#instead of letting their art speak for itself is. shit. it's shit.

[leofrith]

quickly, who's gonna explain to all these writers that in order for their "subtext" to actually qualify as subtext they need to have evidence that supports it WITHIN THE TEXT

[taegularities]

entertainer (teaser) | jjk (m)

Summary: Growing singer Jeon Jungkook is as charismatic as he is self-absored – that is, until he meets you. Caught in a web of secrets, he finds a riddle in you he urges to solve; even ready to turn the spotlight towards you until nothing remains… but regret.

➳ pairing: Jungkook x reader ➳ rating: 18+ ➳ genre: strangers to lovers (or something); angst, bits of fluff, smut ➳ warnings: do not fall for this jk i repeat do not f– 🚨 he's kinda hot though; (not so) silent yearning, flirting, sexual tension, he is so attracted to her :'), mystery, oc is a big question mark, full jk pov!, dark past(s), crying, fear, confrontation and fighting, cocky kook, secrets and revelations, explicit sexual content (kissing, fingering, teasing, drunk shenanigans, sooo much lust, big dick jk, etc.), more warnings on drop day once the fic is finished!! not much for the teaser itself, though <3 ➳ wc: 1.8k :') (around 20k for the full thing) ➳ a/n: scratches head. this has been a long time coming and i'm beyond curious how y'all will like it :') very new and experimental, so let's see how it goes!! as always, drop a message to lmk what you think of this lil glimpse, i'll be waiting with dangling feet hehe!! <3

➳ give the Entertainer playlist a first listen! 🖤   

TAGLIST | MASTERLIST | WIPs 

“Why are you the textbook definition of a fuckboy, honestly.”

“Fuckbo—”

“Nevermind.”

If he wasn’t well acquainted with this little game, he would’ve missed your subtle, nearly veiled intent to tease. But he’s done that a million times before — hence, catches the faint twitch of your gorgeous lips immediately.

You’re enjoying this. So he should join… right?

Yet.

You’re not being entirely insincere. In fact, he hates how he picks up on the note of truth in your velvety voice.

Trimmed nails scratch the back of his head, and he barely notices once the two of you halt in front of another piece of work. Distracted, he doesn’t bear the art any mind, instead asking, “You really think of me like that?”

You shrug a shoulder. Nonchalance a constant feature, but so natural, even somewhat gentle, that he can’t help but feel drawn to you. “A little.”

“Well, shit.”

“Don’t overthink it. Enjoy the art.”

“Sure.”

Reluctantly, he glances to the canvas. It’s a mess of hues; a random arrangement of spontaneous emotions. Resembles the masterpieces he used to create in Microsoft Paint, back when his legs would still dangle off the chair.

“So,” he starts, nodding towards the painting, “what do you see in this?”

You hesitate. Or maybe it’s not hesitation — more like… a thinking pause. Sometimes, when Jungkook notices a whirring mind, he sees a steaming brain through a skull. Working at full blast.

But somehow, he only recognises a tranquil ocean as he observes you gather your thoughts. Everything about you is tender, but wrapped in dark mystery.

How much mental training does it require to become this inscrutable?

When you finally speak, you’re saying similarly odd things.

“I see… colours.” Right. Stating the obvious. Jungkook chuckles, delivering a head tilt. “And am wondering how the painter got to create this at all. I mean, this looks so meaningless at first, doesn’t it?”

“But it’s not, yeah?”

“We’re fast to think that. Most of the time, there must be a trigger, or a thought on something, no matter how small. Something might have been bothering him. This is—” A hand gestures towards the painting. “Such a chaotic mind.”

Interesting…

“Is this what you usually think about all day?” Jungkook wonders.

You scoff. “I’m just a person, too. I think about a lot of random things.”

“Ahhh. Like what?”

“Like… seeing all the green in this exhibition made me realise how that colour makes me cry.”

Jungkook takes a haphazard look around. Now that you say it — there’s no hint of a nature theme, but the abundance of green is striking. It’s as calm as you. No wonder you’d immerse yourself in a showcase such as this.

You continue, as if tracing and reading his mind like an open novel, “It’s soothing, right? And unique. These earthly things sometimes make me feel like not all of us are deserving of seeing such beauty. Like it should be reserved for those who've earned it.”

Earned it? How? 

Jungkook can’t see your thoughts as clearly as you’re apparently capable of doing, but he has an inkling of what you might mean. Truly dazzling souls merit the stunning bloom of the world, right?

And then…

If that’s what it is.

He wonders — do you think he deserves to see the colour green? Or is it already over if he has to ask? Perhaps, should he be perceiving it as grey right now? He doesn’t know.

He doesn’t know how you think of him — doesn’t know anything about you at all. You’re a tough nut to crack. 

“Hmm… that’s a way to think about it,” he says.

“Only because it’s the same for people. And I’ve had this thought about humans a lot… I…” You hesitate, blink, and then grant him your gaze. “I knew someone who was the colour green. Not everyone deserved them, either.”

Someone…

Poetic minds carry a certain pain in their eyes.

He’s been seeing it in yours. He just doesn’t know how to handle it. So he doesn’t. Yet.

Instead, he asks, “What else are you thinking about?”

“Uhmmm,” you voice, straightening your back a little, as if waking up from a dream — a nightmare? “I’ve been thinking about trying that, too. Painting, I mean. It doesn’t have to mean anything or be good. Just a great way to capture something that resonates with what I feel.”

Every word you’ve uttered today was otherworldly. You didn’t talk like this when you were at the meeting, or in his office. Your soul is somewhat free-floating here, and he doesn’t understand why.

And it’s a behaviour he usually strays away from. The vulnerable ones can be dangerous.

But somehow… you’re too strong of a magnet.

One who shrugs all the puzzles away — and he sighs in despair. Maybe it’s not time to find out what you feel just yet. What resonates with you — even though he’s dying to hear it.

He inquires, “Are you always this much of an open book?”

“No. Not at all.” Of course not. Rhetoric question — he knows this much. “But I like thinking out loud sometimes.”

“I’m glad to be a sounding board then.”

“Hah. Well, I was also thinking how I appreciate that I met you here.” Pause. Oh? What a surprise. Strokes his ego, though. And then, out of the blue again, “You wanna go to the museum restaurant?”

Jungkook has barely inhaled half of the exhibition yet. But just for today, he couldn’t care less.

Perhaps this is enough for now, visiting the overpriced restaurant, watching you from afar as you inspect your nails calmly. You’re not busy on your phone like the rest of the crowd — entertained by the same media that he’s part of.

Maybe he can be a bigger part of their lives one day — be the one flitting over their screens, the one they adore. The one they worship.

But you don’t seem to indulge in those mind-numbing devices for now. You might be an addition to his team, but privately, you float in your own world. Distracted by the thoughts you won’t disclose.

Your hands retreat, arms crossing on the table and lips curling into a smile once he strolls back to you. Satisfied, he informs you, “One cake to go with the coffee. As the lady suggested.”

“Oh. One?” you ask, “Don’t you want one?”

“I do.”

“So…” You stall, and he waits until it clicks, your head tilting in understanding. “Are we sharing?”

Jungkook lifts a thumb, pointing over his shoulder, back to the register, “Those chocolate cakes are sweet as hell. I’ve got a sweet tooth, but believe that it’ll be enough for us two.”

You laugh — a candied, disarming chuckle before you breathe an, “Alright.”

Jungkook doesn’t know you well enough to feel any skip of his heart; yet, you stir something else in his mind. While he does avoid them, it’s still always people like you who intrigue him the most — those who veil themselves in a coat of secrets.

He sighs.

“That was fast,” you note, eyes at a point behind him.

And he understands when the waitress arrives a couple moments later, serving two perfectly prepared cappuccinos and a mouth-watering chocolate fudge piece.

You thank her with a gentle smile, and tuck a hair behind your ear, fingertips grazing your dangling silver earring.

And he watches.

Watches as you nod towards him, urging him, “Start then.”

Observes your smile as he signals you to start instead. And he gazes at you as your delicate digits reach for the fork, tearing off a piece, wrapping your lips around the utensil.

And then… oh God.

He feels his guts twist; hears all background noise fade; blood rushing away from his head.

All the way through his body as you slowly relish the sweetness and then drag the wet tip of your tongue over the fork. Licking away the leftover chocolate.

Jungkook swears it happens in slow motion. And witnessing your elegance in snail’s pace… makes him sick.

When your eyelashes flutter, gape lifting to meet his, the sound around him comes alive again — as does he. He averts his stare from your mouth, covered in the same colour as the coffee, but you notice.

You catch him looking. And it makes you… smile? Shit.

But you don’t boast your effect; only digress as you say, “Well… tastes as fancy as it looks. Try.”

You’re as relaxed with him as you can be. But you always are; with everyone. He craves that bit that’s only reserved for him — and maybe he’s too zealous too fast. He hasn’t known you for long.

Making you smile must be an achievement, though, right? If only… you didn’t think of him like…

He nods, and then leans over the table ever-so-slightly. His knees brush against yours, a soft but deliberate move. He places an elbow on the table, grasping the fork, close to you. If he lifted his hand, he could touch your cheek.

He wishes he could.

His eyes meet yours through his bangs, the cake’s taste irrelevant to your presence. And when his ego doesn’t let him live, he finally asks, almost as if insulted, “Do you actually perceive me as a fuckboy?”

The question catches you off guard. You hesitate, furrowing your eyebrows, and then giggle before questioning back, “Jungkook… that’s bothering you this much? Mmmh. How would you like to be perceived?”

“Just. As a decent guy who wants to get to know you. And I know you know.” You blink, but he doesn’t buy it. So he elaborates, “I’ve been trying to make clear that I find you interesting. And somewhat attractive.”

People usually display a flicker of glimmer in their eyes upon hearing such praise. But you don’t budge; in fact, your eyes remain the same, if not a little darker. Why?

Yet, you cock an eyebrow, sporting a teasing, playful tone, “Somewhat, hm?”

He shakes his head, clicks his tongue.

“You��re pretty and I think you know,” he blurts, “and I don’t want to screw up right away.”

Is it the habit of never failing; getting what he wants? The urge to solve an enigma? The chance to dive into you until you’re bared to him? Why are you so interesting to him?

You’re just a person.

Maybe it’s just the unsettling need to discover what you’re hiding — it won’t let him rest. There’s something about you that screams to him to unravel. 

He doesn’t know what it is. Doesn’t know if you’re even from the same world as him — even though you seem to have crossed his realm before.

