#long long long ramble under the readmore. sorry!!!

[0xo]

tw abuse & transmisogyny tho

it is kind of nuts that on the flipside of having incredible trans relationships, i've also been treated like dirt by former partners who happened to be transfem, and it like... sucks. hard. to feel a little bit unable to talk about how they treated me for fear of people interpreting that as me not loving or respecting trans women.

like. idk. especially one ex in particular. having my life threatened and being emotionally/physically/financially abused really really really sucked. especially because i loved her a lot and still really, really care about her. it took literally years for me to tell the full story to our mutual close friends because. i didn't want them to cut her out of our community. like "exile abusers" blah blah blah but she NEEDED friends and support, she was also going through a hard time, the last thing she needed was for every local friend she had to drop her or talk shit about her. even if she did really really mean things to me. i still want her to be happy.

it was hard telling k about what actually happened because he was so mad, not at me but at her, asked why i didn't tell the whole story sooner, all that. and all i could say was that i was afraid she would get more hurt. i didn't want her to be isolated. and i asked him, if you knew what she'd done, would you have been so nice that day when she showed up and scared the hell out of me? and he said no, i would've understood why you were so scared, i would've told her to leave. and i said EXACTLY, she wasn't in a state to leave, she needed a soft place to land. even if it meant she broke a promise to me. don't you get it? i didn't want her to end up dead. i still had an obligation to her to try and keep her safe.

i don't know. like. there is no such thing as a perfect abuse victim and you don't have to forgive your abuser or try to make things easier for them or protect their reputation from the truth of what they did. i just. couldn't let it all blow up immediately, right? i could only tell the truth after she was in another place, a better mental state, with more support that wasn't connected to here or our mutual friends.

and it's weird because we're still kind of friends, sort of. and i still care a lot about her. she has so so so many good traits, she's talented and beautiful and smart, and. i didn't want the way she treated me to get in the way of her recovering and having a good life. i want to believe it was all a really really big mistake, that she didn't mean it, that it was just the drugs and the sobriety attempts talking. and pushing and threatening. like yes take responsibility for how you act but also, maybe, that wasn't really her. maybe she's really actually a great person and we were just in a really difficult situation. i know that's not realistic but god i hope maybe she didn't mean it.

idk. abuse makes you feel absolutely insane sometimes. five years later im still grappling with that. the gender layers just make it more complicated because i never wanted to be that asshole who ruins the life of a trans woman over petty stuff. but it. wasn't petty stuff, and i know that and i have witnesses, it was genuinely bad. and i still couldn't/can't bring myself to write her off as a terrible person. because i really and truly don't think she is one. i believe she's changed and i believe she's better and i believe she's got the potential to do amazing things.

and i'm not looking for brownie points by saying all this, i'm not trying to paint myself as a saint for the act of still treating her like a human. i was never perfect. and i don't want to hold it over her head, okay? that's not what this is about. i am not a wonderful person for trying to forgive her. i am just trying to minimize the damage for both of us.

i'm just. still processing. and i think the way i had to handle it kind of complicates things. i've had people accuse me of "protecting abusers" because i don't really publicly talk much about what she did, i don't "warn" people about her. but. it's not necessarily anyone's business? they're not entitled to know the details of one of the worst periods of my life just so they can get some sick glee out of regurgitating it, using it as a reason to alienate her... using my pain as social currency. it's not their business. especially if she's changed her behavior? she doesn't treat her wife like she treated me, thank god. and if i'd gone out to crucify her... i don't think she would've gotten better. she may have hurt me but i don't want to hurt her in return. she doesn't deserve that. i didn't deserve cruelty from her and she doesn't deserve cruelty from me.

i'm not looking for validation that i've done the "right thing." i'm not sure there is a "right thing" to do coming out of all that. i just need to talk about it a little bit. because maybe other people who've survived shit situations need to hear that it's okay to have complicated feelings.

but her changing for the better doesn't. erase. what happened or how it affected me. the flashbacks and nightmares and general fear and anxiety. the added layer onto my pre-existing ptsd. it's difficult to process and talk about. it's affected the way i relate to people and my ability to trust. (i'm forever grateful that my current girlfriend saw what was happening and stepped in to protect me... sometimes i only really feel safe when i'm with her, because i know she's not going to hurt me or let anyone else hurt me. i can actually relax when she's around. she's safe.)

and idk, i guess the thing is, i could've let that experience turn me bitter towards trans women. i could've blasted my ex publicly and tried to ruin her life, and i probably could've succeeded at it. but. i never wanted that. i needed to be away from her, and she shouldn't have done those things, but i was never willing to turn it into a witch hunt. and it was a trans woman who came to protect me when i thought i was going to be murdered! it was my trans fem partners that helped me get out and get safe. i owe them my life. they didn't have to help me but they did.

so it's confusing to me that some people are so transmisogynistic because... what, a trans woman was a little rude to you on the internet? she called you out on your transmisogyny??? you feel personally emotionally attacked or some shit?

like. please get real. you're just hateful. not to be like "oh i got over a horrible experience so you should shut up," but. i lived through hell, i was abused by a trans woman, and i still don't have a nasty attitude about trans women in general. so i think some of you should shut the fuck up. trans women have every right to be angry and snarky when you treat them like shit!!!

i think it's just. difficult. to watch people act like fuckheads. i deeply, deeply love and respect the trans women in my life - including the ones who hurt me. and some of these assholes are throwing hissy fits about jokes and well-deserved criticisms of how they treat/talk about trans women. like. just admit you don't like trans women specifically. don't pretend you're being attacked. i know what being attacked is and, i gotta say, it's NOT that!

wishing people would view other people, especially trans women, as Real Actual Humans and not just a collection of their worst moments. it's so dehumanizing and so blatant and i'm sick of it

[blindmagdalena]

Did you or do you ever struggle writing character x reader fanfiction? I read it quite a lot but I just can't get used to writing in that format. I'm writing an OC x Homelander story, though.

I had never created an OC before, but I am certainly more comfortable writing a character that has a name, face and backstory of their own than using a generic reader. Particularly when I'm writing about the character's past and other individual characteristics, addressing the reader as you seems so weird to me. It makes me feel like I can't give in to specifics because it breaks the illusion.

Also, I've enjoyed the act of creating an OC. Giving them a name, a story, motivations, designing their psychology, etc.

