK. This is a modifier applied after her attack buff from her talent, but BEFORE Res is applied. We'll be talking about her damage primarily in 0 RES situations, but this will be important later on for an example. For now, at base, Santalla's icicles will do 890 damage, and with her module they will do 1,004 damage. This is an 11.1% decrease in damage.

With all of that out of the way, phew, let's talk about the skill as a whole. This is a crowd control skill that looks to freeze enemies with multiple icicle hits. This is a pretty nice idea actually. Freeze is a really powerful source of crowd control and an enemy could theoretically be pinned down for the entire 15 second duration. Critically also, being Frozen reduces enemy RES by 15, giving Santalla some sneaky extra damage. This naturally relies on quite a bit of luck though, and enemy position is really, really important.

In particular, you might have been clever and noticed a connection between her attack pattern and how many hits she needs to land to Freeze an enemy and sustain the Frozen condition. The initial hit needs to land, and then one of the two next hits also needs to land. This means that, for any given enemy in her attack range, they need to be hit by an icicle from a different column in order to be frozen.

This also plays very weirdly with enemies outside of her attack range. Since the icicles have an explosion range of 1.5 tiles, she can hit enemies outside of her attack range, but whether she can freeze them or not is actually dependent on where exactly they are outside of her attack frame.

Geometry is fucking sick y'all.

Due to the rules of how this works, Santalla cannot actually freeze enemies outside of her attack range if they are on either side of her attack range. The only icicles that can hit those areas are all from the same column, so it's not viable. Only at the very front and directly behind her attack range are viable options, and its pretty specific both in location and which icicles have to fall. But it is technically possible.

Since we know the rules and can properly map out how each icicle will impact the map, we can do something really interesting: we can calculate a general probability as a guideline for how likely an enemy is to be frozen when in any specific tile. Do note for this I am assuming the enemy is in the center of the tile and not moving. This is a guideline, I am not smart enough to brain out every possible solution and factoring in movement is about my brain grade.

We can discount the middle tile of icicles because those won't factor in here. Assuming out helpful little enemy in C3 was hit, what are the chances that Santalla will freeze him with her next two attacks? Well the left column and the right column have three viable options out of four, so this is pretty simple to figure out. We only need one to hit, so we can include all solutions that include a positive left and right hit (56.25%), all solutions that include a positive left and negative right (18.75%), and vice versa (18.75%). The only solutions left are two negative hits (6.25%) which is out failure rate, giving us a success rate of: 93.75%!

(This is assuming all squares are weighted equally.)

Since the spread is symmetrical, we only have to test for 8 different locations. B1 and D1 are essentially the same but flipped after all.

B1/D1: Only hits in C1 and C2 are positive. This gives us a 50% chance. B2/D2: C1, C2, and C3 are positive. 75% chance. B3/B4: C2, C3, and C4 are positive. 75% chance. B4/D4: C3 and C4 are positive. 50% chance. C1: B1, B2, D1, and D2 are positive. 75% chance. C2: B1, B2, B3, D1, D2, and D3 are positive. 93.75% chance. C3: B2, B3, B4, D2, D3, and D4 are positive. 93.75% chance. C4: B3, B4, D3, and D4 are positive. 75% chance.

The cool thing about rectangles is they are symmetric both ways, which makes the actual math part of this a lot easier. In general:

The closer to the center of the attack range an enemy is, the more likely they will be frozen and remain frozen.

There's one little quirk though I forgot to mention. While icicles will fall randomly in her attack range, they will not fall in squares that are considered out of bounds such as squares occupied by a wall. I mean come on, there couldn't be a map that could be abused with, could there?

Let's say we are sick and tired of that bastard Sarkaz Guerilla Fighter, and he's parked in the center of the first row, and we park Santalla right below him.

Suddenly the top two rows are out of bounds, so when Santalla uses her skill, she will only attack six squares. What happens to the poor Sarkaz Guerilla Fighter who is sitting in C2?

Well C2's positive hits are B1, B2, D1, and D2. Those are the only squares Santalla can hit. So Santalla will perma-freeze the Sarkaz Guerilla Fighter and hit him with all 30 of her attacks of her skill!

(2 * (Damage * 0.5)) + (28 * (Damage *0.65)) is the formula that will tell us how much damage the fighter will take.