No matter what it is; Jungkook only understands for now that he wants to take off your layers.

Wants you to be the colour green for him. 

wrote most of it now and while sick, so it might change hehe! but i hope it's okay so far, and it shall only get better!! i'm so so excited for this, like i've been working on it and putting thought into it since october, so i hope it's worth the wait <3

as always, send your thoughts, questions, complaints lol lemme know what you think or i might perish sniff. super curious to know!! also, here's the taglistttt 🤍 love and appreciate you all <3

[dalekofchaos]

How is Blackwell even a school?

Blackwell is insanely weird.

It has dorms but also lockers.

A barely functioning staff. We have two teachers, a principal, a custodian and a head of security. There is Mrs Hoida, but we never see her in LIS or BTS. Mr Keaton exists in BTS, but we never hear about him in LIS. There’s a nurse, but we never see her. There’s a coach for the Otters and Bigfoots, but neither Max nor Chloe are athletic, so we never see them. According to Chloe’s report card. There is an Art teacher, Phy Ed teacher, Practical Math and Life Skills Teacher, Social Sciences teacher and Personal Health Teacher. But we never see any of them.

Only two whole classrooms in the whole game.

It’s apparently the only school the town has and also is a super expensive exclusive private school.

It’s a high school that recruits world renowned artists and scientists to teach basic high school level classes.

It’s graduates supposedly go on to become famous successful people yet the school itself resides in a tiny rundown coastal Oregon town.

It costs a fortune to attend and yet it looks like it hasn’t been seriously repaired or renovated since the 1970’s.

Hell it doesn’t even have security cameras on campus.

According to google

"According to a student survey from the National Center for Education Statistics, 86 percent of middle school and high school students have security cameras installed in their schools."

Despite David being an asshole, it's standard procedure to have cameras up in the first place. David is wrong to put cameras in his home to spy on Chloe, but not wrong to have cameras in the school. If there were cameras already placed in Blackwell.

Frank Bowers would never be able to sell on school grounds

Frank never would've been close to Rachel

Nathan never would've gotten away with bringing so many illegal drugs to the Vortex Club

Kate never would've been dosed

Speaking of David. Why is he just a security officer? Why isn't he a cop? Wouldn't it make sense for David to work two jobs since the Prices are in debt? As a cop and as a security officer? The most unrealistic thing about LIS. David was too unstable to be a Arcadia Bay cop. The police have no standards and I'm shocked that David wasn't an instant recruit considering how the police in America wants people with low IQs and doesn’t care for obvious red flags.

Also, School Resource Officers exist.

Then there is the fact that Max…BARELY uses the school of her dreams. We get one or two classes at best. Going to Ms Grant’s class does not count cause Max only went there to help Warren.

Chloe not using Blackwell makes sense. She hates the damn place and would rather learn about Rachel’s anatomy break the rules and chill in the junkyard.

But with Max, shouldn’t she actually be attending classes? I mean if I were attending a big private school at Blackwell, but didn’t attend classes. I think my ass would’ve been suspended within weeks and my tuition set on fire.

What kind of school, a HIGH school lets their students freely roam the halls, leave school grounds or chill in the dorms instead of doing class work?

For that matter. Why the fuck is Blackwell Academy a fucking High School? Why not a college? Art Colleges exists. I'd rather Blackwell be a college and for everyone to be of age, it'd explain a lot of stuff such as the drugs, parties, guns, and just a lot of stuff. Not to mention going through college you are still figuring out stuff, what you want to do with your life, and still figuring out who you are. Would've imo a lot better and explained why half the shit that was happening was.

I get this is an episodic game and there are more pressing concerns, but honestly Blackwell should’ve been like say Bully. We do the day’s worth of classes and then progress to the story. Hell, you could even implement a sort of friendship system. Maybe you pick who you sit next to and that raises Max’s friendship with them. Anything would’ve been better than Max skipping school altogether and just focusing on Chloe. Like we have an entire school, we should not have our focus be on Chloe. There could’ve been ways to work classes into the main story, but no. Blackwell is just background noise and it shows.

But the lack of a full faculty staff or an actual care that anyone actually attends class? What kind of fucking school is this?

[psychicpinenut]

netflix atla review

i decided that i wanted to see it through anyway so i finished the netflix atla. here are the things that made me want to hurl rocks at my tv (i might not remember a lot of things because i stopped watching after ep 4 and only continued this week so this might get rambly as i try to recall things)

let me start on the cast. no offense to these kids but my god. one of the things i hate the most is when you can tell an actor is acting. the whole time you could see that they walk up to their mark, stop there and recite the lines like they're in a high school play. and i get that they're young and probably don't have too much experience but i just keep thinking about the original voice cast who were children as well at the time of recording and they're some of the most talented actors i've ever heard. but then again i know they had to not only find people who resemble the characters but can do martial arts and act. so whatever, i hope they'll grow more during this. the only actor i liked was dallas liu who is the oldest of the main cast (i believe he was around 20 when they filmed this) which is probably why he doesn't have a chronic case of child acting.

constantly making up and/or changing lore:

why can aang only speak to past avatars in their shrines?

roku is sidelined in favor of kyoshi (who for some reason is extremely aggressive towards him) who can see into the future apparently because she gave aang a vision of the northern water tribe being destroyed instead of sozin's comet coming.

aang somehow being "lost" to the ocean spirit at the end which is ???

sokka and katara can enter the spirit world with aang

koh keeping his victims like some fucking spider and only gives them back after aang gave some stupid totem back. they also brought him so forward that he doesn't tell aang about tui and la which was the entire fucking point of looking him up in the first place

yue is a fox? in the spirit world?

wan shi tong is there also in the spirit world

i'm guessing they're already abandoning the ancient library storyline because they already intoduced wan shi tong and zhao was shown that he found out about tui and la from the fire sages in roku's temple. which is going to be interesting because that's where sokka finds out about the solar eclipse but i guess they'll come up with some other solution like toph can sense the moon moving through her feet or some shit

tui and la becoming mortals for only one night?

zuko having extensive research on the avatars should mean he knows that roku is his great grandfather but we're either leaving that one out or he's just not good at research

they took out sokka's sexism, thus eliminating any chance of character development, in favor of putting in actual sexism perpetrated by the show itself. suki is made into this small town girl, rapunzel type of character who needs sokka, the man, to bring the world to her and expand her mind. and then instead of sokka being grateful to suki for teaching him, she's the one that's thankful for ... going there? and bringing the world to her? because strong women mean they can punch right?

constant references to book 2 in the first season

they made so that aang didn't actually run away from his responsibility as the avatar - which is a pretty important part of his arc as that guilt follows him through the entire series - but that he only took a little trip to clear his head. which makes everyone accusing him of disappearing seem dumb and unfair

which leads me to bumi. why the fuck would bumi be so pissed at him? the whole episode he's antagonizing him and yelling at him to go do his job as the avatar meanwhile he's holding him hostage and making him do his challenges. like let him go so he can do his job maybe?? stupid

the entire ep 3-4. they really just shoved like 5 episodes together into one which i get because they don't have time to do everything but they did it so badly and the messages from each episode disappeared in favor of the CGI fight scenes.

like what do you mean sokka barely even got to interact with jet? that's the episode where sokka is proven to have good instincts and leadership because he saw jet for what he was.

why are teo and his dad here? what about aang's massive grief over the industrialization of his wiped out culture?

why would jet try to kill bumi? they completely obliterated the moral dilemma of jet wiping out a fire nation village because he sees that as justified even though he's killing civilians who happen to be fire nation.

for some reason they had sokka and katara go through the secret tunnel which is kind of fucking weird. i don't mind if they cut the kaang romance line but it is going to be interesting once it comes to the earthly attachments and some plotlines that revolve around aang having a major crush on katara. also what do you mean the badger moles sense "emotions"? toph is about to sense people's emotions in her feet and learn bending that way

they mary sue'd katara. she's bad at waterbending until she isn't and suddenly she's a master just from self taught basic waterbending she learned from the scroll gran gran gave her?? which is another thing they robbed us of because katara going to great lengths to steal the scroll shows how determined she is and desperate to learn waterbending but here she just gets handed the scroll. she's timid and lukewarm the entire season, the only time i can recall her even raising her voice is when she's arguing with sokka over jet. she gets mad at pakku for not letting her fight which is stupid because girl who is gonna stop you? go and fight?? you should be getting mad at pakku for not even trying to teach you waterbending. then she brings the entire untrained female population to the fight because girl power™. despite all of this, she's proclaimed a master without any actual training and beats zuko's ass purely because she's So Good. like at this point she shouldn't be able to hold her own against zuko without the full moon's help because as soon as the sun comes up zuko easily overpowers her ("you rise with the moon i rise with the sun"). which didn't happen here because she's a self proclaimed master now apparently

aang didn't bend a single waterdrop the entire season. it's book 1: water. it's called water. where's the bending aang? too busy doing another stupid walk and talk

stripped of iroh telling zuko he thinks of him as his son

stripped of one of the rawest lines i've ever heard on television: "my father says she was born lucky, he says i was lucky to be born"

which leads me into azula's character. they brought her in earlier just so her role in the whole season can be her groveling at ozai's feet, seeking his approval, trying to outdo zuko. which is insane cause she already outdoes zuko by a mile. she's a prodigy. they make it look like ozai favors zuko over azula which is so fucking insaaaane it made me so mad. she already knows she's better than zuko, she doesn't need her father's approval. also why isn't her fire blue.

iroh being the one who kills zhao. this one pissed me off so badly because in the original, as the ocean spirit takes hold of him zuko reaches out to zhao to try to save him.... that man tried to have him KILLED. and zuko still tried to save him. but zhao's arrogance didn't let him take his hand and that was his demise. that single act tells us so much about zuko and they just??? took that out??? so iroh can just murder him?? instead of it being the ocean spirit's revenge for killing its partner? instead of giving us that glimpse into who zuko is as a person? i'm going insane

don't even mention the fact that zuko fought back against ozai during the agni kai. he was literally banished because he refused to fight him. he got the scar because he refused to fight him. that's who zuko is!!!! and then they show us that he, a 13 year old boy who is still fairly inexperienced at bending, could have defeated ozai but he chose not to?? i'm sorry???

during the meeting where he spoke out against their plan, they made it look like he only spoke up because the general taunted him and not because he thought what they wanted to do was morally wrong.

now tell me which line hits harder: "compassion is a sign of weakness" or "you will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher". yeah...