However, I find it discouraging to see that OC x HL stories are nowhere near as popular as HL x Reader and I worry that I may not find an audience. When I post anything in ao3 it gets like two likes and in tumblr I'm just ignored completely 😢

Could you please give me some advice pls?

oh my darling! i hear you. the disparity in interest between x oc content vs x reader content is undeniable, but it's also inevitable. all the reasons you describe struggling with reader perspective fics is why it's so popular: the lack of detail allows the reader to adopt a nebulous perspective, whether they see their own oc in that situation or their literal selves. it doesn't require them to get to know or become invested in your creation, it allows them to indulge in what feels like their own.

i don't think readers get enough credit for their suspension of disbelief and the mental work they put into filling in the blanks that authors leave. similarly, it's absolutely difficult to tell a compelling story while leaving what is often the perspective character a near blank slate. that said! the fics i get the most feedback on are where the reader does have a stronger personality. people love banter, and even if the reader's voice doesn't always feel like something they would actually say, it always produces much more engaging interactions.

i've definitely had my struggle with this in the past, but i'm still learning. the series i'm working on right now, Guilty Pleasures, features a reader with quite a lot of personality, and i've established things about her that i wouldn't normally go into such detail, and the response to it has been great! your reader perspective SHOULD still feel like a character with thoughts, motivations and feelings. otherwise, the story is going to fall a little flat.

if it's easier for you to write the reader perspective as if they're your oc, you should do that. there's a delicate balance between too much and too little information when it comes to reader fic. sometimes taking liberties really works, and i think you'd be surprised how well readers can stretch that illusion. reader perspective should resonate, but not be so overpowering that the actual person reading doesn't like them.

but you absolutely do not need to force yourself to write a particular style of story if it's not something you actually enjoy. i also write and enjoy oc fic! i honestly think my oc fic Eat Your Ego is some of my very best work. unfortunately, it's rare that any of those chapters ever break close to 100 notes, whereas even little reader drabbles will see 2-3x those numbers, sometimes more.

but i write it because i love it, and it's the story i want to tell. that's what matters! and because of my dedication to the story, people have been kind enough to trust me with their time and investment. oc fic will never have the same broad appeal that reader fic does, but that doesn't make it less valuable. you just have to invest more in promoting yourself and convincing people that your story has something to offer them.

my best advice is just don't give up! i'm horribly erratic when it comes to the creative projects i work on, but i've been writing Eat Your Ego for over a year and it has gathered a lovely little following. feedback on that fic means SO much to me. even though there's less of it, the joy it brings me is immeasurable because that fic is special to me. don't give up on your story! it deserves to be told. 🖤

[s1x-foot-deep]

FINALLY i have ALL these drawn up.... umm anyways heres designs for a prohibitedwish-centric au where prismo(& "friends") work at/run a roller rink, aka the Time Room, & scarab is an auditor suspicious of how the place even stays open and is obsessed with shutting it down<3 more rambling abt it under the readmore

ok. so basically:

starts in the 70s when the Time Room is doing alright, popularity-wise and financially. it contains an arcade room with a prize counter, a snack bar, a back office, restrooms Obviously and of course, the rink, for skatin'. here there are many events to be seen: parties for holidays, rollerblading contests, birthdays, etc etc...

in this time, pretty early on in the 70s actually, prismo meets Jake(not yet designed 4 the au but i'll get 2 him), who ends up being pretty much his best friend, and stirring up feelings prismo doesnt quite understand himself.... scarab, is assigned to do an audit on the Time Room and notices a name he recognizes, unfortunately. of course, it's prismo, there HAS to be something fishy going on here. so instead of doing his job like normal, how he should, scarab disguises himself and snoops around the rink himself for evidence of anything suspicious.... and of course, skate. can't go to a rink without skating right? it'd look suspicious. its definitely not because he's taking the opportunity to have fun & hang out in the crowd that'd usually shun him. he's not HERE for fun, you know.

in the background all the while, life & death have a budding romance, a beautiful lil opposites attract story... and lich is. well. lich is there and intimidating, and... friends with life? kind of? he doesnt think theyre friends, just that he doesnt hate Life, and they share music and horror movie recommendations. otherwise he loathes to be perceived

timeskip to the 90s, the Time Room is in a decline. less people show up, it looks run down, and prismo is.... not doing his job. he's busy mourning his best friend, who he only now realizes he loved, and he is NOT coping well. hes more apathetic than he was before, nihilistic one could even say, and even his pal Cosmic Owl doesn't know how to help.

during this time, scarab's also dealing with the consequences of someone passing. namely, his Unnamed, Unseen Sibling, who left behind a girl scarab now has to care for. he has mixed feelings-- he was never close with his family, nor does he like kids, but now he has to figure out how best to care for this child he barely knows, but thinks the world of him, for whatever reason. when scarab goes to the time room to keep investigating, like he's been doing for around 20 YEARS now, he's taking Chrysina with him as he can;t really get a babysitter or anything, nor would he trust one. and well, once he sees the sorry state prismo's in, it doesn't feel as great trying to ruin his life. sure, scarab feels a little vindicated to see the time room so dilapidated and empty, but now this mission just feels like kicking an old dog.

prismo, wallowing in his grief and poor coping skills, takes some sort of interest learning how much scarab despises him. people tend to like prismo, why doesn't this guy? he honestly doesnt even care if the guy finds something to shut the place down at this point, so long as he comes back.

ok i typed way more than i meant to here ok thats all for now bye

[birchbow]

Gamzee often refers to himself as “pan-rotted” due to his sopor-eating habit as a wriggler (and so does pretty much everyone else at some point). He told Kurloz that he has to really focus in order to remember mission instructions a few chapters back, I think? Gamzee doesn’t have a great self image, but it seems true that he’s often slow to draw inferences unless he’s already paying attention for hints about something specific. Like his default awareness is a little more diffuse, and he has to put in deliberate effort to narrow it down on a particular problem? He attributes this to the sopor, and so does everyone else. What I’m asking is - sopor aside - does being neglected by a lusus affect a troll’s brain development? (Beyond emotional stability and the ability to form secure attachments, ouch.) Since lusii don’t talk I’m not sure about language acquisition but maybe lusii respond positively to grubs babbling? Sidenote: the fact that Gamzee has the scriptures memorized so well almost feels like his chronically understimulated pan grabbed these abundant in-person interactions with authority figures in his early schoolfeeds and ate it up like starving. Sorry this is so rambling 😅

I'm incapable of being brief, especially when I get long asks with lots to chew over, so here's a readmore!

SO There's a moment in canon where Gamzee outright says "[sopor] rots you. Rusts your motherfucking thinkpan." and I think it's up for debate to what extent that's true but also it does seem pretty reasonable that heavy/consistent drug use throughout your adolescence would leave you some cognitive issues!

(Although also, as a person who tests super well in things I intuitively Get and am interested in, but often feels slow and dull, can't fit certain subjects/concepts into my head, and has a hard time remembering all the steps of things I want to do,,,, I put a lot of myself into my characters, is what I'm saying lol.)

