#just a ramble

[meowmeowriley]

I've had this idea for a while that I don't really know what to do with, but imagine that pre-141 Ghost and Soap don't know one another, except they do. They've been internet friends for years. They have a group, like 6 or 7 people that they play games with, they're constantly in discord calls together. But they're not Ghost and Soap online. Soap's username is Sealtits_9 (a play on Seal Team 6) and everyone knows he's a Sergeant in the army. They call him Sealtits, or just Tits most of the time. Ghost, or Left-sock-toehole as his friends know him, is Discord mom. He reminds everyone to eat and drink, corrals them towards their objective in game, gently parents them through arguments and sometimes real life problems. No one knows what he does or what he looks like. When they ask him how tall he is he gives a different answer every time. If someone asks about dick size he answers something along the lines of "miniscule" or "I don't have one, lost it in the war" just random unhinged shit. He's also constantly commissioning Soap for random shit. Any time he sees Soap has his commissions open he snatches up a slot and sends him some random ass thing to be drawn. Every time Soap is like "DAMMIT TOEHOLE I WILL DRAW FOR YOU FOR FREE STOP TAKING UP MY COMMISSION SLOTS" And every time Ghost replies "easy there Tits, I already paid you, please draw me Lady Dimitrescue as a rubber ducky." And yeah... idk I just like the idea of Ghost having online friends that don't know he's actually a really terrifying motherfucker. And of course he and Soap flirt all the time too.

[thatmooncake]

Obsessed with how Sun fits so much of himself into such a tiny space.

I mean first of all, literally.

He’s gonna have to surgically detach his rays from that slide.

And then we have his living space, the Superstar daycare. Big at first but when it’s the only place you can seem to access while others get free roam of half the building or even get to go outside of it? TINY. The outside world is unfathomably HUGE in comparison. And everyone he comes into contact with has basically seen so much more of it than he has. And that must feel so impressive to him but at the same time so strange and …maybe somewhat limiting? Like no matter how hard he tries to relate or understand from his little corner, others have experienced things firsthand that he probably never has. Things he’s read to kids in storybooks and sang songs about but never seen up close.

And we know that in some sense he likes things to be just so. The barrels are aligned. The lights stay on. That’s the only way he feels safe. So I imagine his own limited perspective when he comes face to face with people from the outside world feels kind of scary to him in a way.

And despite the daycare being his domain, people encroach upon his space without warning, and he plays along. All of a sudden there are people and he must deal with them accordingly and he must act in a certain way no matter how he feels about it and how much stress he’s put under (for example, continuing on with playtime despite the whole situation with Moon, perhaps because he has to, or he wants to, or he has nothing else - maybe all of the above).

^ Look at his little room! It makes me sad. I don’t know if Moon ripped up all the bots that are scattered over the floor or if Sun did or if someone else did but the fact is the place looks so depressing compared to most of the Glamrocks’ rooms it’s painful. Here we have two of the most neglected robots in the pizzaplex and they carry on like that doesn’t matter, but we know Sun knows that something is very wrong so even if this is the norm for him and even if he’s used to it, the more broken bits and pieces he encounters the more it must be killing him because every day when he’s done entertaining the kids or pretending someone’s going to show up that day (depending on if the daycare is closed or not) he goes back to a permanent reminder of just how messed up things have become.

And he seems SO HAPPY to see a stranger from outside of that little room. No matter how you look at that, it’s pretty sad. Is he faking his enthusiasm? What a frustrating and stressful situation that must be to be at the beck and call of someone you don’t genuinely want to be around and act like you’re their new best friend. Is he actually excited? What a stressful situation that must be too, only for any semblance of control you had to be abruptly torn from you as you’re forced to switch when the lights go out, clearly horrified by what’s going to happen all the while because you know it won’t be good for anyone.

Does it hurt when he switches? I’m fascinated by Sun’s relationship with Moon. It’s played in so many interesting ways by the fandom. Are they two separate people? Are they like roommates who share a body? Are they two aspects of the same AI? They’re so versatile and I love it. I love all the takes there are on their personalities. Sun? Silly, goofy, playful, ray of sunshine, bundle of nerves, parental, fiery, bossy, strict, the embodiment of anxiety, and so on. Moon? Prankster, gremlin, sleepy, calm, collected, grumpy, silly, catlike, etc. I love it when they get along and I love it when they don’t. I have so many feelings about them both and it’s less that I want to know the truth about them (if there is such a thing) and more I just like exploring every avenue because they’re just really fun and fascinating characters.