At base, the Sarkaz Guerilla Fighter will take: 17,074 damage. With module, the Sarkaz Guerilla Fighter will take: 19,288 damage.

We did it gang. We killed the 10,000 HP Sarkaz Guerilla Fighter because this stage gives him a hidden HP buff. Santalla is the greatest.

Well...no. Even if you can guarantee all 30 hits will lands on an enemy with 0 RES, your total skill damage comes out to 26,700 and 30,120 damage respectively. It is a genuinely pretty impressive DPS, sitting at 1,780 and 2008 respectively, but this requires not only good positioning but also very intentional knowledge of the map. There will be maps where it is simply impossible for Santalla to do this.

You might be wondering what the chances of an enemy in tiles C2 or C3 are of getting hit with all 30 attacks from Santalla's skill. Fortunately, that's very easy. We take the success rate on any attack (75%) and multiply it by itself the number of times we need. 0.75 ^ 30. That can't be that bad right?

0.018%. It's pretty low. Comparatively, you might ask, what are the chances a corner tile enemy is never hit? Well we thankfully can avoid all right-side hits, as those will never hit an enemy on the left side. 10 are automatic misses. The remaining 20 are 50/50s. 0.5 ^ 20.

0.000095%. So okay, to be entirely fair, its really unlikely you will just never hit an enemy. Santalla will generally do _some_ damage and inflict Cold. If you can deploy blockers to keep enemies from leaving her attack range, chances are she's going to do decent work.

The big problem with this skill, the reason I made all the graphics and did the probabilities and what not, is that Santalla is inconsistent. Unless you're smart and use her wisely, there's a good chance that she can not perform to what you need her to do. Figuring how much of an impact she'll have on average is frankly a level of math I'm not qualified to do, but you have to construct her greatest scenarios deliberately. She's not quite plug and play.

Conclusions

There's probably an argument that whatever you want Santalla to do, Gnosis can do better. That's likely true. He's way more consistent at locking down large crowds of enemies with freeze and maintains a pretty good sum of damage on them too. But I think Santalla is the kind of operator who while inconsistent, is going to be fun to optimize and make work. Getting Santalla to work is rather rewarding thanks to the combination of her good DPS and a powerful 14.5 second permafreeze. But you won't always be able to make that happen, and I think planning around her inconsistency will also be an important part in managing her viability.

I think its actually a really good idea to pair her with Gnosis. The massive Fragile debuff Gnosis provides happens at the very end of the damage calculation, which is quite impactful. Santalla can be comboed with other strong crowd control operators too, such as Magallan (lesbians for life), and Saria.

Plus I'm sure if you do the dumbshit buffing set-ups she can take out Patriot. Chop chop. Make it happen.

[house-of-mirrors]

hey, I hope this isn't weird to say, but reading about your Fallen London OCs inspired me to start hashing out my own OC's background/personality/etc. If you don't mind - do you have any tips for balancing roleplay/the story of Fallen London with its grind if that makes sense? ty in advance!

Hey there! Yes, I can speak to that.

In summary:

find a friend to exchange letters with in game

have activities to do in between action refreshes that will allow you to be creative and think about your character/the story

design a picrew/draw something/moodboard for your character

write about your character: it doesn't have to be a whole fic, just something to get excited about them with!

use the ambition as an opportunity to explore their fears, why they want what they want, and what lines they won't cross for their goals

do historical reading on the side, if you're so inclined

think about your character's reactions to doing the grind and their emotional investment

don't stress. don't feel like you need to know or finish everything right away. this is a game that takes years to finish, not months. go at your own pace. don't worry about what endgame players are talking about or what a guide says you should be doing. do what you want to do. if you're having a good time, that's all that matters. 8 1/2: the official subreddit is a tense and argumentative place focused on efficiency more than story, go there at your own risk

the game has hundreds of hidden gems. the most impactful stories aren't always the ones that come at the end of long grinds, but little card based things, or something you read in "airs of London," or a niche activity in a certain location. find the ones you love and make them a part of your character's story.

I tried to limit as many spoilers as I could, at least in the early game until my ambition was over, because I found it enhanced the story/roleplay if I reacted in real time with my character.

More detailed answer:

When I first started the game, I went into it totally blind, no wiki and no context except my good friend who got me to start playing. Do what feels right for you in terms of how much outside info to seek, but please, take the game at your own pace and don't overthink the amount of content. There's no rush. The game is grind-y, but there's no need to stress about big things you haven't gotten to yet. One step at a time.