RE: not having a lusus, I think that probably would have way more effect than the kid who went through it would assume, yeah. Like, all trolls would know your lusus keeps you safe from predators/intruders, gives you early practice fighting/wrestling, and especially in more rural areas, scavenges and hunts for you especially when you're young. But trolls as a society definitely undervalue the part where they also provide a sense of security and affection, because you're not supposed to want or value those things as a troll!

It's hard to make direct connections since lusii only sort of resemble human parents, but there's certainly studies to show that children of neglectful human parents struggle forming the cognitive pathways they would otherwise establish, and have trouble later in life--even if your caretaker doesn't talk, it seems pretty reasonable to me that having a parental figure who fucks off for long periods of time and leaves you completely alone with no idea when they'll be back would have a pretty similar effect across species! I'm not well-educated enough on that topic to draw the parallels I would want to, but it feels like a solid theory.

Also, quite apart from any of that, there was definitely a chain of cause and effect from "dad doesn't want me and there's no food" to "...but I have sopor slime" to "this makes me less hungry and also I give less of a shit about how hungry and lonely I am" to "if I stop eating this I feel shitty and have a hard time thinking straight and there's like a decade of repressed emotions under there".

RE: scripture, one of the things that I see original-flavor/canon Gamzee do is be all in on his religion, and when that falls out from under him, reorient to the first convincing power he finds, which unfortunately for everybody is the whole mess of Doc Scratch/Li'l Cal/Lord English. It to me feels very much like a guy who has no idea how to make his own ideological support structure, and is desperately looking for someone to give him a belief system and set of rules to follow.

ANYWAY SO hopefully it's fairly clear how that carries forward in a universe where instead, he gets a supportive church that helps him sober up and channels all his deeply-repressed rage into "hey, those aliens over there need conquering, go kill em", and also he's offered these books that are like. The rules. And knowing them gets him approval, and reassures him when he feels like a fuckup, and it turns out he can learn things, if they're things that fit in his brain right, and that's reassuring because he genuinely thinks most of his failings are his own fault for wanting sopor, and Alternian addiction support boils down to "do that again and we'll cull you" so they sure the fuck don't have a compassionate attitude about recovery or good information into after-effects, so everybody else is also just like "yeah, probably you fucked up your brain, idk, git gud".

This is a very lengthy way of agreeing with you lmao. The feedback loop of "oh you're pretty good at this" from authority figures, and it being a topic that he naturally had an interest in, definitely is a big part of why he's so deeply into it.

[lemon-wedges]

Just wanted to ask (and feel free to not answer), but how do you draw so much so quickly? I'm always impressed by how fast you doodle or paint. Also, wanted to say that I appreciate your Barok and DGS art as a whole.

and with this ask i have finally reached an artist milestone 😭

Well theres a short answer and a REALLY long answer (which ill put under cut when i get there).

short answer: practice + refs

which.....can be an annoying thing to hear. And as someone who studies art and has bought a LOT of online courses trying to figure out how industry people can just churn out work like nothing. it feels like a let down every time i find out their big secret. just practice and photo refs. Every. Single. Time.

LONG ANSWER:

its how you studying your refs. heres how i do mine

sorry if this is rambly. but ill try my best to at least be clear. BUT THIS is the EXACT way i taught myself how to be quicker.

I do not know if youve taken any art classes but essentially one of the ways to study gesture drawing is by first tracing ur photo ref to get a sense of the flow/proportions of the body. youve probably seen a billion of these tutorials floating around:

So last year around hmmmm june/july? i was NOT looking to get better at my anatomy or gesture. i was actually trying to get better at clothes. but my problem was it took me so long to draw out a figure (which i was fine with cause i liked how my people looked at the time) that i could never really just focus clothing part.

So i told myself look. ur not looking to draw in this style like this forever. so for now SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY!!!! I WANT THE BAREBONES OF A HUMAN HERE TO MAKE A MANIQUIEN FOR CLOTHES OK

but how do i do that....

Im gonna use this piece as an example from my rise and yosuke fashion palooza month. FIRST u see i got all my photo refs together. i like those poses on the right and i want to switch out the clothes for the other ones i picked out. i trace out my poses. kind of like the tutorial up top but since this is about draping i was focused the exact places their waist/arms/legs/etc would bend.

and like the tutorial u turn off the photo ref and do a drawing based off that traced piece.

then i would turn on my refs and add on my clothes

And after a month of just doing that over and over and over. i was surprised to find that figures and poses were so much easier to understand when i would break them down like this. and once u get familiar with them the faster and more confidently you'll draw them.

I and still do this btw. heres my otasune from the last week

i used photo refs for all my sketches. if i cant find anything online to match what i want i just take photos of myself. and some might say well arent u just relying on reference TOO much?

AND AGAIN take it from someone who has spend a lot of money buying classes from their fav artists in the industry. The Secret of how they churn out so much cool work so fast always turns out to be this. practice and photo refs.

Every. Single. Time.(tho this is omitting a lot. im not getting into like they way they stylize their art work. that actually the fastest and funnest thing to do once u have ur base down)

Now PAINTING

The thing is, i dont actually post up all my work on this blog. So theres a ton of stuff you havent seen me do. These are some paintings i did 2 years ago for a class.

I already know how to pick my values and set up lighting. When you see me painting my figures now. i am not focused on learning these basics im actually just honing a technique.

you might see me post readmores with these kinds of wips. I lay in all my colors and lighting with the lasso tool. ALL THE MAJOR DECSIONS ARE DONE HERE

(the little miniature i add on the side basically tells me what the overall feeling is going to be when i blend in the lineart to be cohesive with my colors) ( also if you had any questions on my prepainting process tho. feel free to ask!!!)

and if you compare this wip to my finished piece youll actually find that i dont stray that far from what i've laid in.

everything happening at THIS stage is about feeling out how i want the textures to blend with one another and getting funky with some brush strokes.

and thats it? im not sure if any of this is helpful but if anything. i hope you come away from this feeling like what ive been doing here is nothing special. "THATS IT???? THATS ALL THERE IS??? well i could have done that :T"

exactly man. you can do ALL OF THIS aND MORE!!! I BELIEVE IN U :D

but ill let this be the last thing i leave u with my friend: my barok sketch and the refs i used for his boobies

[ritens]

dd2 has me doing mental gymnastics bc I don't really like interacting with canon all that much in ANY setting (nervously looks at wf, the chosen operator thing sucks, dont come at me).

puts this under readmore bc the ramble got too long oops just quickly going over Rau's story to see what canon events even tie in there at all.

It's just unfortunate timing in an unfamiliar place. Rau happened to be in Melve with his family, passing through really. Dragon makes a feast of his heart, he gets treated and dragged to Vernworth with strangers wanting to put him on the throne but he runs off because it's all too fast paced for him.

Disa does what Disa does best which results in Rau being enslaved on the Volcanic island with his memories missing.