And THAT SYMBOLISM. Wow. The sun and moon themes give you so much to play around with. So many metaphors and so many things you can plaster the surfaces of your house or the background of your phone with that make you think of them. The moon’s phases. The way the sun sets earlier in the winter. Would Sun get tired more easily in the winter? Does Moon have a blue moon phase that makes him feel down at the drop of a hat? Because same, guys, same.

Not getting over these guys any time soon I guess.

[dangoarts]

found shader that doesn't explode my puter >:]

the end goes so hard oh my god

[femmedefandom]

jiang cheng must have been so unbearably lonely after the sunshot campaign. his parents are gone, his shidi and shimei are scattered to the winds or dead, his home was destroyed, his sister married off into another clan, and his brother who always swore to be by his side is distant, seemingly uncaring, and eventually abandons him…even when JC tries to warn him it will be at his own peril. to top it off, all other three major clans have sworn a brotherhood oath, boxing (or triangling) him out. the eternal other, too young and too fierce and too bitter to fit in, who has to constantly prove himself, to a righteous Lan Xichen who can’t see his exclusion or understand his pain, to a cunning Jin Guangyao who sees no benefit to helping JC when he can help himself instead, and to a ruthless Nie Mingjue who has no time to care for a boy he doesn’t know beyond brief mentions from his little brother. It’s no wonder that years later he’s still entrenched in his pain after having lost his remaining support as well: Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli.

It’s no wonder that he cares so much for Jin Ling when that boy is all he feels he has left. It’s no wonder that he is still single, losing everyone of meaning to you would make anyone wary of loving another again. It’s no wonder he has channeled his anger to WWX….WWX couldn’t stand by and be quiet and fall in line and stay safe and live…and his actions to protest against WC, abandon his sword for demonic cultivation, protect the Wen Remnants, and attract the ire of the entire cultivation world (no matter how unintentional or based in good intentions) did end up leading to their fractured relationship, and the deaths of JFM, YZY, JYL, and WWX himself.

breaks my heart to see how desperately both JC and WWX want to be brothers at the end, but all both can see is the massive chasm of pain and secrets and betrayal and hurt between them. JC is destroyed by the fact that all his efforts to rebuild could be brushed aside by the fact that he has WWX’s core, that WWX will always be a self sacrificing idiot until the end and leave him to worry about the consequences. WWX is destroyed by the guilt he feels in sparking the ire of the Wen to hurt the Jiang family and inciting the events that led to his and JC’s beloved sister’s death.

[theosconfessions]

this is me telling YOU again how much i appreciate you all being here and being my lovely moots. i would tag every single one of you so im not going to. i appreciate the big blogs the small blogs the in between blogs. i love your stories/your lookbooks/ your gameplay. i love how unique you are and how your ocs making me get in my feels in different ways.

i hope you guys know that. when i first started this blog back in the summer i was a wee bit nervous. only because my writing style and my ocs def can push some boundaries. but you guys have made falling back into the community so easy.

i cannot say this enough but communication is everything.and i hope that i am able to communicate with you just how much i appreciate you all being here.whether its through my likes, comments or just giving back a wee bit with my silly pose packs .

this all being said i am not doing pose pack requests just yet but if anyone needs a sim for anything literally im here for you. use them horribly is the only requirement ;) make them a menace.

[steveshairychest]

It happened in the blink of an eye.

One minute, Steve is treading carefully through the upside down by Robin's side, the next he's pinned to a tree by something, or rather someone, and it takes Steve a long moment to recognise him; black eyes, scarred skin and blood matted hair making him almost unrecognisedable.

"E-Eddie?!" Steve's voice cracks as he frantically takes in the man in front of him, takes in the large fangs and bloody ripped clothes. But there's not an ounce of recognition on Eddie's face as he drags a sharp nail along Steve's cheekbone.

"Eddie can't help you now." His smile is sharp and blood red as he reaches down and pulls out a sword longer than Steve's own arm.