When I ran out of actions on a grind, I wrote letters in game to my friends' character(s). I drew/designed outfits for my oc, and I started writing slice of life fics with them that led to deeper thoughts about character backstory, development, and trials. Since I went in without any outside information about the lore, I felt as if I was discovering stuff alongside my character and was doing my own historical reading on the side to get ideas. The book How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman is a good book about the day to day life of England in the era, though it doesn't touch on super diverse experiences.

The ambition quest gave me lots of thoughts about roleplaying, but the main stories aren't the only opportunity to develop your character's story. There are hundreds of hidden gems in the game! Since this is a horror game, thinking about what my character is afraid of and what lines they won't cross helped me to roleplay.

Giving your character an emotional reaction to the grind can help too. What methods are they using to get what they need, and why do they want it so much? How tired are they. How desperate are they.

Without spoilers, there are a few parts of ambition: nemesis that I got stuck on for weeks at a time because I needed to unlock a certain area or get a certain amount of resources. My character Orsinio had an increasing sense of dread as he grew closer in his preparations to traveling to the new location for the first time, knowing it would be a test of character and his life would not be the same after going there and doing what he meant to do. As the story grew more challenging with grinds, he was forced to wonder how far he'd go for his goals. Later, when a large amount of resources are required to progress the ambition, I gathered them through means Orsinio would have used as a character (ye olde wilmot's end/newspaper carousel). He felt a closer connection to his lost brother by meddling in the great game and doing investigative journalism.

I hope this all helps. Send me a calling card if you want to send letters :) Enjoy the journey, my friend!

[lordofthetwistedflies]

I know your probably tired of my stuff lol, but in regards to the idea about like cuticle biting and stuff, could I make that more specific? If you dont feel like adding more to your workload, bc I know I'm not the only one who requests stuff, dont worry about this!

I was just researching and found and actual name for it; Dermatophagia. It's a disorder usually connected to OCD. I just felt it better explained what I was trying to talk about! And it describes my problem better too.

Again if you dont want to get that detailed, dont worry! I dont mind lol

Drink water, and have a good day/night!!

"No Biting"

Hey mootie! You literally are the only person requesting rn, so dw!!! Also this is pretty similar to something I struggle with, although my symptoms line up closer with Dermatillomania, so I totally get where you're coming from, compulsions suck-

Alphonse

The first time he sees you chewing at your cuticles he just raises an eyebrow

When you mention that it's a bad habit of yours, he asks if you want his help. He'd like to help you kick it if he can, but if you want him to back off, he does

Whenever he notices you chewing at your nails, he just takes your hand, a subtle way of saying "Don't do that"

Tries getting you chewlery, or your favorite candies. Something you can chew safely without making yourself bleed-

All in all, a very helpful lil guy!!

Seth

He didn't actually notice it was a problem until your hands started bleeding

He asked if you'd gotten hurt and you had to sheepishly admit that this was just something that happened sometimes

He got very visibly upset over your resignation to it.

Whenever you do it in front of him, he takes your hand, gives it a little squeeze, and helps you redirect your focus onto something more productive and less harmful.

Also invests in Chewlery, but understands that it isn't the same thing and might not be helpful-

Auron

Following the "untimely death" of his father, this was actually something he struggled with too. He gets it, albeit it was more of a nervous habit for him.

So takes it upon himself to help you out.

Firstly, he bandages up your hands with wraps and neosporin. Human mouths are filthy and full of bacteria that shouldn't get in you blood stream.

Secondly, he gets you seeing a counselor. Don't argue with him. If you want any chance of kicking your habit, you need to treat it at the source.

Thirdly, once you made some progress with your therapist and your hands have started healing, he pays for an expensive manicure. You're less likely to relapse if your hands look this pretty, right? And besides, once your hands are safe the spa ladies can safely push your cuticles back.

He's big on treating the problem at its source, and he's always there to be your shoulder to lean on.

[katsaturnwhatever]

On Fandom and Fantasy

I just wanted to get a few things off my chest as we head full sail into the finale.