He escapes the place, thank you Rook and goodbye Rook. Nobody picks him up from the griffon landing area and he simply wanders off on his own. (rather he wanders off BEFORE the soldiers arrive)

The guy spends a week trekking through the forests until he ends up in Vernworth again where Brant finally gets his hands on the stray Arisen to fill him in on his supposed duty.

Raures summons a mangled pawn at the big riftstone in the city and ends up leaving the thing alone at an inn for days to let him recuperate. During this time Rau runs the infiltration tasks in the palace for Brant.

Once Lane is good enough to walk, they set out for the Nameless Village and never return to Vernworth again. The pawn has his claws in the Arisen and does his best to distract the hero from his charge.

And the rest just doesn't happen for Raures. He sticks to his wandering lifestyle like he did with his parents before the Dragon scorched them and ate his heart.

They visit the Sacred Arbor at some point and travel to Battahl through illegal means. They assist those in need along the way because Rau is a stouthearted, kind man (if a little blind).

Brant is hot on their heels at times, exasperated beyond measure. Lane distracts him too by sending him the wrong way, but keeps Rau in the dark about the matter.

The pawn also murders Ambrosius on the beach as he detects the kind of energy is hidden in the small blue crystals. Better safe than sorry is the excuse he gives himself.

The (severely incomplete) bestowal of spirit was a mistake when it comes to Lane's OG master, Amaury LMAO he literally got all of the worst traits from the prick before the good ones could come in. Lane's learning those on his own now, through life experience. (((Exercises his sliver of free will to be a little bitch)))

After an unmentionable amount of time Raures loses his spark and is forced to retire as a New Arisen is made to pick up his slack and continue the cycle in his stead. He is devastated by the fact as the fog is lifted from his mind and realization finally washes over him.

He then notices that the pawn he adopted is still sticking with him despite his lost status. They have a falling out when Lane comes clean about his past and his motives and the role Rau unknowingly played in them.

Upset, Rau then FINALLY makes way to Vernworth to see if he can aid in any way. And Lane is left at Rau's cabin in the woods to think things through.

---

Raures is very dutybound so his initial reaction to Lane's manipulation, betrayal even, was very negative. But he eventually takes pity on Lane and goes to fetch the pawn before he can answer another Arisen's call and travel beyond the rift for good. Rau imagined himself in Lane's shoes and figured he would've done the same if he were in the such position.

Lane can no longer sense Raures either so their means of communication has got to become more direct too. It's difficult but they'll make it work.

---

Pathfinder is a tricky obstacle though I'm still trying to figure out what to do about that bastard. Rau does probably heed him. And he can very easily tell him that his pawn is corrupt and is getting in the way of his charge but there are many former Arisen who failed... How did they manage??? (or rather not manage)

[electricpez]

I HAVE TO ASK!!! WHAT DO U THINK OF WAVEWAVE!!!!

I LIKE IT A LOT i just find it comforting and interesting. i'm not one to ship characters intensely and i don't get much gratification from romantic things, but something about them feels nice to me. autistic4autistic relationship forreal........

putting under readmore bc i'm just rambling tbh

they're both similar in that they are introverted, very smart and capable, hard-working and devoted, and usually known to be cold and creepy. but they aren't the same.

I am of the headcanon that they are both autistic (by human standards, at least) and also not predisposed to typical displays of romance. I am not fully against more tender affectionate wavewaves in a more traditional sense but I feel like it's easy to over-do it and end up with them being OOC.

various takes:

an aromantic partnership built on mutual respect for each others capabilities and devotion to the decepticon cause. they have an admiration and appreciation for each other, but are close partners for the sake of collaboration and reaching shared goals. they keep each other in check. (+ maybe there's also a domestic aspect to it. the casual intimacy of living together, sharing personal space and dividing chores.)

or a relationship where literally no one else can even tell they're together. they're often seen together but no one really bats an eye. because their idea of affection...doesn't look like typical affection. to others it just looks like they're discussing technical shit and swapping information for work purposes, when really that's just their idea of a fun conversation. they're not really trying to hide it. in fact, if you knew this was how they flirt, you'd say they're being too overt.

or the idea of them babysitting each others "kids" is funny. the cassettes pranking shockwave. or shockwave putting the casettes in HIS big booby chest. soundwave looking after a bunch of fuckin bugs or predaking or whatever shockwave's little guys are depending on the continuity. because soundwave isn't the only dad, shockwave also usually has some kind of "minion".

EDIT: OH YEAH silly wavewave is also awesome.

i'm not going to mention my opinions about nsfw aspects. because i do not know how old you are or your comfort level with such a topic.

I'm into G1 and TFP wavewave mostly. Cyberverse wavewave is good too, but it's a different kind of dynamic because they're both grumpy assholes in that show and have a rivalry. TFA wavewave is fine but they don't know each other and don't have much in common, not to mention TFA Shockwave is old as hell while Soundwave is a few months old so there's a vast difference in life experience as well

We have yet to see how Earthspark wavewave could be, but i think it could work based on what we know of them individually.

anyway YEA i like wavewave. sorry for my long ass response anon

[theunmotivatedparable]

BLA

Unbritishes your Narrator and throws pierogis at him (I made a Polish Narrator)

✰ click for better quality ✰ why did this take me so long,, drawing in a car is so difficult

He's a Bastard. He's a silly, silly bastard (more info/individual screenshots under the readmore)

(the apron says Kiss the Chef in Polish teehee)

Now, time to smother you all with little tidbits or ideas!

Not only is he a Narrator, but he's also a Polish "Lektor"! For those who don't know what a lektor is, if you've ever watched something with one of those extremely monotone language dubs over it (most commonly, Polish), the person dubbing it is what a Lektor does essentially. In Poland, it's generally a generic, 50 year old male's monotone voice dubbing over everything into Polish. It's miserable as a person who's bilingual and trying to listen to both audios at once to fully understand everything. So, yeah, he's one of those dudes.

Also, did you know that commonly Polish names are actually translated into English ones? That's why I call Stanley "Stanisław", because that's what his Polish name would be :3

Also in this AU of sorts Stanley would be like someone OF Polish descent but he never fully learned how to speak Polish (can understand it, and speak it a BIT. its very broken though) and the Narrator (Nikodem) just so happened to have gotten a protagonist that wasn't able to speak back at him teehee (so Stanley isn't mute but still doesn't speak bc of language barrier because Nikodem acts as if he doesn't understand English everytime Stan tries to speak back at him)

Also!! Narrator called Stanley 'Stan' because Stanley, Stanisław, yeah you get it. It's just to please them both language wise. Also Narrator's last name (Niedzielnik) comes from the word niedziela which means Sunday. (Also the two of them have a joke that every Sunday is Narrator day because of Narrator's last name haha)

The Narrator also loves to insult/talk shit about Stanley to his face in Polish because Stanley was never taught insults in Polish so he understands NONE of it. Also loves to make fun of Stanley's accent when he talks.