Everyone starts screaming when Eddie laughs and holds the blade to Steve's throat, Robin's gut-wrenching cries for Eddie to stop are almost as loud as Steve's pulse, which hammers loudly in his ears. Someone, Steve can't see who, steps closer to help him, but Eddie tuts and pushes the blade harder against Steve's throat. "No one moves."

The blade is covered in so much blood and gore, and when Eddie presses closer to Steve, their noses almost brushing, the sharp blade nicks Steve's throat and causes him to hiss in pain. Eddie's eyes track the single droplet of blood that spills from the cut, and with a strained groan, he pushes himself away from Steve.

There's something different about him when he cries out for Steve to run, something more human like, something more like Eddie.

Any trace of that humanity vanishes the second Steve starts to run.

[nagirambles]

Also, Earthland Lisanna is thematically linked with the rain (her funeral, when Natsu found out about her death, etc flashbacks, the day she and Natsu became friends, the day she and Natsu played house there's a meaningful scene in the rain, edolas arc begins with mira and elf visiting her grave when its heavily raining, the fact it's raining when she comes back---) but in Edolas Lisanna wears a sun on her shirt

[heyo-428]

*Spoilers for Caraval and ouabh series*

I like very desperately need the time-travel theories for acftl to happen, it would be so cool. Plus we’d probably get to see The Assassin again, unless there is some other way or traveling through time. I hope we can see the Assassin again he was really funny tbh. Like the way he was terrible at jokes in Finale was great.

Anyways here’s a theory/ headcannon below the cut, main spoilers start

For a while I had a theory/headcannon that since Jacks started the chain of events that freed the Fates from the cards, he is collecting favors from them in return. This could explain why he had a favor from Poison and I believe he said something to LaLa about one too. Could be wrong. What if Jacks uses his favor the Assassin owes him to go back in time and show Evangeline everything she forgot?

But, what if the Assassin ALSO takes them to Jacks’s past? It may explain why the map for acftl seems to be in the past…

Since the Fates are known to not be very truthful in their bargains I can definitely see the Assassin taking them to Jacks’s past just for a laugh. It would also be interesting to see some of things we’ve been told about from a POV of inside the event. Or even through Jacks’s POV and he’s just reliving that moment.

[strawberrywinter4]

Honestly, I could imagine John taking up boxing.

Just like… think about it. Him only wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts (or maybe sweatpants).

I feel it would be an impulsive decision, you know? He just decides to wake up early one morning and head to the gym, feeling a burst of adrenaline that he just has to unwind.

And I feel like once he starts, he’d begin to enjoy the exercise. It would allow him to release any tension building up in his shoulders or maybe a lingering thought that annoys him to no end.

And most importantly, he’d like the feeling after he’s done continuously punching the bag, feeling fresh and his thought process being replaced with a new mindset.

Sherlock would notice after a little while, seeing how his muscles are a tad more defined or how his grip has increased whenever he cups Sherlock behind the neck to place a kiss to his lips.

Sherlock would also begin to notice how John’s step has a little more power, a little more of a stride than a walk. Don’t get him wrong, he appreciated John’s obvious confidence before and he fell in love with the soldier’s assurance, but now he seems more happy with himself.

John allowing himself to clear his head in the morning with a healthy workout has made him feel better, Sherlock can tell.

Of course John wouldn’t have every day to do his boxing exercises and some days he’s content on taking a full day of relaxation, which Sherlock adores. John decides when he wishes to put his body to work and when to give it rest, not rushing any specific process. Sherlock is glad to see John simply taking the reigns of his mentality, assertive of what he wants when and where.

It’s quite hot, Sherlock thinks.

John is a holder, enjoys touching Sherlock any way he can to show affection (mostly in the comfort of their flat), which Sherlock has learned to become obsessed with.

A hand on Sherlock’s lower back when leading him through a crime scene, a grip to the chin to press their lips together when John’s about to leave for the surgery, or a simple cuddle session on the sofa, John’s arms wrapped around the detective as he absently watches the television.

And Sherlock doesn’t miss the stronger holds, the tighter squeezes. He sucks in a shaky breath, his cheeks flushing at the slight change. He wouldn’t say anything, only appreciate John’s new routine.