yue bringing sokka to the spirit oasis to heal momo?? it was so fucking stupid and unserious that they were cradling a cgi lemur that i was in tears of pain. i almost gave up there

sokka constantly talking about wanting to be a better warrior and bossing katara around but doing absolutely fuck all to prove himself was insane. sokka was just standing around the whole season making bad jokes (cause wow they made sokka unfunny somehow) and flirting with women.

there was no goofiness or lightheartedness to aang. he took everything so fucking seriously it actually hurt to watch because they blew things out of proportion that didn't need to be. why was he so afraid of his normal bending power? not even his avatar state power but just his airbending. constantly angsting over his responsibility and how he's failing as the avatar. jesus fucking christ.

since zuko never stole katara's necklace, june had to use some fuckin random fabric she found on one of the trees that could've belonged to anybody??

zuko was able to capture aang after june found him instead of getting his ass whooped and paralysed so when zhao basically forces him to hand aang over to him, it's easier to guess who the blue spirit is as zuko makes a whole scene about it earlier

truly the one thing i really liked was the addition that the 41st division was the crew he protected at the war meeting

circling back to the first episode where we start out in the past and we get to see the whole genocide of the air nomads instead of finding out along with aang. we also get to see how he ends up in the iceberg so we don't get his story paralleled with zuko's backstory like in the storm. i mean whatever but the aang and zuko parallels were always dear to me.

hated zhao's actor. instead of him being intimidating and scary, he was acting like a frat boy and talked like tom cruise's character in magnolia. just simply annoying

jet telling katara to just stop being sad about her mom and she stops being sad and suddenly she can bend again. and later when he tells her she can bend because he helped her, she straight up denies it because it was "all her" like i gotta disagree there cause no, it was definitely him who helped you.

icing on the cake was when zuko walks into a bar and the patrons there reference like 4 storylines that they skipped over

so anyway... that's all i could think of at the top of my head and i hope they fuck up less in the upcoming seasons god willing

[haitanisbug]

Chase the Shadows

Pairing: Gojo x Fem Reader

CW: light smut(-ish. Kind of..) Minors DNI, explicit and suggestive language

Note: Reader and Gojo are in an established relationship. This is part of my JJK Street Racer AU.

“You can’t compete with him, Gojo. Do you have any idea how much shit he has under that hood? Paid it all with daddy’s money and he’ll smoke you with it too.”  It’s rare for Sukuna to sound this concerned about his friend. Usually apathetic to all of Gojo’s chaotic antics, but tonight is different. The two men are standing near Gojo’s car and waiting for the official call that the roads have been cleared to start the race. Gojo had pissed off Naoya earlier that week (some ill-timed insult about Naoya’s small dick or something like that) and instead of Naoya’s men shooting Gojo’s brains out, they decided to settle their squabble with a race.

Sukuna continues to chastise him “It also doesn’t help that you’ve only done cosmetic mods to this car.”

“Eh, it’s not about the engine. It’s about who’s driving the engine. And that happens to be Gojo Satoru. No need for performance updates. I’ll smoke his ass in a slow car, and I’ll look fucking cool doing it too.” arrogance is practically dripping from Gojo’s voice.

“This isn’t Fast and Furious, man. A slow car is still a slow car. Your driving skills aren’t suddenly going to make it go faster.”

Gojo lowers his blacked-out shades and peers at his friend through the tops of them, crystal eyes glinting with mirth. “You say that like I haven’t smoked you in a slow ass car before.” Sukuna scoffs at that, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You only won that race because my clutch slipped.” 

“Excuses, excuses” Gojo teases, “Besides, who says cosmetic mods can’t make a car go faster? I swear Geto’s art gives me a speed boost.”

“You are so going to lose this race and I almost pity anybody stupid enough to bet on you tonight.” The streets around them are filled with people, more than the usual street race. It definitely can be attributed to the reputations of the two men racing. Gojo has been at the top of almost every race for the past year. His fame amongst the Tokyo street circuit spread quickly, and whenever he races, people always come to gawk. Naoya’s immoral rep, and the Zenin name itself attract a fair share of spectators too. Not to mention the streets tonight are crawling with his men. Scantily clad women crowd the streets and occasionally pass by Gojo and Sukuna; loud music and the revving of cars fill the gaps in their conversation.

“Speaking of betting, where the hell is Toji? I can’t believe he actually agreed to let you race Naoya.” Sukuna looks over his shoulder, eyes sweeping his surroundings to find the older man. When he can’t spot him, Sukuna lets out a few curses. “Don’t fuckin tell me… you didn’t tell Toji about this?!”

Gojo has the nerve to look slightly sheepish “...uhh well I didn’t thi-”

“Shut up, man. You’re racing the heir to one of the biggest Yakuza groups in the fuckin country and you didn’t tell your fucking manager?!” AND You’re driving it in a ride that’s basically a glorified Hot Wheel. How stupid are you?”

Gojo’s lack of response spurns Sukuna on, “Please tell me you didn’t bet any money, or at least any of Toji’s money.”

“No! I am offended you think that I’m that thoughtless. Of course I didn’t bet any of Toji’s money. That would have been asking for a death sentence... money-hungry old man” Gojo mutters the last bit under his breath.

“Fine. Whatever. Since you didn’t bet any of his money, and I know you're flat out of cash right now, what did you bet?”

If Gojo looked sheepish before, now he looks downright guilty. His eyes flicker over to where you’re standing talking to a group of girls and then they shoot away nervously.

Sukuna catches all of this, his gaze narrowing. “You bastard.” Sukuna almost whispers. “You’re betting your girl?”

“Well… she’s the only thing Naoya was interested in. He refused cash and my car so it was the only option.”

“Does she know about this?”

Gojo’s silence is deafening.

“You’re fucking slimy. Absolute bastard, asshole, and a dickhead. Can't believe I’m friends with you.”

“Oh please don’t act like you’re any better, Sukuna.” Gojo lets out a mocking laugh. “You’d do the same thing if you were in my place and we both know it. You’re a glutton for adrenaline too.” 

“No, I wouldn’t. If Naoya ever laid eyes on my girl, there wouldn’t even need to be a race. I’d send him driving back in a fucking ambulance.”

“Well, none of this even matters! Because I told you, I’m going to win.” There’s shouting from the race moderators, letting the crowd and drivers know that the race will begin in five minutes.

“I’ll see you on the other side” Gojo winks at Sukuna. “With my girl and Naoya’s McLaren.”

You suddenly run up to Gojo, oblivious to the tension between the two men. “Good luck Satoru!” You sling your arms around his neck.

“No need for it, princess! But I’ll take your kisses anyway” Gojo greedily slots his lips over yours, hand running down your back to the base of your ass. You giggle as Gojo gives it a slight squeeze, and he smiles against your lips. He gives you one last peck and straightens up.

“Please be a little bit careful, Satoru. I know Naoya races dirty.” You warn, hands coming to rest on his forearms.

As Gojo starts to respond, the revving of a car interrupts him and loud cheers fill the air. Naoya parks his car at the starting line and gets out. The street lights illuminate his bare back and the unnerving tattoo that snakes around his torso. He lifts up his arms, stirring up shouts from the crowd again. You shiver at the sight of him. “Satoru, I’m not joking. He’s dangerous.”

“I know that better than anyone.” Gojo‘s look seems serious, but there’s a hint of pride laying underneath. “He likes to think he’s good. Unfortunately, no amount of daddy’s money can substitute for pure talent.” He swings his car door open and plops into the driver’s seat.  He rolls down both windows and levels you with a sultry gaze. “I’m expecting a congratulatory prize after this.” he winks at you and you roll your eyes knowing exactly what he's insinuating.

“Ok hotshot, win the damn race first and then we’ll talk.” With that, Gojo whips his car around to the starting line and pulls up next to Naoya’s McLaren F1. Naoya is back in his car and sneers at Gojo through his open window.

“I hope y/n is prepared to be warming my bed tonight. Or maybe I should say my hood. She’s so irresistible, I’ll fuck her over my car as soon as I win the race. I’ll make you watch, and give you a few pointers on how to please your next woman.” Naoya takes glee in the way Gojo’s hands tighten around his wheel.

Gojo’s shades are perched low on his nose, and he glances at Naoya across his car. “All I’m thinking about is how nice she’ll look when I’m fucking her in the McLaren I’m about to win.” With that, Gojo rolls up his windows effectively shutting out any reply from Naoya. He revs his car, heating the engine and provoking Naoya at the same time.

After parting with Gojo, you had joined Sukuna and Geto where the other spectators stood on the side of the road. The roar of both engines filled your ears and your eyebrows scrunched in worry. It wasn’t that you doubted Gojo- you’d never seen him lose a race to anyone other than Sukuna- but something felt different this time. The drop in your heart must have been evident in your expression because Geto reached over and squeezed your hand. It was impossible to say anything with the combined noise of the crowd and the engines. You looked up and gave him a strained smile and then locked eyes onto Gojo’s car.

‘Please let Satoru be okay’ you think. You have no idea what was on the line, but knowing Naoya’s involvement in the yakuza you knew it had to be something valuable.

A flag girl walks between the two cars for the countdown of the race. As she waves the flag to indicate the start, the drivers accelerate causing the tires to screech against the asphalt. They both have a smooth start and tear across the road to begin the 16-kilometer circuit that’ll wind throughout Tokyo and loop back to where they started.

The dust settles and the ringing in your ears fade. “Well”, Sukuna mumbles with a cigarette stuck in between his lips “that’s as strong of a start as any. Too bad you didn’t slice one of Naoya’s tires earlier, Geto.” He pulls the cigarette away from his lips and lets out a cloud of smoke.

“Oh yeah, like that would have helped Gojo’s situation out. Pulling something like that before a race like this is asking for a bullet in the head. He’ll be fine. He always is.” Geto gives your hand another squeeze and this time you return it.

“I wish they had markers set up throughout the circuit. I don’t wanna wait till the last kilometer to see their positions.” You’re squinting, attempting to see the two cars in the distance although their silhouettes have already been swallowed by the Tokyo skyline. 

“Here, I’ll narrate for you princess.” Sukuna’s gruff voice is directly in your ear as he bends down a little. “The shitty daddy’s boy is going to pull some illegal move….. hmmm probably try to crash Satoru a few times.” Your eyes widen as Sukuna continues talking, the smell of nicotine invading your nose, “Gojo’ll probably bang-up his own car in the process trying to dish it back to Naoya...maybe get himself killed and then-”

You cut Sukuna off, pushing his chest away from your body. You scowl at him. “You’re an asshole, Sukuna.”