They bond over making Polish food. 100%. Fight me about it.

Also Narrator is a big religion guy even though he he's BASICALLY God in TSP:UD lmao because Polish people are so fucking Catholic it's insane (I say, as a Pole. I'm not religious sorry lol)

Also Stanley comes from England because fuck you (no actually it's because there's a shit ton of Polish people in Britain.) And he's a Polish history nerd. He may not be able to speak Polish but he CAN recite to you everything Kazimierz (III) Wielki (Casimir III the Great) did to reform Poland. He can tell you every important date in Polish history. And he will. (Nikodem hates him for it and is unwilling to admit he's learned a lot of English terms and stuff from Stan's rambling)

Uhhh that's it for now. Let me know if you'd like to see more of these two Polish bastards.

( @mooseonahunt ITS DONE. feast upon these two Poles )

[infriga]

I watched the live action One Piece because of you and your excitement over it and I really loved it, so thank you! Wondering if you have suggestions of where to go next? Read the manga or watch the anime? It honestly seems a bit overwhelming, so not sure where to start.

That's awesome! I love inspiring people to try One Piece, it's a really fun ride! It's always great seeing new fans coming in to enjoy the series! 🤗

I wanted to be as informative and thorough as I could for anyone wondering about this, so this might be long, but I'll provide a summarized version to start then include the long version under a readmore if you want more info in order to decide. Sorry if it gets a bit rambling lol.

So the answer to the "anime or manga" question is not necessarily complicated, but it is a little more nuanced than some fans will lead you to believe (a lot of manga-only elitists have a hate boner for the anime to a degree that imo isn't warranted) . There are a few major factors.

Summarized version:

1) this one's obvious, but bears saying; if you prefer manga, go with the manga, if you prefer anime, go with the anime. If you like both, go with both, unless you only want to consume one. Some people tend to gravitate towards one over another, and that's fine.

2) if you're interested in consuming both, I recommend starting with the anime, then going to the manga after, to avoid tainting your experience with the anime by comparing it to the manga all the time. If you only want to consume one, stick to the manga, because it is the better version. If you're on the fence or haven't decided yet, start with the manga then decide if you want to also try the anime later.

3) if you want to consume the anime, then determine how much of the original experience you want to be retained. There's not many filler episodes, but they do exist, and there are watch lists that explain which episodes to skip if you don't want to watch them. Otherwise obviously the manga is the true original and is the best version of the story. The anime isn't terrible, I still enjoy it, but it does have its flaws compared to the manga. That said, it does also have some benefits you can't get from the manga such as the top notch voice acting (at least in Japanese) and incredible soundtrack. Also the animation in Wano has been sending One Piece fans to the emergency room with priapism lately so do with that what you will.

4) determine how much time you're willing to invest. The manga is going to be the fastest way to consume the series, but there is a fan edited version of the anime that speeds up the pacing to match the manga, and thus takes a lot less time to catch up on. You can also read the manga then look up your favourite scenes in the anime as a supplement without investing into watching the whole anime, either shorter or longer version. The only thing to keep in mind is don't ever skip any canon arcs, you WILL regret it later. Oda never forgets.

Where to watch/read:

If you want help finding a good place to read or watch the series, for free or otherwise, let me know and I can provide some links! I can also provide recommendations for which movies to watch and when if anyone is interested in those, or even just OP fanfic recs if there's a market for that lol.

Now, for:

The long version (oh god I'm so sorry this got so long I am incapable of talking about this topic succinctly):

1) what type of media do you prefer and have an easier time consuming? Comic or animation?

I have an anime only friend who struggles with reading comics for some reason (he can read books just fine, but he struggles with comics and he doesn't know why), but he loves the anime, and is even currently rewatching it so we can catch up on watching Wano together since that arc is ending soon and we like to wait and binge entire arcs instead of watching weekly. If you prefer one over another, then whichever that is, is fine fine to go with. If you don't have a preference, then your next factor is:

2) do you want to only consume one, or are you open to consuming both?

I read the manga and watch the anime. I get a slightly different experience from both, I prefer the art and pacing of the manga, but I love the voice acting and music of the anime, and some moments just hit harder for me in the anime. I haven't cried very often reading the manga, but I have cried quite a bit more watching the anime when seeing the same scenes, like full on sobbing at some points ngl. It's not that I think the moments are done better in the anime or that they're not just as sad, but I have an easier time crying when seeing something in motion with sound for some reason. I rarely ever cry when reading books or comics. It happens, but not as easily or as often. Also while the animation throughout most of the series is middling (not bad but not amazing) for most of the series, aside from major fights, the most recent arcs have seen a huge upgrade in regards to the animation, WCI to some extent but especially Wano. The animators have just been going HAM on the animation during Wano. Like, it's all but impossible to find good examples without spoilers because of just, how many spoilers there are at that point in the story, but I'll at least show Luffy being pretty lol:

That said, the anime isn't without its flaws, but I'll get to that in a bit.

If you do want to consume both, then personally I recommend watching the anime first. I find people who read the manga first are more prone to comparing everything in the anime to the manga and wanting things to fit 1:1, which I think puts the anime at a disadvantage and makes people a bit more hypercritical of it. But ultimately this is up to you. Maybe you don't know yet if you'll try both, in which case the manga is probably better because it's the version that, by its nature, is the best version, and will give you the original experience, and you can decide later whether you want to supplement that with the anime as well.

If you only want to consume 1, at least mainly, then the next factor is:

3) How much of the original experience do you want to stick to?

The One Piece anime doesn't have nearly as many filler arcs/episodes as other long running shounens have had in the past, and past Enies Lobby there's almost no filler arcs whatsoever, aside from the rare 2-5 episode arcs, usually ones that advertise the movies that came out not long after they aired. But there are some full filler arcs earlier in the anime, and the general consensus is that most are pretty meh. Not horrid, but nothing special, and many of them ended up accidentally contradicting canon when new information about the world or certain in-world systems came out later. There are watch guides for skipping these widely available, and most OP fans do recommend watching the G8 filler arc because it's viewed as the only one that is on par with, or at least close to, canon content. I enjoy it myself as well personally.