Sherlock loves John’s body in every way. He has a bit of a stomach that he can snuggle into and specific birth marks that he’s memorized. Sherlock will love John no matter the circumstance and just seeing John happier with his exercise decision makes him happier.

[memes-saved-me]

I've realised people don't understand what actually makes something bad representation. A lgbt character being evil or a dickhead isn't bad rep because people are messy and so are queer people. We're all human and make mistakes. Fiction is a reflection of our reality and we have all met queer people who were not uwu soft babies so every characters shouldn't have to be that.

Bad rep is like Big Mouth misdefining bisexuality in a biphobic way. Having trans characters be nothing but jokes or treat as wrong by the narrative. It is not what the characters do but how their actions are treated. How does the narrative see these characters? How does the writer want the audience to feel about them. If it is clearly to put them down or degrade them then yes, that is bad but a character doing something bad or mean is not.

I'm bored of people clutching their pearls when a queer character has flaws. Yes, that means they're a real and well written character. Not a token. If cis straight characters can do anything and everything so can lgbt ones

[silhouette-anon]

[lore time! reblogs for the art appreciated. lore reactions very appreciated i must know your thoughts :3] [unedited version of art below the cut]

Simmonn!!! Do you like our costumes?!

'Course I do, Alice! Now, hold still- I got'ta get a photo, alright??

---

[A door opens.]

Mr. Mallory. Do what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you at this accursed hour? I mean, really, could you have at least scheduled this meeting BEFORE closing hours?

...Sorry.

[Sigh.] [A chair is pulled out.] [Someone sits down.]

Take a seat, Mr. Mallory.

You can just call me Simon, remember?

Simon, right. Now, please explain your issue.

...My sister. Where is she?..

...

I've told you this, already, Simon. We've been working on her case, Simon. Please, just be patie-

[A desk is slammed, a chair knocked back as someone stood.]

Patient? PATIENT?! ITS BEEN AGES! THATS ALL YOU'VE BEEN TELLING ME! YOUR DETECTIVE HAS VANISHED! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME?! WHERE IS SHE?!.. WHERE IS SHE?!

Simon. Calm down. We're working on it-

ARE YOU?! TELL ME THE GODDAMN TRUTH!! TELL ME!

Simon-

FUCKER! TELL ME!

[Sharp inhale.]

YOU KNOW WHAT?

If it'll get you to shut up, then fine.

We've been searching all these months, Simon. Day after day. There's nothing. Truth be told, we don't know where your sister went. It's as if she disappeared without a trace. Nobody saw her leave, and there's nowhere she could've gone.

Well, search HARDER! SHE COULDN'T HAVE JUST VANISHED, IDIOT! I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU DON'T BRING HER BAC-

SIMON.

You are crossing your goddamn line once again. This is my fucking office, do you understand, Simon? I don't fucking care who you think you are, I get people like you every goddamn time this happens. There are more people missing than just your fucking sister, Simon. We cannot just pour all of our resources into finding one girl.

You- no, no no, you can't just-

Simon. Listen to me. We have searched everywhere. We have checked airports to see if anyone has left with a girl that matches Alice's descriptions. We have checked homes. We have asked neighbors. We have trekked for miles in those GODFORSAKEN WOODS to find your DAMN SISTER.

I WILL NOT BE LEAVING THIS OFFICE UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHETHER OR NOT MY SISTER IS FUCKING ALIVE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?

[Click.]

...

Simon. Think this through. You don't want to do this, just put the weapon dow-

I CAN SEE YOU REACHING FOR YOUR GODDAMN TASER, FUCKER! I'M NOT FALLING FOR THAT! TELL ME WHERE ALICE IS!

SIMON. PUT THE WEAPON DOWN-

[A gunshot rings out.] [The windows are tinted red, crimson moonlight shining through.]