He throws back his head and laughs with his whole body “I get that from your boyfriend y’know.”

After a while, the familiar roar of engines sounds in the distance and you feel your stomach drop as the two cars drift through the last turn. They’re pushing through the last kilometer when the crowd of people start yelling.

“He’s ahead!” You’re shouting and leaning as far into the road as you dare. Geto’s got a firm grip on your shoulder preventing you from falling into the street. You take a quick look at Geto, and his dark eyes are filled with delight.

“Not by much, but looks like he’s still gaining speed.”

“Slick bastard.” Sukuna flings his cigarette onto the street, a smirk is stretching the corner of his lips. They speed through the finish line, Gojo one car length ahead of Naoya. The crowd is going absolutely wild and rushing onto the road, hoping to get a glimpse of the action that’ll inevitably occur between the two men. You make to run to Gojo’s car when Geto’s hand suddenly pulls you back.

“Wait a bit, angel.” His tone is protective, and his grip tightens on you. “You don’t want to get into the middle of that fight. And you don’t want to be around Naoya. Ever.” He’s looking at you, deathly serious now. And as you’re scanning his features, there seems to be an ounce of fear buried underneath.

Gojo drifts his car in a half-circle and drives back near the finish line. His door flies open and he emerges from the car, one long leg stretched out after the other. His hair is running wild, and he’s got a maniacal grin set on his face. He looks back at Naoya who’s stumbling out of his car and stalking towards Gojo.

“You piece of shit, Satoru.” The words tear through Naoya’s throat, eyes set in ablaze. “What the hell did you put under that hood. There’s no way you gained that much on me in the last kilometer.”

Gojo laughs in his face, looking down at Naoya. “Like I’d ever tell you my secrets, Zenin. Now hand over my keys.” Naoya tosses them straight at Gojo’s face, but he snatches them with quick reflexes. Gojo lets out a whistle, body turned towards his new car “Mannn I’m going to enjoy the sex in this one.”

There’s pure, unadulterated malice in the look Naoya gives him. “Watch your back Satoru. Your luck will run out one of these days, and when it does I’ll personally send you to hell.”

Gojo places the new keys in the pocket of his jacket. “I’m sure you will, and if that happens I’ll drag you down with me.”  Naoya sends him one last dirty look before joining his men and disappearing from the track.

“Toru!!” You’re running full speed at your boyfriend and he just manages to turn in time, before you fling yourself into his chest. “Oh my god” you’re laughing and when you look up into Gojo’s face, the lights from the street frame your features. “You totally smoked his ass. And by a whole car length too!”

Gojo chuckles alongside you “Did you forget who you’re dating? The king of fucking street racing, princess.” And with that, he grabs your wrist and tugs you to the McLaren he just won with a slight skip in his step. His boyish enthusiasm excites a round of giggles from you as you trail behind him.

You vaguely catch Geto utter “here they go again.'' Before Gojo swings you around and pushes his hips against yours. “Time to commemorate my... no our new baby” and you laugh against Satoru’s lips as he backs you up onto the hood. He slides your butt up with one firm hand on your hips and braces his other next to your face. You’re laying back fully now, Gojo’s stature is blocking out the moon and your attention is on the restless energy emanating from his body.

Gojo leans his face in closer and steals a kiss from you. It's sloppy; all the adrenaline from the race coursing through his lips. You immediately allow him access, and he greedily accepts. There’s an urgency in the way he sucks and nips at your tongue.

“Toruuu” you pull back with a whine.

“Fuck it.” He murmurs. There is a fire ablaze in his face and he roughly pulls you off the hood. “Get in the car. Time to get outta here.”

He tosses the keys of his old car to Geto. “Take it back to the shop for me, Suguru. I might’ve scraped up the paint a bit too.”

“Of course you did.” Geto gives his friend an annoyed look, but there’s no real anger in his voice.

Gojo puts the keys into the ignition, and the engine turns on with a purr. “Fuuuck, it sounds almost as sexy as you babe.”

“Gojo if you compare me to a car ever again, I’m dumping your ass and you can get yourself off with a steering wheel.” Your side-eye is sharp enough to cut, but Gojo just cackles.

“Hmmm, I’ve never tried that before. Think ya could give me a lesson before you leave though?”

“Can't believe I ever agreed to date you.” You murmur under your breath looking out the window in irritation. Despite his joking words, Gojo links your fingers and rubs soft circles against the top of your hand. He’s speeding through Tokyo now, one hand on the wheel. He seems at ease but you can tell he’s on edge still- probably antsy to get back to his apartment and fuck you into tomorrow.

He’s weaving in and out of traffic, downtown Tokyo getting closer and closer. It’s a familiar setting, Gojo in the driver’s seat, the city lights casting blues and reds across the dashboard. It’s almost enough to put you at ease, but this time the air is filled with something else. A tension that clings to Gojo’s shoulders and lays plainly across his face. It’s unlike him but you don’t comment on it, opting for caressing his hand instead.

You quickly make it to his apartment building, and Gojo swerves the car into the closest parking spot. He runs over to your side, rips open the door, and pulls you out with both hands. He’s almost pushing you to the doors of the elevator at this point.

“Slow down Satoru, we have all night.”

“That’s not enough time, it’ll never be enough.” You would’ve laughed at his childish statement if it weren’t for the last bit he mutters and your ears barely catch it. You ride up the elevator and stumble into his apartment, Gojo’s hands running all over your body. “Bedroom.” He mumbles against your neck, trailing sloppy kisses all up your jaw. “Wanna fuck you right.”

He leads you into his bedroom and tears at your shirt, ripping it over your head. He reattatches his lips to your neck and begins to suck. You’re pushing at Gojo’s shoulders trying desperately to rid him of his jacket, but the taller man is leaning his weight on you, and it’s impossible to even move. Gojo’s lips move over yours as he pushes you onto the bed. He’s hovering over you and you take the opportunity to grab at his crotch, giving it a slight squeeze. Gojo growls into your mouth, his hands tightening on the bed sheets above your head. You use the distraction to stick your tongue in his mouth, trying desperately to gain some sort of dominance. He tastes lightly of cotton candy, probably from the lollipop he was sucking on earlier.

Gojo’s breaks away, hands trail down your body. Once they reach the top of your skirt, he rids you of them and your underwear in one go. “Fucking beautiful” he whispers against the skin of your thigh. You buck your hips slightly trying to encourage him to speed up his pace.

“Please, Satoru- need you.” Your eyes slide shut as he trails his lips back up your thigh and to your stomach.

“Patience, princess.” his warm breath, makes you shiver and your hands come up to tug at his hair. Gojo obliges and brings his head back up to yours, hovering for just a second. All of a sudden he lowers his hips and simultaneously grinds once into your cunt as he kisses you.

You pull at his pants. “Satoru, I need to feel you, please.'' He leans back from your body and strips off his shirt and jeans. Your eyes are racking up the plains of his pale skin, and you reach out to his shoulders to bring him down closer. His kisses are getting sloppier and sloppier and his grinding is getting more intense. Gojo starts mumbling and lost in your pleasure you can’t make out what he’s saying. Until he lets out a particularly loud curse, and in your haze you catch one sentence.

“Fucking Naoya, I’d never let him have you.” Your entire body shivers and it’s not because of Gojo’s increased pace. You look up at him and his eyes are unfocused.

“Satoru..what.” You can barely speak, body stiffening.  “What’d you mean ‘let him have me’?” Gojo stills and his eyes focus on an area above your head, a guilty expression present on his face.

At his remorseful look, it suddenly all clicks in your brain. Gojo’s antsy attitude this morning- How he never gets like that before a race. You just brushed it off as nerves from never racing Naoya before. The way he was still nervous even after the race was over, as if he was relieved. All of the tell-tale signs begin to make more sense.

 “You bet me.” Your whisper grazes across Gojo’s lips and his eyes slide shut, his head hanging a little. “You told Naoya he could have me if you lost? Gojo are you kidd-“ tears start to prick at your eyes and Gojo suddenly opens his eyes as he interrupts you.

“Never.” He staring at you with a sincerity you’ve never seen him display before. His hand cups your cheek, his thumb catching a stray tear. “I’d never let him touch you. And if I had lost, I would’ve shot everyone in the Zenin yakuza starting with Naoya and his cheap dye-job.”

Something about Satoru threatening to kill one of the most powerful men in Tokyo turns you on even more. You wrap an arm around his neck and buck your hips, encouraging him to start moving again. “He’d have to chase us into the shadows before I’d ever let him lay a hand on you.” Gojo’s head is right up against your ear.

Despite his rash decision and asshole attitude that got him in the situation in the first place, you know in your heart that Satoru would never bargain you off like a piece of property. Your boyfriend is more distraught than you’ve ever seen him. Probably thinking that you’ll dump him for not telling you about the bet. You’ve been through too much together to do that though. Your heart beats wildly as you think might even love him too much.  A sigh escapes your lips, forgiving him instantly and carding your fingers through his hair for reassurance “Im here Toru. You won. I’m not going anywhere.” You pull at his white locks, dragging his head to your lips. He captures them in a seething kiss.

“I’m sorry” he whispers, pulling back. “I should have told you.”

“Yea... But it doesn’t matter anymore Toru. You kicked his ass. And you looked fucking hot doing it too. ” The tension suddenly dissipates and Gojo lets out a sincere laugh.

“God, I fucking love you.” You’re shocked for a second before you push at his shoulders to switch your positions.

“What’re you doing, princess?” Gojo is admiring this new view of you above him, straddling his hips.

You lean down and with a nip at his ear lobe you whisper, “Giving you your congratulatory prize, hotshot.”

[lazodiac]

Once more we return to Outlaws of Thunder Junction. We've got some more critters to identify so lets get to doin' that! Last time we dealt with Black, with the other parts being here and here. For now though, it is time to tackle...

RED

As with the Black cards, Hellspurs like this have mutated themselves beyond all belief so they're now functionally native to Thunder Junction. Love those magmatic skeleton horses though.

Speaking of magmatic skeleton horses; look at this baby! Calamity is an incredible creature and is a (supremely fucked up) legendary of the plane.

Get caught up in it! This is once more the Hellspurs running rampant with their chaos mutations. Look at'em go!

I saw a weird amount of hate for this card, but I have no understanding as to why. Anyway, this little doggy is endemic to Thunder Junction.

I have no real justification for this but the vibe this lady gives me is Tarkir. Maybe it is the weaving through the lightning bolts?

Rakdos having a hell of a time here on the party plane. This is from Ravnica, and a good reminder of why one of the laws on that plane is "The Rakdos Cult can do what they want to keep their boss from getting uppity".