That said, one of my biggest gripes about the anime, especially after sabaody up until Wano, is how it takes Odas more mild level of sexualization in comparison and dials it up to 1000. At its worst it has taken scenes where a female character is introduced with a full body shot and a name/title card in the manga, and turned it into a scene where the camera zooms in on her boobs, thighs, waist, butt, and then slowly pans up her body starting from the feet, including boi-oing noises or weird many sound effects with each zoom in shot. It also increased the boobs sizes and decreased the waist sizes constantly, put a lot more effort and attention into boobs jiggles than was necessary, and at least one point they even blatantly zoomed in on Nami's boobs bouncing isolated on the screen while she was running for absolutely NO reason. Oda doesn't do this in the manga. He doesn't introduce women in bits and pieces focusing on their body parts in an oggling manner, he doesn't put their boobs front and centre unless it's maybe by accident because of necessary framing. Even when he has sexy shots of women, they're usually full body shots that also even manage to serve as establishing shots most of the time. I also often get the feeling that a lot of it is also him being aware of his target audience in Japan, which is teenage boys. You can see a lot of how his approach adjusted when he has a different audience in mind in the Live action, not only regarding stuff like diversity (which WAS present in the original, their real life equivalent ethnicities have been said to be diverse for a long time, but Oda himself, as much as I love him, only has one skin tone marker in his whole house apparently and he uses it for every single character in colourspreads and covers, including the characters that are supposed to be black, and the anime isn't much better on that front, so it's nice to really see the proof of the diversity visually in the live action in a way that doesn't come across as clearly in the anime or manga), but also in regards to adjusting shounen tropes to better fit a live action setting. You can see in a lot of his SBS answers that he takes his target audience and what he wanted to see as a young boy into account a lot even if he might otherwise explore different tropes or depictions or structures in a different medium or genre.

BUT the anime does have its flaws. I won't pretend that Oda doesn't draw his female characters sexier as the series goes on, and while he also does with the men (Zoro canonically has the biggest bust size on the crew according to Oda lmao) it's not to the same degree as the women. This is especially concentrated around Nami, possibly because Oda's wife is a Nami cosplayer and iirc he met her while she was cosplaying Nami. It's the most overt in certain later arcs, but not too present in earlier arcs up to, say, Sabaody. But, while he does draw the women sexier, he's not... Idk the right terminology to use but he doesn't employ an oggling pov towards the women very often. Not never, but compared to the manga you relatively rarely get much particular purposeful focus on body parts like boobs or ass, there's also never any panty shots (seriously, not a single one in the entire series). That's not so say that the series is always perfect in this sense, but rather that's to compare it to the anime. And while there are some things One Piece doesn't do perfectly sometimes, there are also a lot of things it definitely gets right about how the women are written as complex multifaceted people with conflicts and motivations just as deep and diverse and complicated as the men. They mostly just look extra seggsy sometimes, at least the main ones do. And YMMV, but personally I'm okay with some sexiness, so long as it doesn't compromise the characters story and personality and doesn't go overboard to the point of being softcore porn, which Oda doesn't do in the manga. And I also don't like how often criticism of sexiness turns into shaming any clothing that shows more skin. There's a difference between disliking fanservice and going full conservative prude.

Now from what I've seen this has gotten significantly better in Wano in the anime, probably because Oda himself purposefully played down even his own horniness during Wano because of the focus on traditional Japanese aesthetics and dress. Idk if it will get bad again after Wano, but a lot has changed regarding the way the anime is animated and directed since the last time it was bad, so hopefully not. But this can be a significant barrier to the anime for some people. If that's the case, then I definitely recommend the manga. It's the original, and in comparison it is practically chaste. It's not prevalent throughout the entire anime, it's mostly bad for the stretch from Fishman Island to the end of WCI, which consists of 3 big arcs and 2 smaller in-between arcs, but improves significantly in Wano, and isn't too bad in arcs before Fishman Island. Still more egregious than the manga, but not to the same degree. So it's possible you can tolerate it for that stretch since there are still lots of good moments in the anime in these arcs too. Though I'll note that there's quite a bit of censorship in the anime compared to the manga, Zeff eating his own leg for example, while included in the live action, was not included in the anime. Instead he lost it when it got caught in some ship debris while he was rescuing Sanji from drowning. Stuff like gore and blood are also tones down a lot. The live action honestly isn't any more gory than the manga is, even at the beginning. There's even less blood in the live action, the wound Zoro got from Mihawk was nastayyyy in the manga. Bro nearly got bisected fr.

Though I will say that I think one thing that helps make the more sexualized aspects of the series feel more balanced and a lot less center stage is that Luffy himself, the main character, is completely and totally 1000% gender blind. He's not blind to stuff like masculinity or femininity, but he's blind to whether masculinity or femininity is something that is only applicable to men or women. He likes plenty of manly things, there's a gag about him not wanting frills on his shirt because he doesn't think they're manly and he doesn't like that, but he doesn't think that it makes a man less of a man if he wears a frilly shirt, and he's not opposed to wearing other clothes that might be more feminine coded like his fuckin cute li'l dress thing in Egghead, or the literal dress he wears proudly for all of 3 seconds in Film Gold lmao. There are plenty of men in the series who wear frilly shirts. There are also men who wear makeup, wear pink, crossdress, etc. Luffy could not give less of a shit what men, or women, wear. He does not discriminate between women and men in how he treats them in any way shape or form, his awareness of gender expression is limited entirely in how he personally expresses *his* idea of *his* gender. If a woman pisses him off he'll beat them up just as easily as he will a dude. If a trans man says they identify as a man, he'll refer to them as a man, even if they have a more feminine appearance, and vice versa. He does not blink an eye at non-binary/genderfluid/queer characters, etc. That's one of my favourite things about his character, in part because I'm aroace and identify with him and his gender blindness a lot (among other things, he is an aroace icon for a reason lmao), but also because it's nice to have a 100% gender blind character as the main pov throughout the series.

Then there's the final factor, which is

4) How much time are you willing to spend?

The anime is undoubtedly the longer time investment. Which can be good or bad depending on your view. I know when I caught up sometime after episode 505, I was devastated at not having any more episodes to watch. I started out thinking "this will take me forever and I probably won't finish it", then shifted to "damn those 100 episodes went by fast, but that's okay, I still have 400 episodes left" to "200 episodes already? Well I'm not even halfway yet, that's fine" to "300... Oh God I'm already more than halfway" to "400!? Where are they all going?? Why aren't there more?!?" to "well I HAVE to read the manga now because I can't stand to wait for the episodes to come out weekly" then I banged out the rest of the series in the manga in a few days like I was a drug addict trying to hide my stash from the police by snorting it all at once. So to some, the length can be a blessing rather than a curse lmao. But if you are worried about length, the manga is a lot easier to go through without taking months and months to catch up, unless you take your time reading it. There is a fan edited version of the anime called One Pace, which takes out all the filler and adjusts the pacing to be closer to the manga, which might also be an option if you want to watch the anime but still want a less exhaustive itinerary to watch. They. Might even edit out a bunch of the excess sexual shots and editing in the anime though I haven't watched it myself to determine that. The main issue is that One Pace hasn't completed every single arc, but it is an option for watching the arcs it does have. I know Dressrosa is one of the longest arcs and might benefit from some trimming. I also recommend, if you choose the anime, to watch episodes in batches rather than weekly. While the pacing of the manga is quite a bit faster, so it lends itself to weekly updates better, the anime does suffer from being watched weekly. I've always binged arcs all together and I find that improves the experience a lot.