[unedited version of the art :3]

[reasoncourt]

everyone on twitter is so mad at roman for that one comment about ken’s kids but like. i’m sorry. i don’t get why. because a) kendall does not care about his kids. he doesn’t. he cares insofar as they’re extensions of him. so he got angry because he was insulted. not because his kids were insulted. b) it’s not even that cruel relative to 99% of the comments the siblings throw at each other AND C) they’re talking about blood. which is bullshit. and roman basically pointed that out. ken is not the oldest son and his kids might not be “the bloodline”. so if those are the things he’s basing his “right” to take over waystar on then it’s bullshit. he doesn’t have any superior claim.

like idk. i’m not defending roman. i just find it funny that people get so angry at that comment in particular from him. cause it’s rlly not that bad in context. kendall thinks blood is just as important as logan did and he also thinks him being the oldest and “legitimate” is important which is why he takes roman’s snipe as such an insult instead of just saying “fckn so what?”. they’re on exactly the same page and kendall would make exactly the same comment to his siblings if the tables were turned

[givemeanaccountalready]

I am now slowly mulling over the Milgram ladies, and how their femininity is used for and against them…

Some is obvious to me. Like how Yuno uses the girlfriend archetype many female characters her age are boxed into to explore different facets of herself while knowing that sex work will result in social condemnation so this exploration of self is hidden from others. Girlfriend characters are usually limited to something they share with their partner, in this case, Yuno matches one part of herself to a client’s wants and makes herself a one-dimensional perfect girlfriend for her client. Similar to Amane, Yuno refuses to have naivety assigned or even associated with her to maintain a sense of agency. She iterates over and over in the second trial that sex work was something she chose. Don’t blame others if you’re going to condemn the sex work aspect, blame her.

Your teenage years are a fun time of trying to assert agency and independence when the rules keep changing based on the adults around you. If you’re not “just a kid who didn’t know any better” when you do wrong, why do they then insist on you being just a dumb kid when you present reasonable arguments or signs of independence? It’s irritatingly unfair. Pick a lane and stay with it. Is she an adult who knows better or a child who doesn’t? You can’t have both. That’s the gist of some of what Yuno is arguing. Granted, every 18 year old, male, female, or nonbinary, thinks they have it all figured out. I’m pretty sure that in five years’ time, Yuno will look back and go wtf was I thinking? I’ve never done sex work, but I’ve certainly looked back at my 18 year old self and wanted to go back and bitch slap some sense into her.

I think it’s pretty reasonable to assume that she didn’t start sex work at 18. And judging by the images of the dates she has gone on, two of her clients are wealthy, older men (green dress Yuno and purple plaid Yuno). They are probably old enough to be her father. Those seem to be expensive sites and objects. Not something a teenager or college student could afford. IRL, it’s all very concerning behavior from Yuno, especially considering how vulnerable sex workers can be to abuse, exploitation, etc. Her being a fictional character means my immediate reaction isn’t to yank the person away from the live grenade of their choice but to watch and see what happens.

But back to Yuno’s use of her femininity to explore her identity. Sex work may not be the healthiest way to figure out who you are, but it is what she decided for herself. Yuno resigning herself to reflect girlfriend characters in media (these one-note gals who like what their boyfriends like) isn’t going to give her any happiness anyway, because human beings are complex and have more than one side. It’s funny in an ironic sort of way that Yuno chose the most out-of-the-box method to box herself in to find what fits her.

That’s just one spitball of an example that I came up with. I’ve got others for the others ladies of Milgram.

I do wish we had an older female character, someone close in age with Kazui to measure the fan reactions to the two oldest prisoners of each gender set. The average age of the female characters is 17.6 years old while the average age of the male characters is 25.6.

[dangoarts]

can we talk about these storyboards at the end of batim for a moment

[cerisezero]

I keep thinking about the times that someone has looked at the idea of writing their language and gone '…yeah no I'm gonna fix that' or 'yeah I want a piece of that action' and made it happen, for any reason. And I'm gonna make noises about it for a little bit. Maybe highlight a couple of things.

You've got King Sejong in Korea going "OK. The script we're using now is hella complex and …Chinese. I want something that's easy enough for a farmer to learn. And maybe to pay his taxes with." And he works out hangul, neat and logical and frequent winner of Best Writing System awards if such things exist. (And then the nobles don't like it because how are they supposed to look smart if the peasants can write too?)

You've got Sequoyah, thinking the settlers he's doing business with might have at least one good idea in this whole 'talking leaves' system they're using. So he throws himself into working out a syllabary that works for the Cherokee language even when his friends and family think he's losing the plot or he's possessed or… Anything. But he hangs in there. Teaches his daughter. Proves that this is something worth it, and goes on to see the syllabary he created become official and used throughout the Cherokee Nation.