One of the funnest cards in terms of like, flavorfully showcasing the way Thunder Junction works as a plane. I kinda wish we had more of these to be honest.

I'm marking this one down as Amonkhet because that's the first thing she brought up, and it makes the most sense to me that a native of the plane would be best suited to selling that stuff. I likely shouldn't go shopping in a bazaar.

While this isn't a direct story spotlight (the bomb Breeches made explicitly DID NOT touch the train, as was the intent) I think it is safe to say this is still another one of his more deadly explosive endeavors, so this is from Ixalan.

Who trusts a monkey with explosives anyway?

I forget where I heard this, but this is the thunder of the plane mutating the creatures to become even stronger- this used to be a gopher! Now it's a getter instead. Endemic to Thunder Junction.

A courser is the term used for stronger, swifter horses typically used as war-horses. Sturdy bastards. This is a lizard that is a 4/2 so it really shouldn't be a courser I think? Either way, native to Thunder Junction.

Train heists can happen on like two other planes from Thunder Junction, but this particular style of train heist belongs to it and it alone. Also I love the tomahawk thunder-pistol in this art, that's some good shit right there.

Another Hellspur, another card that sources itself from Thunder Junction itself. I fucking love this art though, look at it!

The greatest tragedy of Thunder Junction being the plane it is is that we didn't get to se Angrath and his daughters. While you could prooobably place this minotaur to Dominaria, it's a Hellspur so it's a Hellspur. You know the drill.

Do you think it hurts replacing your eyes with a heated vent-grill?

I don't think I saw this card in my initial run-through of the set. I love that he has a gold fang tooth replacement, that's fun. One of the least mutated Hellspurs so probably from New Capenna, but my rules are my rules. Thunder Junction!

Technically not highway robbery as there is no highways on this plane. Native to Thunder Junction.

TWAS I WHAT SET THE BLAZE! Endemic life of Thunder Junction, and quite a lovely little critter at that.

This one took a bit of thinkinng, but after looking at the giants of various planes, I think this is from Dominaria. He's just got the vibe.

This his friend above, this minotaur is a trickier one to place... but I think he's from Ravnica. Ex Boros turned gunslinger, you know how it is.

Magda! This lovely lady is from Kaldheim! Ironically her previous card was "Brazen Outlaw" but in neither instance is she ACTUALLY an outlaw mechanically. Her tokens are the non-endemic Scorpion Dragons of Gastal, but I won't be counting tokens till the end so leave me be.

This toasty little critter is endemic to the plane- and probably used to have a diet of thunder before any wizards came about with some much easier prey to snatch up.

I like to believe the little jet of flame is its tongue.

This pair of soon to be very dead friends are Hellspurs- and I just wanna say, they look like they're having the times of their lives. Here for a good one, not a long one and all that.

More Hellspurs doing Hellspur stuff. God these mutations are freaky- I'm shocked none of the people who are horny for being a Phyrexian jumped at these.

Our first actual carded appearance of the Cacti Folk of the plane! A white card had one being picked up by a faerie but this is their first actual like, real card! They're endemic to Thunder Junction, and by rights are the actual honest to god native population of the plane.

The corn-cob guns are an inspired choice, tbh.

I personally call bullshit that the Thunder was created by the Omenpaths. Even if it was, none of the people coming here would fucking know that.

Really love the "animation" in this card. I'm gonna say she's from Innistrad because this weapon looks like it'd fit there.

This massive porcupine is, as you'd expect, native to Thunder Junction. So many of those in Red...

This master of Santoryu is categorically just explicitly a monkey-goblin from Ixalan. What a perfect little creature, look at him go.

The second half of that kaiyote up above. Put'em together and you get a fun little image. This is of course native to Thunder Junction.

Have enough people chased roadrunners for this saying to catch on in the yearish they've had to live here? That's one hell of a meme infection...

This art was a little hard to parse, but it's something huckin' a molten knife through some kind of storm of Thunder. I like it, but it's impossible to tell where it is from.

It's not got as much bondage as you'd expect for them, but I think these two are from the Rakdos Cult and are doing their best to branch out. Ravnica, then!

The dinosaur tokens and the dinosaurs in his art are all Ixalani, so this wonderful old man is from there as well. Like I said we'll counter the tokens later.

And that's it for now, tune in soon for Part 2 of the Red cards of OTJ!

[anonymous-dentist]

I've gotta actually feel bad for the helpful members of the wiki team because they all know that their wiki is god awful for any kind of accurate information. It got to the point in December where they'd stream working on the wiki to prove that it's a totally legitimate service but like. Also it's objectively terrible! Any website trying to gather and consolidate information should focus on, you know, having accurate information before trying to make it big via connections with the Quackity Studio Team and with ccs.

Like, did you know that the wiki supposedly has a podcast going with ccs to talk about Lore And Stuff? With a whole One Single Episode? And then there's them reaching out to streamer mods to ask about boundaries to put on the wiki that's a whole Problem in itself, and the wiki team repeatedly sending weird unfunny donos to Fit and "jokingly" heckling him and Tubbo and Phil and whatever cc they feel that they can "banter" with despite not knowing these people whatsoever and despite the ccs really just not giving a shit about the wiki anymore. Like, I don't think a single cc outside of the one dude that did the podcast with the wiki team has mentioned the wiki in any substantial way since November when Cellbit called the wiki and its members out for messing with both his and Richarlyson's pages- without citation or reason- to add the family dynamic.

But then the team has its connections within the Quackity Studios team itself, and that's how it gets some of its information about the server itself. And that's admirable in its own way, I guess, but the way certain members of the wiki team act really just makes it seem like they're trying to nepotism their way(s) into making it big and/or make it onto the Q Studios team itself.

And the thing is? There are people on the team who at least seem to genuinely want to make the wiki a useful tool again. They know that they have problems, but things are rarely ever fixed because whether or not it's fixed depends heavily on which admin is online when you @ them on Twitter or dm them. In my own experience, I've been ghosted for over 12 hours before a different admin got online and answered me, and then a third different admin got back to me after that. The first time I dmed them, two different admins dmed me, and their responses were entirely different. One was helpful, the other just kinda brushed off my concerns entirely.

Going through the wiki's twitter account, you can see exactly where the wiki's priorities lie, because the majority of the account is non-stop retweeting of (very good!!) fanart of the English-speaking ccs, primarily Philza and the "Death Family", as they call Phil and Missa and Tallulah and Chayanne and Wilbur. Sometimes it's Fit instead. Very rarely will you find any retweeted art of the Brazilian or Hispanic ccs outside of the occasional Guapoduo/Spiderbit fanart, and there's very rarely French fanart retweeted. I've never seen fanart of the Hispanic ccs retweeted. I don't think I've seen fanart of a single female cc retweeted ever from any language. When art of the Death Family is retweeted, it rarely contains Missa; it's mostly all just Phil fanart, which just really shows the bias going on because you know which wiki admin is behind all this. They're the same one who donates to Fit every day and tries bantering with the ccs and tried applying to Purgatory and... yeah.

Oh, and the wiki's One Certain Admin will just come out and tweet that something is canon without it being canon. Take their tweet from what I think was the second day of Purgatory, aka when Baghera and Cellbit jokingly called Phil "dad" out of character, and when that One Certain Admin tweeted (this is paraphrased, btw), "So the found family is canon now! Let's put it on the wiki!"

And when the wiki's account will retweet other things that aren't canon, like calling the Prison Ghost "the Ghost of q!Cellbit" on the first day of prison without waiting for confirmation.

And it's HORRIBLE because I know that there are "good" wiki admins on the team! They can be very helpful! They're so willing to work with Tumblr and our complaints that they listened to me when I recommended they make a Tumblr account so we can have open communication with them rather than have everything depend on the Twitter community, and they're working on the account and putting a little team together for it as of last week when we last corresponded.

It's just that. The wiki sucks. It's a mess of disinformation and headcanons with no citations and no protections against disinformation. They could lock down certain pages until things are cleared up. They could appoint only certain people to be able to work on character pages to ensure fact-checking and citing.

They could do anything, but they won't because information isn't the wiki's priority anymore. It's starting to become clear that the point of the wiki is to be the wiki with no actual work put into being the wiki. And it's sad, because the wiki used to be actually useful for so long. But, at some point, it stopped being reliable, and you can see the public starting to realize it starting in November when the wiki account started trying to do literal damage control streams to show that the wiki is reliable, and then there's now when ccs who used to reference the wiki all the time rarely do so because they know that it isn't an actual source of information anymore.

Imagine that.

[moonlit-positivity]

I was asked by someone to talk about why it can be hard to enjoy things sometimes, like the element of guilt and shame around feeling happy, wanting things for recreational fun, even when times are tough and money might be tight.

And it can be more than just hard, it can be impossible at times. There is definitely the element of guilt in the concept of play, especially as an adult. To purposefully choose rest? To purposefully set aside the stress and pick something that soothes instead?

There is a type of vulnerability that comes with it. Like, "why am I not doing this or that right now? I cant afford to rest, i need to be working right now." There is a sense of survival to it all. The sacrifice to get it right, so you don't lose all that you have.

I think this is especially hard if our parents taught us to prioritize work, don't play around so much, grow up & accept responsibility, etc. To be put with such a burden as a child, is just the pavement for the burnout and depression you feel now.

These feelings are so valid, and something a lot of us struggle with. And I think probably the best thing you can do, is to reframe the concept of rest in itself.

Rest is necessary. Rest helps you stay alive, too. Rest is what helps your brain breathe. Rest helps you process on a deeper level. Rest is what gives you purpose.

Resting looks different for everyone. Those childhood hobbies you've wanted to revisit? The games you could never play as a kid? The anime or cartoons you used to watch, or never got to watch? The toys your parents took from you? The innocence and joy you had to sacrifice far too long before your time? You have the right to reclaim that.

Something that helped me a lot with this, was to understand that adults are allowed to have fun too. Just because you're old and grown up now, doesn't mean you gotta do the same old and grown up things your parents did. That's why they're so bitter. They never learned how to have fun. They never learned how to rest.

And maybe that's a hard concept to sit with, you know? Life sucks! It's not always happy fun times! Shit happens!

The concept of rest is what helps us find compassion for ourselves even while life sucks. You don't have to be happy right now, if you don't feel like it. You can be sad, mad, angry, depressed. You can be all of these things, and do nothing about it. You can be all of these things, and dwell in it if you need to.