Many of the criticisms I’ve read of S2 (other than the pacing, which I agree with, but I accept that as Max’s budgeting fuckup) basically boil down to “too dark/violent”, “too angsty”, “too silly”, or being disappointed that romantic pairings (Ed/Stede and Jim/Olu, mostly) worked out differently than they’d hoped. And I get it. We were all so hopelessly in love with S1 that we’d come up with a lot of very specific ideas about how it should resolve. We needed it to resolve. It was a painful time, not knowing if we would get a second season, and then not knowing if it would live up to our expectations. I know I’m not the only one who cried. I wrote half a dozen analysis pieces, I made fanart, I read lots of fix-it fics. This show changed me in ways I’m still struggling to define.

I just want to remind folks that this is very much the same show. Too dark and violent? Like, have we forgotten that Stede got stabbed twice in S1? Too angsty? Do you remember Ed sobbing by the window, believing that his one chance to find happiness was gone forever? Too silly? It’s always been a ridiculous, over-the-top theatrical production. Remember the fuckery? The jam room? The incest twins from the party? Or whippies?

As for the romantic resolution, well, all I can say is that it’s a show about how relationships can be messy, but you talk it through and maybe look at it from a different angle to create something that works, because the love is there even if the circumstances are all wrong. Maybe life just begins again.

As for Jim/Olu, I get why the tealoranges diehards are upset that they’re involved with other people now, but this is, after all, a show about love in its many forms. The love between them is absolutely still there, and in many ways it’s deepened as they came to understand what it means to be each other’s “anchor”. And in Jim’s case, it meant supporting Olu -enthusiastically- in pursuing love elsewhere. I agree that their whole situation deserved more screen time, but the bones of it are there. It’s not fundamentally all that different from what happens with Stede and Mary at the end of S1. They wish each other nothing but happiness and support. They respect each other’s journeys. They love each other. Full stop.

I’ve seen people disappointed that Ed and Stede’s first time was tainted by sorrow and regret. People wanted it to be perfect, like it was in their favorite fics. But Ed and Stede have all the emotional maturity of two young people who’ve never had a serious romantic relationship before. You remember being young, right? Making stupid mistakes? Sleeping with someone under less-than-optimal circumstances? Misinterpreting things said? Worrying that you’re not good enough? Dreaming that someday all these wishes and desires will align, even as reality storms in to tear it all apart again? These are all very real things that happen. The show itself may be a fantasy, but it’s based on very realistic emotional scenarios that I haven’t seen depicted elsewhere with such honesty and insight. It wouldn’t be the same show if they just kissed and made up, and ran off to open an inn together. Leave that for the fanfiction.

If it hurts, it’s because it’s supposed to hurt. Love hurts. But it’s worth it. And I have faith that the people making this show absolutely know how emotionally invested we are, but it’s gonna take 3 seasons to get to that happy ending. We’re not there yet. We have many miles yet to sail. But the joy is in the journey, and the love we find along the way.

[angelwings-crossbowstrings]

Hey there, its me again, the favorite anon (it seems weird for me to call myself that, i have to find another way to make it known its me) and i just wanted to give a simple answer, felt like i left you hanging about the art thing so sorry. I’ll try to be brief with my answer, about the whole thing that happened that day, i didn’t really get it all just came in and saw there was some weirdness going on, we all make mistakes we’re human after all so its good you apologized, i think.

I’m really invested in how Daryl and Birdie’s relationship will develop, i just knew he was gonna be the biggest helicopter parent lol, bet he’ll be the kind of dad that freaks out after the kid sneezes just once and i’m here for it, i did note that Daryl didn’t really have any suggestions even when reader commented about the name thing way back when he was sick, but didn’t really think it would come into play, i thought it was more of him being sort of insecure haha but i knew it would be Bird related, come on, Bird blanket and her dad is Always wearing a vest with wings? To me, thats cinema.

Also i forgot to comment on the last ask, but Daryl knowing all this stuff from his books but not knowing about the placenta??, its so funny to me, come on man it was too good to be true, most realistic moment for me honestly, men just operate on a different frequency i swear.

And about Lori, well i did note that Daryl joked about her on the first ep of season 3, wasn’t really malicious tho i think Daryl just kinda secretly likes to gossip, like that time he told everybody Merle had the clap for no reason lmao, the idea of Daryl secretly being a gossiper is hilarious. And more Lori? I’LL BE EATING IT UP I KNOW IT, and getting to see more of her and Rick?? Might as well be christmas for me, i’m curious to know what advice she has, i’ll be waiting eagerly for the moment where she just goes ‘’Y/N can you watch Carl for me?’’ that’ll be the moment we know their relationship has peaked. Alright i’m just joking, i love her so much in this fic.