Aside from that, you can also always just read the manga then only look up and watch particular scenes you wanna see in the anime to get the experience with the voice acting and music and animation, without having to invest as much extra time into it. I may not be a dedicated anime hater, but I do agree that the manga is undoubtedly superior to it as a whole, so while I don't think there's anything wrong with being anime only, if you are open to both, but only want to choose one to consume, it's the manga all the way. You only have to start at chapter 1 and go from there. Or episode 1 for the anime.

I hope this helped, and wasn't too confusing or overwhelming. I know how daunting the series can be to get into so I wanted to try and be comprehensive and objective, and provide some approachable options for people new to the series by explaining some pros and cons of each approach.

[bluejaybytes]

show us your oc lore!!

I'm so sorry but it's exclusively my Splatoon OCs

I'm not at ALL confident in how legible this is, but this is my Web Of Lesbianism(tm), AKA how (almost) all of my lesbian sploon OCs connect to each other, excluding a few who only connect in small places and/or I don't feel like making icons for. Sorry to Scarlet, who absolutely warrants a place here, but I simply Do Not Want to make an icon for </3

Lore under the readmore because I get extremely rambly. whoops and apologies and this is probably the only time i'll ever let myself get THIS infodump-y in a Tumblr post. I'm writing this after I wrote it all out and I'm so fucking sorry it's literally over 2k words because I have no ability to stop once I've started and I've been outright POSSESSED by these losers for the past month. Here's basically everything about my Splatoon OCs

FOR NAMES. Top right is Basil (Blue tentacles), middle right is Penny (Her name is just written because I haven't drawn her yet), bottom right is June (Pink tentacles), bottom middle is Jake (Blue tentacles), bottom left is Parker (Purple tentacles, also the sanitized icon), middle left is Ruby (Orange tentacles), and top left is May (Pink tentacles)

Everything starts when May, Jake, and Ruby are all around ~16-17, while June, May's little sister, is around ~9. May is VERY into Jake, and Jake's just generally a big flirt and a huge romantic, though it's unsure if he really realizes May's extremely obvious crush on him (He doesn't), or he reciprocates, which is unfortunate, because Ruby, who's May's childhood best friend, is also very into her, but May doesn't realize this. When [UNDECIDED EVENT] happens and May and Jake both come to the realization they need to head to the surface to escape the oppressive Octarian domes, Ruby being with them is very clearly an afterthought, and she knows it. So, her jealousy over Jake being someone May has known for less time yet clearly loves more than her, and the fact that trying to escape being very, very illegal, she turns them both in.

Jake manages to call May before he's caught to warn her that Ruby turned them in and the cops will already be heading to her parents house, which gives May enough time to run home, grab June, and make a run for it. Both May and Jake manage to outrun the cops, with May and June ending up far into the outskirts of the domes, while Jake only gets further and deeper within them.

Around a month or two after their initial escape, May's spotted by a patrol of soldiers stationed right around the way to the surface, with the soldier who spots her specifically being Scarlet, the oldest sister to Ruby (Who's not featured here because I don't want to make her icon), who remembers May from when she was a kid and, alongside that, has been feeling disillusioned with life as a soldier, despite her high ranking, and decides not only to let May go, but to even share rations with her. This only increases as Scarlet realizes May is the runaway who's known to have a young child with her, and it goes from Scarlet sparing her own rations to stealing rations from the squad she leads to make sure both May and June are able to eat properly.

Of course, this doesn't last long, as Crimson, the middle sister to Scarlet and Ruby, and fellow soldier stationed with Scarlet's squad, gets suspicious of the missing rations, Scarlet's dismissal of the issue, and her wandering off frequently, and ends up following her and finds her giving the stolen rations to May. A fight breaks out between the two, with Crimson managing to nearly take Scarlet's eye out in the process, as Scarlet's the only person ever to bring a gun to a knife fight and lose. May booked it the MOMENT Crimson jumped out, so she's long gone by the time the scuffle ends, but Scarlet, having just been caught stealing rations, aiding a runaway, and now attacking a fellow soldier (Even if in self defense), bolts to try and make it to the surface as well, albeit she doesn't know where May ran off to.

May ends up making it to the surface around a month after that incident, after wandering lost for the time between, and, while struggling to try and buy some clothes thanks to the language barrier between her and the commonly spoken languages of the surface, one of the employees working there, Penny, is able to help figure out what May's looking for, and helps her with the whole process, since it's a lot different from how it was in the domes. They don't end up seeing each other after that for around a year, but it's important when they do, as Penny's was the first person on the surface May really had a good experience with, so when they randomly run into each other, May's very happy to be able to tell her how meaningful that was to her, and that she's much more adjusted to the culture and language now.

Meanwhile, Jake! Jake ends up wandering deep within the domes, far away from where the actual settlements and cities are, for over a year, just barely surviving through scavenging and avoiding patrolling soldiers. Still, he's not great at it, and eventually he ends up being held at gunpoint by Parker, who insists he tell her his rank and what he's doing out here. He has no idea, as he was never in the military and lies through his teeth. Luckily for him, Parker is a military deserter, and would've had a much worse reaction had she believed him, instead realizing that he's not a soldier and has no idea what he's talking about. Parker's been hiding out in the area, an abandoned sewer system that's frequented as a supply route for soldiers, for several months at this point, and while she actually enjoys her life of living down there, it's a lot of work to survive on her own, and realizing Jake's a fugitive also means he's a potential survival partner.

The two end up meeting up once every day for around a week before Parker feels confident enough that Jake isn't going to screw her over or try and turn her in or anything, and invites him to live with her at her "apartment", an old maintenance closet that's very secluded and not marked on any military maps, under the agreement that the two of them actually work together. Jake instantly agrees because he's been miserable and awful for the past year, while Parker's doing surprisingly well for herself, she even has multiple sets of clothes that she's stolen from nearby outposts (As well as an entire mattress she stole, and her most prized possession, a full deck of playing cards, and an Octo Shot she definitely killed a man for), as opposed to Jake, who's been going off of only what he had on him when everything went down, which is... practically nothing.

The plot basically slows down and chills out here for a while, May and June end up moving in with Penny after a few months of May and Penny hanging out instead of having to live in the shitty motel they'd been living in before (Albeit, the motel was better than the wilds they'd been living in before that), and Parker and Jake get adjusted to their lives in hiding surprisingly well. May and Scarlet even find each other on the surface again, they run into each other while May's out grocery shopping, and it's a very important moment for the both of them, as they've spent this entire time carrying around the guilt of feeling responsible for what happened, so them seeing the other and seeing how much better they're doing on the surface helps ease those guilts.