But, you can also be all of these things and still find time to rest it out. You can enjoy that hobby and still be mad and angry at the end of the day. Be mad and angry while you do it. Do it because you're mad and angry.

My therapist loves it when I tell her, "i wanna take next week off." She says I'm one of the only clients who says that to her. She says, she likes it because I know when I need a break. You don't always have to be working so hard. You are allowed to set those burdens down and take a break.

Even if it's stressful, even if money is tight. You can and still deserve to enjoy yourself in the process.

And speaking of money, let's talk about how society frames poverty in this day and age. People will say shit like, "you're poor because you lack financial management."

Mm. Do yourself a favor and reframe the hell out of that. You're not poor by choice. You don't deserve to suffer just because finances are tight. There is never any moral judgement that should be placed on you just because you can't afford to live like the standard. That is ableist, classist rhetoric at its best.

If you're low on funds and still wanna enjoy your hobbies, consider ways you can get them for free. Oftentimes I've taken to watching let's plays of video games I wanna play, but can't afford. I live vicariously through the free entertainment the world has to offer. I've found refuge in DnD podcasts, gaming videos, art therapy, etc. Sometimes there are even local events in ur area that are hosted for free. You can even check out your local Facebook marketplace for freebies in ur area, too. You definitely don't need money to find a good time. You just need the mindset to know you're deserving of your freedom & autonomy, no matter how you gotta find it.

You deserve the comforts. You deserve the same joy and comfort and happiness of giving yourself the grace and compassion of knowing your situation does not define you.

Go out and find your own definitions of how you want to handle comfort, rest, and your right to feel whatever it is you need to feel about it.

Hope this helps 🌸

[lurkingshan]

Shan! One of the things that I’ve loved learning during my Old GMMTV Challenge project is discovering filmmakers and watching through their project lists. Do you follow specific directors or screenwriters for Asian dramas? If so, who are they, and why? And which dramas of their do you recommend?

A fun one, and an area where I know we actually differ in our approach. In short, my answer to your first question is yes, but also no. :)

By which I mean, I generally do pay attention to who creates the shows I watch, because when I am impressed or infuriated by a drama I like to know who is behind it so I can look into their other work, either to pursue or avoid it. Sometimes I have to go looking for that information, but there are some creators who have such an obvious style that it sets them apart and makes it near impossible to miss the connections between their shows (Kim Eun Sook in kdrama, Aof Noppharnach and Jojo Tichakorn in tbl, Hwang Da Seul in kbl, Lin Pei Yu in twbl, etc). With those I might start something unknowingly and then be like wait a minute is this X’s work? I do maintain awareness and keep creators’ other works in mind when I watch something new because it's fun to look for themes across a body of work, and frankly, to know where the pitfalls are likely to come in.

That said, I do not feel any need to be a completist about any one auteur's resume, I don’t intentionally sit down to watch a creator's work in an organized way, and I actually prefer not to know that much about their personal lives, because I like to focus on the fictional stories without too much real world gunk getting in the way and clouding my reads. I am a "let the art speak for itself" girlie; I'm less interested in authorial intent than in allowing stories breathing room to be interpreted by the audience. I do believe in the Death of the Author school of thought and I don't think it's great when creators try to do too much to control how their work is perceived. One of my current beefs with the Only Friends watch experience is that there is so much real world gunk (branded pairs, shipping and actor stanning, creators posting on social media with context that is not included in the actual canon) getting in the way and messing with interpretations of the show.

Once you get into a fandom at all you will inevitably be exposed to a ton of this kind of thing whether you like it or not. And it comes up a lot in bl because so many shows are adapted from pre-existing source material and rely on known actor pairs, which inevitably affects discourse because people come to these shows with a lot of baggage even before they begin. But I am always interested in story first. I dove into I Feel You Linger in the Air and Absolute Zero with zero hesitation because timey wimey soulmate shit is my jam, not because these shows were made by Tee Bundit and New Siwaj (in fact that would be more of a deterrent than anything if I let it dictate my viewing choices).

So while I am interested in the undercurrent of melancholy across Aof's works, and Jojo's devotion to messy ensemble pieces where everyone is a little bit of an asshole, and Kim Eun Sook's uncanny ability to tap into the zeitgeist and create banger after banger across a range of genres, I don't need to know too much about why their areas of focus are important to them or how it relates to their personal experiences. I prefer not to use fiction as a means to psychoanalyze the real people who create it; instead I just try to engage with and appreciate their art as art and afford them respect as creative geniuses without making assumptions about how each work is meant to reflect their real experiences. Understanding some basic demographics about creators (as in, do they have the appropriate lived experiences to be telling the stories they choose) is about as far as my curiosity goes.

Question 1 TL;DR: I do like to pay attention to who creates the shows I watch so that I can follow the themes in their work, but I am not interested in following the creators themselves closely.

Question 2: who are the creators I recommend following? I have mentioned a lot of them above, and my overall recommendation is that if you are invested in a show, you should look to see who writes and directs it, not just who stars in it. Actors are of course important but usually it's the creative team behind them that really makes or breaks a drama, because they are the ones ultimately in control of the story. Having that grounding can be really helpful for setting expectations and in interpreting and processing what you watch, and also just for helping you find more of the kind of thing you will probably like. I’m extremely glad, for instance, that I watched Gay OK Bangkok before Only Friends, because it gave me a framework for understanding the themes they were likely to dig into. I also just finished watching Rainless Love in a Godless Land, which I was interested in due in large part to it sharing the same screenwriter as my all time favorite Taiwanese drama, Someday or One Day, and being able to pull out the similar themes and ideas across the two projects made it all the more interesting for me.

[npdclaraoswald]

Finally watched the new Mean Girls

Likes

Janis finally the lesbian we all know she is and always have been

I feel like we got to see more of Janis' art which makes Cady bailing on her show hit harder

Janis being a person of color gives Regina leveraging the predatory lesbian trope against her a whole new dimension, though not one that's addressed in the text

The cast is all phenomenal, but stand outs for me were Auliʻi Cravalho as Janis and Renee Rapp as Regina

Witht the caveat that I haven't seen the stage musical, I thought the songs were all really fun

The shit the girls do to each other feels so much more mean now because there's a social media aspect to it. The 2004 girls absolutely had a terrible time and would probably traumatized by it, but it at least wouldn't publicly follow them for the rest of their lives the way the internet shit will for the 2024 girls

Letting the girl who doesn't even go there rock a song made it feel less like the movie is mocking fat people

Despite Regina arguably being more awful in this version, she's decidedly more lonely and it makes her work better as a character

Really showing how much Regina has destroyed any sense of self worth Gretchen has

Gretchen calling herself fetch was cute, and I don't think (?) it happened in the original

Cady's mom calling her binti was cute

Renee Rapp has said she played Regina as a lesbian and it definitely shows

The costuming was (mostly) great

Dislikes

It's so full of itself whenever it says the iconic lines. They hold for applause half the time and Damian looks at the camera when he says "You go, Glen Coco."

That said, they did cut several of the iconic lines, though the only ones I have any particular feelings about are "If you're from Africa, why are you white?"/"Oh my god, Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white!" And "Don't have sex or you will get pregnant and you will die!" I assume the Karen line was cut because Karen is a person of color in this version and it'd be not a great look for Regina to tell her how she can speak to white people. That said, I do still think Regina would do it, just in her house instead of the crowded cafeteria. And while the movie does make a crack at having a state mandated abstinence portion of health class, they do in the same sentence say later in the semester they'll actually be learning. When the point of the original line was to underscore how stupid, pointless, and dangerous abstinence only education is. Pretending like it's not a problem is a major downgrade

Karen's intellectual abilities have been downgraded even more, to the point where it doesn't feel like making fun of a girl who's never had to have a single thought in her life because daddy's money hands her every single thing she could ever need to think about, it feels like making fun of an intellectually disabled girl. I know it wasn't the intention, but it's how it feels

Despite the movie being much more diverse in terms of race, girl who doesn't even go here and Damian are the only fat people in the movie, and I don't think we saw any textually disabled people

No ending wrap up so Regina doesn't become a jock :( I'm personally taking this as her being permanently disabled by the bus crash, but that's not in the movie

Cady's costuming as she becomes more and less plastic is just this

Which was true in the original movie as well, but it's worse here

[tobiasdrake]

Yuma's found his nerve.

Creed says you're supposed to be a lone wolf and rely on nobody. But hey, maybe the creed's full of shit. Maybe you should take it down and burn it as soon as you get back to the agen--

Oh, wait, Makoto already did that for us.

Thanks, brother-from-another-test-tube!

Just. Don't. Lose sight of the "to make everyone happy" clause of that. The truth doesn't necessarily make everyone happy in and of itself. Like all things, what matters most is what you do with it.

I think it's worth trying. Why don't you? Better to reach for the stars and fall short than to keep your feet on the ground and never strive for more.

The reveal that Mystery Phantom Yuma was Mystery Phantom Makoto all along is a clever twist. I like that.

It was a sitcom-esque Wacky Misunderstanding! I called that! I just thought he was going to be Real Yuma.

Also, fuck you and your adherence to the Great Man of History philosophy. I don't think either Yuma or Makoto can singlehandedly save Kanai Ward. But I have faith that Kanai Ward can save Kanai Ward.

Yuma: Yuma Kokohead quit to go make ramen! That means his name and identity can be mine now, for good! No backsies! Makoto: Wait, so you're forsaking the name and identity of Number One entirely? Yuma: You heard me. Makoto: Oh cool. That means we don't even need to fight anymore. I get to be Number One now, for good. Yuma: Wait, that's not what I-- Makoto: Ah ah ah, no backsies. Yuma: I'm not going to let you take over the WDO! Makoto: Be quiet, Yuma. I don't think a rookie detective should speak that way to his boss. Now go make me a pot of coffee!

Danganronpa's always struggled with making its climax feel intense. For a series that is essentially just people standing around talking at each other until they can figure out the solution, it's hard to give it that CLIMACTIC. ACTION. FEEL. How do you make a Final Boss Fight in a mystery-solver?

Ace Attorney runs into similar issues, having to strike a careful balance between dynamically fighting off an archvillain with words and oh my god when will it end why is he still going.

But here? Here, we get to punch the bad guy right in his fucking face.

It's a nice bit of escalation with some genuinely cool imagery.

That ultimately does little to disguise the fact that this fight is still just Yuma briefly summarizing the facts of the case, then smacking the facts with his sword to make them bean Makoto in the face.

Sounds fake but go on.