Carol is the gift that keeps on giving, i love how she immediately knew she had to save birdie from these fools, poor kid doesn’t deserve to suffer with a messed up diaper on her first day on this Earth, i’m guessing she’ll be Birdie’s Godmother, if that’s a thing to them anyway, i have a feeling her bond with Birdie will also be very special and just motivate her to be even more of a badass.

Alright about the art, its totally fine, you know its out there sorta like a message in a bottle, it now belongs to the world not me haha i want to keep practicing with these characters when i have more time, this one was made on a tight schedule but who knows, i’m already thinking of what else to make plotting like a supervillain in my lair, but for now i only have a few hours, if you want to post that one its totally cool with me.

Thanks for being so sweet, i hope you are taking care of yourself and taking your time to write, its very important, and yeaaaah 600 words thats me being ‘’brief’’ somebody needs to take this keyboard away from me.

Bye bye <3

My favorite Anon! You just let me know what you want me to call you and I will! 🩵

Don't worry about not answering right away on the art. I just wanted to make sure it was okay before I showed it off. :) I was worried all that shit had chased you off. I felt/feel horrible about it but it's done and in the past now. I'm sorry if it affected you in any way.

I have just started chapter 31 and bless these two. A newborn on the road is really going to test everyone. He's going to be talking about the name a little in this and why he chose it.

Bless him, he didn't get that far in the books. He kept telling her he hadn't had time to read and how he felt bad about it. He really wanted to know everything but when it came down to reading or providing/protecting or reading, he of course chose the first. I just could not have him being like what?! when she pushed it out.

Daryl being a gossiper! LOL YES.

Reader is definitely going to need help. Lori will play a pivotal role, along with Carol, of course. I want there to be a real bond with Lori, something that will tie reader to Carl and Judith after that day. Daryl loves Judith, we already know that but I want there to be this real bond with reader and the kids.

I still have a while to explore before we even get to the prison, so buckle up! :)

Thank you for always sending these. They seriously make me smile! 🩵🩵🩵

[theambivalentagender]

I love your comic!! What inspired you to share Zekes story?

There's a lot to this answer so buckle up.

I've always been a writer, ever since I was a little kid telling stories has been my entire life's goal. But its been a struggle, and for a long time I've felt kinda lost in trying to survive taking soul sucking desk jobs. It honestly destroyed any desire I had to create.

And then at the beginning of 2022 I got abruptly fired (for what I don't think are honest reasons but that's another story). And then I found myself just not being able to land a new job no matter what I did - I worked in a tech-adjacent industry and know others in similar positions also have had these issues. Weeks turned into months, and my mental health took a nosedive.

That summer I noticed one of my long time close friends kept popping up on steam playing Stardew Valley at odd hours in the morning. I'd heard of the game before, I loved farming sims, and I really needed a distraction. So I finally bought it.

Long story short, several hours into the game this motherfucker hits me up with this line:

So you can imagine what that did to my psyche. I got so god damn invested in the game. Like I do with any game, I started modding the crap out of it, mostly to add more lines for Shane. And then I found myself imagining my own little story with my farmer.

For a good while this was just a dumb headcanon story I had every time I played Stardew. But then I found myself actually plotting things out, connecting different aspects of SDV that were "unexplained" or "implied" with the story I was developing in my head. And then I realized - I was making a story again. I was feeling the exact same way I used to feel when I would plan out and write a play, or a short story, or one of my many unfinished novels. It was such a good feeling, and I started coming around to the idea that I shouldn't just keep this story in my head.

I dealt with a lot of self doubt over it of course. The last time I wrote anything like fanfiction was when I was 10 and it was a HP fanfic where I misspelled Slytherin in five different ways. Some part of me felt like it would be wasting time because I wouldn't make money off of it. Another part of me worried I'd be mocked for writing an entire self-indulgent story about a borderline self-insert character romancing a grumpy pixel man, when I was nearly 30 living in an apartment with a long term partner and shouldn't be doing such *childish things*.

I lurked around the SDV fandom for a long time before actually posting anything, and seeing other people, often people close to my own age, doing exactly what I was afraid of because fuck it, we're adults and we get to decide what that means, really helped. It also helped to see a positive community praising and supporting creators of all skill levels.