These are the best known ones. But how many are there out there?

There are systems where a missionary or someone similar's come into a place, and gone 'hm, Latin ain't cutting it for writing this' - the Cree syllabics and their extended Canadian family fall into this box, though there's at least some accounts that dispute the usual story. (Given that a lot of those sort of stories come down to 'so we can make a Bible at these people', it's fair to put a big old asterisk on them, but… they're a thing.) Getting away from that issue, though? There's local creators making a bespoke system for their language when the ones they'd picked up from outside just don't fit the sounds or grammatical patterns. Writing systems that can really belong to a language and its people.

While it's absolutely not my place to say whether something is good or bad - the only people who can do that are the language users and community the script was made for - there can't help but be a few that catch the eye. For example, I'm quite fond of the Ditema tsa Dinoko script - it's a pretty recent creation from South Africa as a script for a wide range of Bantu languages, using compact triangular blocks in a way that reflects traditional patterns from Sesotho tradition. From my outside perspective, it's an elegant script. It's just one example, though - there's many creators in Africa who have done similar things, sitting down and making a script that their language needs and that isn't being shoved on them by… yeah. Vai and N'Ko are the biggest examples but there are so many! Moving on, in Oceania, we find the Avoiuli text from Vanuatu, designed so that any one character can be drawn with one stroke in the sand… and elsewhere, the scripts being created to use with signed languages which haven't used them in the past…

If I were to try and go into all of them, it'd be a whole essay. And I'd probably miss some as I'm an outsider nerd without access to the deep literature on some of this stuff. Instead, I'll link to The World's Writing Systems as an index to browse through - unfortunately, it doesn't allow searching by how the writing system was created. But there are plenty of indigenous scripts listed there too that deserve their own deep dive. (The fact it lists con-scripts specifically made for fiction… eh.) Their icon comes from the Afaka script, for the Ndyuka creole in Suriname. A lot of the letters are quite pictorial in nature - including the 'ka' in WWS's icon. Gotta say, that's a way to make things memorable.

…anyway, that's my ramble for today. Just gonna wrap with this source which I haven't fully investigated yet, and Endangered Alphabets which isn't so much for deliberately constructed scripts but (unsurprisingly) for endangered ones in general, and as such plain deserves a link.

Now I go back to my own scribbling. Maybe I'll finish a con-script enough to show off one day. Even if one rather smaller in goals.

[aphroditestummyrolls]

I am genuinely so confused by people who, like, hate the way shadow and bone (netflix) was written? Like, there’s plenty of valid gripes— for example, the pacing of season 2 is way off, and it should have had at least two more episodes imo— and if you just don’t like it, then you just don’t like it. but some of y’all seem to be pulling complaints out of thin air that either directly contradict the show’s actual content, or are just part of the nature of having a show with 1) so many characters, and 2) such a short window in order to address and give due consideration to each of those characters. The medium is just different, we can’t read a characters mind like we can in a book, and it needs more time to be organic. And, not to mention, some characters are just not main characters, and they’ll have less screentime.

Like, if we were to get season 3/crows spin off, we’d probably get a lot more time to explore certain things in a more organic way than to have characters spell things out. I always find that clunky, and especially with the crows characters who are so emotionally constipated, it would be much more out of character than having actors and lines give subtle hints/scenes that provide flashbacks/etc. I don’t understand what some of you want.

And also, just because something is different from the way it’s done in the books, doesn’t mean that they’re representing those character traits poorly or are being disrespectful to them? It just feels like some of you are looking for things to be angry about/set yourselves up for disappointment when you were explicitly told by Leigh Bardugo and the writing team to expect things to be like a fanfiction of your favourite characters and book events… it’s an adaptation. I can’t speak for the shadow and bone or rule of wolves characters nearly as much, because I’m a Crows Girlie™️, but given the changes they made— aging up characters in particular— I think characterisation remained quite faithful!

I hope we get our spin-off/season 3. There’s still so much for these characters to teach us about themselves, and I’d love to see how things continue to evolve in the show-verse. And, while I’m perfectly content to just keep playing in my own little corner of the sandbox, I wish that what I’m saying here didn’t feel like an unpopular opinion.