That sounds more believable. Makoto wanted to do all of this in the Mystery Labyrinth so that he could take another look at everything he's done and reassess himself and the decisions he's made. I can believe that. That sounds like a thing he'd do.

You took too much on yourself, man. That's the problem with the WDO's creed. It discourages cooperation.

As I've often said, there is no greater problem-solving resource than another human being. Kanai Ward doesn't need a Great Man of History to save it. It needs a chance to crowdsource a better solution.

I don't know what the answer is. I don't have a PHD in genetics or culinary arts. But someone might.

Hold up, are we talking about turning off the cloud generator right now? Because that's not the right answer. Definitely not.

Your options suck and I hate you. Let's do something else instead.

Oh shit, they really are going to make us choose. The metaphysics demand it.

I mean. Obviously we reap Makoto's soul. It's the only way to leave and it's not like it will matter anyway. It has been firmly established that homunculi can regenerate from soul-reaping. If the defective homunculi can do it then Makoto can too. This wouldn't kill him in any way that matters.

I don't want to kill Makoto. I think he has good intentions and just needs to learn to see past his own bullshit. Fortunately, this won't kill him so let's bounce!

I mean, it probably will actually perma-kill him despite violating the internal consistency of the game's metaphysics. Writers tend to forget what they've already established when they try to write these Cruel Choice conclusions. That same problem hit Life is Strange like a ton of brick with their poorly-conceived final choice.

But I choose to hold the game to what it's previously established. If soul-reaping could perma-kill homunculi then we wouldn't have seen Yakou and the other killers in the Restricted Area.

If your metaphysics will allow that, sure.

Yuma's coming around. Discarding emotion to reach a logical conclusion is a bad way of helping people.

My dude, idealism solves everything. No progress would ever been made if it weren't for idealistic fools believing it could be done. We wouldn't have planes today if some dipshit hadn't gone, "I'm gonna try to fly, and fuck you if you think I can't."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA YES

I did not think we'd actually get Yuma this far but he made it! Let's crowdsource this shit! In this complex moral debate between Yuma and Makoto, I fucking won!

This final chapter has been extremely validating for me. ^_^

[truncatedgrip]

PSA for new tumblr users!

there's plenty of posts like this going around, but one more can't hurt lmao

Tumblr is NOT like Instagram or Twitter or TikTok! Likes don't do SHIT here. There is no algorithm, no fyp.

If you enjoy a post, REBLOG!!!

Reblogging a post helps it gain traction, plus you can leave private comments in the tags that only op and the person you reblogged from will see.

This is ESPECIALLY important for art and fic!!! Reblogging supports the artist/writer, and i can guarantee you that any little comment you put in tags will make their day.

Also, unlike a lot of other social media, tumblr posts have no "expiration date". It's common for old posts to randomly resurface and be mass-reblogged by people. It's also fairly common to go through someone's blog and spam-reblog (some people don't like this, and will say so in their bio or pinned post. usually tho, you can assume spam-reblogging will only bring a smile to someone's face). It's also common to reblog a post multiple times in a row!

Also, reblogging =/= reposting! Reblogging still gives op the traction and notes, unlike (as i've heard anyway, i don't use twt) quote-retweets. When an artist says "don't repost", they mean don't save the image and share it in an entirely new post of your own.

Next topic! Tags. Tags in a post itself won't do anything. Use the tumblr tags for it! Tumblr tags also let you make comments in a sort of "whisper voice", and sometimes someone will see your tags and find them funny enough to screenshot and put in a reblog. This is colloquially known as being peer reviewed, and is both a blessing and a curse. People can also see who you reblogged from, and sometimes will reblog from that person instead if there's "unnecessary comments" in a reblog, such as an @ or an in-joke with a mutual.

If you don't reblog anything, people will tend to assume you're a bot and block you on sight. This site has a history of pornbots who will like a post on someone's blog and thus create a connection for google searches. Most people don't want that connection, and thus block empty blogs. Having a profile picture and a blog title/bio will help prevent this, but even with your likes public an empty blog will often get blocked on sight.

Speaking of public likes! They're useless. Mostly, likes are used to save posts for later, such as a recipe you want to look back on, or a video you couldn't watch while in public, or something you couldn't reblog because you hit your post limit. Tumblr's post limit is iirc about 200 posts a day (incl reblogs), so go ham! If your post limit has been hit, you can always queue things up for later. In your blog settings you can find your queue, and adjust how often and when it'll post. You can have up to 1000 posts queued, so when i say go ham i MEAN go ham.

TL;DR always REBLOG rather than LIKE, and use TAGS to comment!

[o-wyrmlight]

I shall enable

Okay so. I'm going to write this on my phone and try to add a read more that hopefully works.

Warning: Body horror, nonsexual nudity, and unreality.

So here we go.

Man's hand has too many fingers. Also, I don't think the wrist slims down like that from the arm.

Something about the arm just looks... off. I think it's how skinny the elbow looks in comparison to the rest of the image.

Man has a really deep armpit. I'm also not a hundred percent sure if that's how the pectoral muscle falls against the shoulder.

My favorite part of this whole piece. His hand is clenched, loosely, under his skin. Can you see that? What do you mean, those are his abs? Abs aren't hand-shaped!

Literally look at how low his legs are from where his hips are. Look at how the frontmost leg is his left leg even though his right side is facing us. Look at that twisted anatomy, that massive calf in the back, those knees. Because that's anatomically correct.

Speaking of anatomically correct, what are those people in the bottom-left corner doing? Throwing a party? Please stop. I will get the bouncer

Man's right eye is literally yellow. It's a different color from his left eye.

What is going on with that wing

Middle woman now. The top of her head above the crown is bald. The AI engine didn't register that her hair style should continue past the crown. You can see the attempt, but not enough.

Speaking of her hair, what's that weird bit doing in front of the man? The rest of her hair is flowing but this one is all clumped up.

The crown is resting on her hair instead of on her head. If it were made of metal, it'd fall around her collarbone. There's just nothing to keep it on there.

Why do her nipples look like that

What is that line between her boobs that goes past her ribcage and down to her hip? Is that anatomically accurate? I don't THINK so? What was the AI trying to do there? She also has two belly buttons because there's no way that's a belly button piercing THAT high over the belly button.

I forgot to mention her irises are different sizes.

And her nostrils.

Her right hand is two hands merging into one. That is so sexy.

What's not sexy is how her waist and her hip are just. Too long? Too wide? It just seems off. Compared to the other side, it seems to come out too far.

I'm trying to remember why I circled her legs, though. Maybe they just seemed too long to me at the time. Her right leg does look a bit odd near the bottom, though--it slants weirdly toward where her knee would begin.

Hand take 2: Electric Boogaloo.

What the fuck is that artifacting under that thing she's holding. How could you possibly excuse that.

Person in the back. What the fuck happened to their arm. What happened to their wrist. Why is their ring finger the background

Their eyebrow melts from a shadow on the bridge of their nose into their forehead.

Collarbone anatomy! Honorable mention: The red ear. I didn't circle it because I couldn't tell if it was in the right place or not, but why is it so orange?

I think I circled it to point out the broken anatomy but holy shit flash back to the woman in front. A piece of the top of her arm was cut off. Ouch. Also her hair has that typical 'painterly AI look' to it. Anyway. Back to the person in the back.

Specifically look at where the torso ends and the hip begins. Imagine if your hips started right below your ribcage.

Now imagine if your hips started right below your ribcage but then skipped forward a little bit and suddenly you have another set of hips. Seriously. This is how anatomy works apparently.

So yeah. That's this trainwreck. Let me know if you see anything I missed. This is hilarious and I am obsessed. Specifically by the hand stuck under the guy's skin like oh my god. That in itself is art.

[21witnokidz]

IN GHE GHETTO

Chapter 8

Warnings: Mention of suicide nothing crazy though

“Kevin took Rose’s hand and led her into the the-a-tree”

“That says theatre Arthur “

You were tryna teach Arthur a little reading and he was actually getting the hang of it. Bessie said Arthur was as dumb as a dogs ass and begged you to teach him. So here you were. Sitting under a tree with him reading him a book Bessie lent you.

“This is boring Y/N let’s go fishing”

“No I promised Bessie I’d read to you”

“You can read to me while I fish c’mon let’s go”

He got up and started walking to the lake you two had previously been in. This was your little hangout spot now. Whenever you wanted to spend some alone time together you’d come here.

Arthur got his fishing pole and casted it out. You decided to just say fuck it and dropped the book. You got next to Arthur and casted your fishing pole not too close to his.

You turned to look at him. God he was so beautiful. Those eyes. Those icy blue eyes of his. He turned to look at you and when he caught you staring he smiled. You thought he was gonna make some stupid comment but instead he pecked your cheek. You smiled and laid your head on his shoulder.

“We’ll look at you two love birds!”

Startled, y’all look back to see Hosea.

“I was gonna ask if y’all wanted to get something to eat but…”

You shot up at his comment.

“Yes! I wanna go! I’m starving!”

Arthur stood up with a huff, a little disappointed.

“Way to ruin the moment old man”

-

Hosea took y’all to a restaurant and you ordered some Mac and cheese with some ribs and a lemon iced tea.

You were poking your fork through the food so hard it was hitting the plate underneath. Hosea and Arthur just stared at you while you were stuffing the food in your mouth.

“Damn girl you sure know how to put it away”

You just looked at Arthur and laughed.

“Anyway what are we doing today Hosea I’m tired of sitting around.”

“Nothing. We have enough money to relax for the day. Why don’t you and Y/N go run off and do something? You’re young go have fun”

“I guess we oughta”

After y’all were done you and Arthur walked around town. He had bought you some caramel popcorn and a candy apple for himself. You guys stumbled across a theatre that was showing a play.

“Hey look Arthur it’s a the-a-tree”

“Oh shut up. You wanna go in or not?”

You bought your tickets for both yourselves and walked inside.

“Man these girls sure are ugly”

“Don’t say that Arthur”

“Seems like anyone can be an actor nowadays. You think you could be an actor?”

“Hell no, I wouldn’t want to have to kiss another man that’s not you”

Arthur chuckled and put his arm around your shoulders.

“Good answer”

The leading man of the play named Jeffrey Stalen was holding a woman and began to speak up.

“I don’t care what anyone says. They could strip me of my rank and that still wouldn’t change what I feel for you. It’s you who gives me life. I love you. I love you. I love you!”

Arthur just couldn’t help himself and bust out laughing. Everyone stopped watching the play and stared at the boy next to you.

“You lot actually like this shit? It’s so corny!”

Jeff looked stunned.