As for the money thing, I ended up "justifying" it to myself that if I made myself draw just about every day working on the comic (since I had decided to make it a comic rather than a fanfic), that would help me bring my art skills up to par with my writing skills. And, well, it would probably help my mental health if I had something productive to work on while I still looked for a job, because there's only so many times you can rotate between various video games.

I honestly didn't expect the comic to get as much attention as it has. But I told myself even if nobody cared about it, I'd make it for the one person who wanted to see this story play out - me.

[fanfic-gremlin-ft-trauma]

I've been cooking this one up for a while but early 90s (like set between 91 to 92) college au. Mai, Suki, and zuko are goths who does sokka's makeup every chance they get. they would chilling in sokka's dorm, and Mai would be like "someone hand me the white face paint".

the rest of the gaang + azula/ty lee is still in high school. they're doing a HS trip of the college. azula sees zuko and Mai eating lunch. she gets the attention of the tour guide, points at them, and says "I want THEM to tour us." also azula loves calling Mai and zuko, "Gomez and morticia".

she also does not hesitate to call zuko 'koko' in public and she will do it every time she sees him.

when toph is bored, she likes to fuck around with katara's answering machine at the ungodly hours of night. like when all the tv goes off (bc back in those days, the TV literally turned off. like It was just static), she'll call her, knowing she won't answer and just fuck around. katara would like wake up to fifteen messages on the answering message, all from toph. half of them are just her rambling about random ass shit, and the other half is jokes. Gran Gran would be like "your friend surely does talk a lot."

yue comes into town. she ends up going to the college and meets sokka, whom she becomes friends with. she's really heavily impacted katara's sense in fashion and makeup. yue's fashion & makeup is inspired by the 60s and 70s. she wears a lot of flowy dresses, skirts, and shirts. a lot of white, light blue, and other light colors in the blue family. yue teached katara some brown girl makeup hacks bc she knows how hard it is to find makeup for brown skin. she used to take katara shopping too like she was like the big sister she never had 😭

then zhao did some shit and yue & her family had to move.

SO SOKKA HAD A CAMCORDER WHICH WAS HIS DAD'S AND HE USES IT TO RECORD RANDOM SHIT AND DAY TO DAY LIFE 😭. one of the tapes was sokka and zuko trying to bring up their TV up the stairs since they just brought it. suki was recording. sokka's hand slips and the tv goes down the stairs and breaks. it just gasps and a beat of slience 😭.

and POLAROIDS. SO MANY POLAROIDS.

NDJISNDCNUOXSANUAOXSXNOSAUONAXSUUONASXNUO YOU GENIUS YOU INCREDIBLE HUMAN EATING THIS SHOVING IT IN MY MOUTH THROWING UP!!!!

ohhhhhhhh this gives me so many ideas. I could rave about every single one of these. Katara yue Bestiesm yes pls sharing makeup + fashion ideas would be so them. The 90s college vibes in fic are always immaculate and THIS. Sokka would absolutely use a camcorder ohhhhh I can see it. Nothing has ever been more canon than that. Him recording so many little fun aspects of their life and he gives it as a present to the friend group- like a lil memories vhs thingy. ALSO THE POLAROIDSSSS YES YES. omg that’s immediately reminding me of the wonderful @petricorah ‘s All Time art of modern au zukka in a Polaroid. I need more vibes like this I’ll invest actually.

Also thank u for truthing abt Zuko mai and suki gothism bc it’s so important to me. Also that toph and katara anecdote IM ROLLINGGG. SHE WOULD 💀. like she is such A Little Shit and would make Katara’s life hell (also god forbid in a modern modern au someone gives her discord. she’d abuse the /tts command to its full potential.)

Also omg Gomez and morticia so true bc mai is the hot unbothered kick ass goth lady and Zuko just. follows her around. adores n admires. as he should.

oh and I saw this addition and wanted it to be in the same post cuz. it’s just so amazing I’m LAUGHINGGGG

THIS IS SO CANON SO TRUE THEY WOULD DESTROOOOYYY EACH OTHER FOR THOSE YEARBOOK PICTURES. and like. what’s funny is Zuko’s one is kinda canon. Iroh absolutely did his hair in hs bc that boy was an awkward mess and had no time to worry about his appearance.

this is literally giving me life omfg thank u for this