“Who said that!? Who’s laughing!?”

You took Arthur’s hand and rose it up. Arthur quickly put it back down to avoid confrontation. Usually he wouldn’t back down but he knew he was with you and he didn’t want to ruin the date y’all were having.

Jeff calmed down and continued. “Catherine I love you more than life itself”

It was now your time to shit on the play. “Boo Jeff. Boo no one likes Jeffrey Stalen”

Jeff looked out to the audience with a scowl for a second and then back to his love interest. “If the devil were to ever look at you. All the fires in hell would clear up”

“Boooooo. He’s pushing religion on to the audience get him off the stage booooo”

Jeff threw the woman in his arms to the ground and shouted to the audience. “Godammit! I will personally shit down the throat of the fucker who decided hating on art was funny! I swear to god I will kill myself on this stage if you don’t show yourself right now!

Arthur finally had enough and stood up.

“I said this play is corny and I’m getting sick of everyone praising these god awful actors for playing make believe”

Arthur chucked his sticky caramel apple at Jeff and it got stuck in his hair. Jeff screamed in agony and started sprawling out on the floor like a fish out of water.

Everyone in the audience began cursing and yelling at the two of you for ruining the play. So you two ran out as fast you could while laughing.

“Why’d you go and do that Arthur?” You said in between laughs

“I’m fine being responsible for a murder but a public suicide is a little too much for me. Damn actors are so dramatic”

“And you wasted your money by throwing that apple at the poor guy”

“Who cares? They could strip me of my wallet and that still wouldn’t change the way I feel for you it’s you who gives me life Y/N”

“No way you’re actually quoting that clown!”

Arthur grabbed you and kissed you repeatedly all over your face.

“I love you. I love you. I love you more than life itself!”

When you got back to camp y’all were still laughing about the whole thing.

“Something interesting happen?”

Hosea asked

You and Arthur tried to explain the situation but you just kept laughing in between words. You couldn’t even get a full sentence out or it’d be incoherent.

Bessie just shook her head.

“Oh just leave them alone Hosea. Say do you want to go to the theatre tomorrow? I heard Jeffrey Stalen was in town?”

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 1,720

[S] Rose and Dave: Shut up and jam.

Storyboards: http://readmspa.org/storyboards/01720.swf.html

Songs used: Unsheath'd by Alexander Rosetti, Welcome to the New Extreme by Robert J! Lake, Octoroon Rangoon by Toby Fox, Derse Dreamers by Solatrus, Phantasmagoric Waltz by Alexander Rosetti

Song commentary for Unsheath'd:

Alexander Rosetti:

I based this off a short tune I wrote as a composition exercise. It turns out the tune was really short, since this song clocked in at a little under a minute. I had intended it to be associated with Dave, hence the style and Hip-Hop sounding lead. Not much to say about this one either other than I should definitely use this theme in the future for something more worthwhile.

Song commentary for Derse Dreamers:

Solatrus:

(original commentary)

Well, this is the most popular song from Prospit & Derse. Not surprised it eventually would show up. :>

This song, along with Core of Darkness, captures the very core idea I had in mind for the Prospit & Derse album: writing music about the settings, but showing that the mere existence of the kids on those moons influences the music as well.

Derse Dreamers was the first to actually reach that goal, and was actually the first song to be fully completed on the entire album.

Of course, this song being retroactively tossed into the Shut Up and Jam page helped with its popularity quite a bit.

Retroactively gaining an additional featured song... from a page that existed before my first real feature. How’s that for weird time shit?

(commentary redux)

The fan favorite. Without a freaking doubt. This one compares to Frost in popularity, and I’m willing to bet is probably even more popular thanks to horizon’s vocal cover.

What’s that? You hear Iron Man in it? Yeah, so do I. Oops. That string section is kind of hilariously similar. It’s a huge coincidence, though, because I really don’t listen to Black Sabbath whatsoever.

When I started this song, I knew I wanted two things: Rose playing violin, and Dave being a bad-ass with time-shifted beats. I ended up making the opening motif and let it repeat for most of the song. People seemed to really like the strong focus on Rose and Dave, but I think even more so people enjoyed the callbacks to their respective Medium world themes (Endless Climb and Atomyk Ebonpyre, respectively).

Though, maybe it was the name? Maybe it was the amazing art Mixt did? Speaking of, here’s what she had to say:

(Mixt:)

"I recall the idea was to draw Rose and Dave jamming on Derse, but the piece itself made me think of space, so they ended up jamming in the space between Derse and its moon instead. Rose’s bowhand unfortunately reflects my own terrible grip when playing violin.

Also, I laughed when it was discovered that Derse Dreamers made it into [S] Rose and Dave: Shut up and jam just prior to the album’s release. Fandom, you never cease to amaze me."

I agree with her there. I was very amused when people noticed the change to that page even before I had the chance to mention it to anyone. Crazy fandom ninjas!

Yeah, that’s pretty much all there is to this song. It was remarkably straightforward. I didn’t do anything particularly surprising for myself on this one. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and I did it.

More importantly, however, I’m thrilled this song is enjoyed by so many people, and I’ve been blown away how people have have been using this song in their own derivative works. It’s just really heartwarming as an artist to see my work out there having a life of its own.

Song commentary for Phantasmagoric Waltz:

Alexander Rosetti:

This is exactly what it sounds like. I went for a whimsical, dreamy feel with this one, expressed through the 3/4 meter, waltz patterns, Lydian mode, and ringing, bell-like timbres. There's not a lot going on in this one, though I think it's charming in a childlike way. It was the first piece I made upon my return to the music team (I was in it since the beginning, but never made anything worthwhile and left for a few months since I was starting my first year of college)

(extra comments in reply to a Tumblr question)

For some reason waltzes, Lydian mode, harps, and bell-like timbres seemed like the most appropriate ways to evoke dreams for me. I was inspired to make it ever since seeing Jade’s dream self, and how appropriate that it was included in Dave’s dream in Derse!

For those not around since the beginning of that page or who don’t know the history, it was originally full of Bill Bolin tunes (a former music team member who left on very bad terms) and we had to replace them with existing material. One of the things Andrew put in there was Phantasmagoric Waltz, and now that page has the additional comedy of Dave and Rose jamming out to...a sweet, slow-paced romantic dance? I can dig it.

For the record, that’s not a cell phone vibration, whatever you are hearing is there just by chance.

Author commentary: This is a montage of Dave and Rose dancing to a bunch of songs. I guess they're "happy" to finally see each other? There's no snarky repartee here, just some seemingly sincere fun being had. We don't get to see what they have to say to each other because Homestuck characters haven't graduated to that level yet. That will be allowed only once Homestuck flies through its own looking glass, which changes a lot of the rules. The characters not being able to speak directly to each other without the aid of a chat log was a masterfully built conceit on my part, as it allowed me to preserve the feeling of awkwardness and vague alienation associated with only being able to talk to your buddies online, since you never got to meet them face-to-face. (Unless you do, like they're doing now, but you still don't get to see them talk, because I say so.)

[bookwyrminspiration]

How does your school work? You've mentioned a lot of interesting things about it, and now I'm really curious.

I'd be more than happy to explain! Though I can't promise to cover every interesting thing I've said because I've forgotten them all. It is a pretty cool situation that works out great for me, but if you have any questions--about my school, college in general, etc--I'd love to answer! (started over explaining, but hopefully it makes sense)

Essentially, it's a dual credit high school. I can't speak to how it works at other high schools, but my understanding is typically they might have a dual credit program where students can choose to participate in dual credit. The difference here is that my entire school is dedicated to that specific concept, built around it. Here, there is no option but to participate; it's why you go here.

Dual credit means that we're earning high school and college credit at the same time, so I've been taking college courses at an official community college since 9th grade. All of it is paid for my district, I don't have to pay for the college education.

The way it works, instead of electives (like spanish, drama, art, etc.) at a typical high-school, our electives are our college courses. These can be things like the normal electives, but they can also be things like philosophy, culinary classes, welding, etc. These classes count double, both towards the high school side of things and the college side of things--hence dual credit!

The only courses the high school offers itself are the basics, like math, english, history. They're condensed into semester long courses to match the college, and everything else is college. As you progress through any high school you need less core classes (e.g., I only had PE the first year, next year it was an open slot for an elective) and can take more electives, so your schedule also gets more free.

Right now, I'm a senior in high school, so I only have one class a day. This semester, I only had English, and next semester I'll only have Econ/Gov. I finished my math credits before 10th grade, and there's no more required science or history. So during the school year I go for an hour and a half (that's the length of one period), do my class, and then go home. (freshman have a full school day, and it gets less with each year).

The time you save you can put towards the college courses you're taking. A certain number are required each semester (with one high school class, 3 college are required. with 2 high school 2 college are required, etc.) so you count as a full student, but you can take more than that. If these classes are in person, then you'll attend them when they're held and do the work like any other homework. I've personally elected to take all my courses online because it's less draining for me, so I just go home and do my work.

My school is structured in such a way that the goal for all students entering is to graduate high school with a two year degree or a certificate, though that's not the limit. I've personally already earned several degrees.

It's also an incredibly small and close-knit school. You get in via a raffle, so you apply then they randomly select students to get in. There's about 60 kids in my grade level (if it was full there'd be 72), and almost all of us have been here since 9th grade so we're all familiar with each other. We've been taking classes together for four years. I will say that unless you're directly involved with student government or something, you won't know shit about the other grades. You only know your own because our schedules don't let us mix. And since it's so small, the teachers all know us pretty well. It's a lax and friendly atmosphere, treating us like adults in college instead of kids preparing for college.

The principal knows all our names and she jokes around with us, same with all the other faculty. The other day the principal and vice principal were standing next to the stairs talking and I passed them by, and they called to me and joked, saying, "Quil, we hear you only have a 104 in english, you better step it up!" and they complimented some of the art they'd seen for an assignment I'd done. My 10th grade English teacher gave me books from her personal collection to read and I gave her a few from mine. Even this one teacher I never had (he's new this year and teaching a grade below me) knows about me (though that may be because I'm an accomplished student, so staff tend to hear about me).

I'm probably missing something, but that's the gist of it! I take core classes at the high school, and college courses that count for college and elective credits. This gives me an incredibly free schedule (that doesn't match the rest of the district) with a personal, relaxed environment. And it's all paid for!

It's definitely not for everyone, but it's wonderful for me because I don't have to be in a place for an extended period of time and all the teachers are more than accommodating when I use fidgets and earplugs. Couldn't imagine going anywhere else :)