And then the events of Octo Expansion happen in the background. Parker and Jake know the routines of the soldiers in the area after years of living together, but the supply lines end up being used by sanitized Octoling soldiers after Kamabo starts massively ramping up production, leading to patrols of sanitized soldiers at seemingly random intervals, and outside of the predictable patterns that Parker and Jake were used to. Parker's out doing the laundry when a patrol finds her, and, greatly outnumbering her, end up nearly killing her, and dragging her back to be sanitized. She's in too bad of condition to be saved and reused as a test subject, so she's just sanitized instead.

Jake, naturally, notices when Parker never comes back from doing the laundry, and proceeds to be missing for upwards of two weeks. Jake does his best to look for her, but he also doesn't want to stray too far from their "apartment", as he's scared she might return home when he's gone, and with the unpredictable patrols, he doesn't feel like it's safe to stay out for as long as he wants to to look for her, so he ends up sticking close to home and just hoping he'll be able to find some clue of her. Of course, when he finally does, finally spotting her hanging around the entrance to the hallways that lead to their apartment, it's Not a good thing. He runs up to her to ask where she's been, and the moment he calls for her she turns and attacks him. It's not even a fair fight, even if he went in expecting a fight, he wouldn't have won, but this was a complete surprise. She quickly attacks him and takes him back to be put into the metro as a test subject, and, since he was brought back in much better shape than she was, he actually can be salvaged as a test subject!

And then he isn't. He's in the process of being readied as a test subject, namely, having his memories messed with, that the entire plot of Octo Expansion actually happens, and he's freed when the entire facility shuts down, and the metro is just a normal transport system again. He ends up wandering around for another month or so, except doing so very poorly, as the effects that being prepped to be a test subject had on his memory is bad, and basically erased all of his knowledge on how to survive on his own. Eventually, and luckily for him, he's found by one of the rescue teams that have been sent out in the aftermath of Octo Expansion to rescue lost and sanitized Octolings, and FINALLY gets brought to the surface, as well as being hospitalized for a whole myriad of problems, mainly being severely dehydrated from not remembering safe ways to find and gather water reliably.

When he's ready to be discharged, he realizes he has really nowhere to go, but since he still remembers May's phone number from when they were kids (As it's been years at this point, May and Jake are both in their mid 20s now, and June's around ~17), and calls her to ask if she can come pick him up and also if he can crash at her place for a bit. May is more than a bit surprised that her childhood friend she was fairly convinced had died years ago, and that she feels guilty for abandoning, is not only still alive, but super casual and chill just. Calling her cell and asking if he can sleep on her couch. At this point, June's already moved out, having been encouraged by both May and Penny to get out on her own and try getting out of her comfort zone, and is living in Splatsville with her roommate Basil, and not really having any major plot moments of her own. She's having fun and coming out of her shell and having silly lesbian shenanigans with her roommate in the background while Jake and May are experiencing the horrors.

Ultimately, this is about where thing stop being decided and I still need to figure out what happens next. Jake is living on May and Penny's couch (The universe will never let them have their house to themselves. Not even 3 months after June moves out, Jake's crashing on their couch), and has no memory of his time with Parker, Parker's MIA and potentially dead, and May's struggling with the idea that Jake's either in denial of some major trauma he must've faced through the years, or that she's somehow uniquely fucked up from what happened to them. To make matters worse, Jake's memory issues become more and more apparent, as he continues to struggle to remember Penny's name, instead repeatedly calling her "Parker", yet getting confused when he's corrected. I'm ultimately unsure what I'm going to do to resolve this plot thread, but May and Penny do realize that whoever Parker was, she was someone Jake knew in the time he was missing, and are trying to figure out just exactly who she was, if not where she actually is

Whether or not Parker is dead... it's up in the air. I initially planned for her to die and stay dead, but I'm the worlds biggest sap and I feel bad about killing her off permanently, as well as the fact I have plenty of silly ideas for what I could do with Parker once she's on the surface, so I'm still debating if it's more narratively satisfying for her to die or not. There's, if you believe it, actually a ton I'm glossing over (The intricacies of Jake and Parker's dynamic, the reasons why Parker left, basically everything about Basil and June, literally Basil has an entire friend group that has their own mini-plot that's not at all connected to this and doesn't get mentioned, Crimson is going to be more relevant once I figure out what I want to do with her, ect), but uh. That's the very long gist of it.

If anyone actually, genuinely reads through all of this. Thank you, apologies, and I love you

[teacorgi]

Hi I really like Lily's style! She's super cool but I was wondering, is she still a vampire? The fangs are a great look! (⁠☆⁠▽⁠☆⁠) What all does vampirism entail in your world/setting? There are so many different interpretations of the curse and I like learning about everyone's ideas on it!

HEWWO ! >W< ty for the ask abt lilly waah !!

i feel like this got too long for the dashboard so ill throw my answer under a readmore !

She is still a vampire ! Part of the time, anyway ! In her main universe/the main universe i write with her in she is a human but ! i do have an AU i poke around in sometimes w/stories where she's a vampire still bc its Very important to me that she gets to keep her vampirism somewhere u know x3

The Curse(tm) depends on the type/'rank' of vampire in most my universes that i write w/them.

Lillian, for example, was changed by a man who held a moderate amnt of control over her following the change. While under his influence/control she could only drink blood n was unable to go out during the day w/out it severely burning her.

Killing him herself n drinking some of his blood basically released her from him + buffed her vampy powers up a bit. She can eat normie human food sometimes w/out getting sick and sunny days just feel like when you go outside w/a not-quite-healed sunburn- warm, tingly, hurts a little bit but its bearable. some of this is due to alien tech given to her by her husband tho to help her deal w/negative side effects.

there are also...alien vampires in this universe which are responsible for introducing vampirism to earth many centuries ago. they don't typically come to earth themselves but lilly's daughter is friends w/a few of them =3

some of these alien vamps don't really suffer many negative effects at All and have more abilities ( can turn into various beasts, teleport, turn invisible, ect ) but others are weaker than ur average earth vampire. it just depends !

ooh also if u do not consume enough blood, even if you are able to eat human food n have been doing so, you can go into a frenzied starvation mode. when this happens, people lose control of themselves and seek out a food source indiscriminately.

lets see... what else... vamps can feed off other vamps but its not as effective/does not taste good... there are some alien species w/highly prized blood... holy water and the like mostly only effects lower tier vamps and only rly works bc of the strong emotional energy behind the process of making the vamp hunting items... silverware tastes extremely bitter and acidic to them... a weaker vamp could paralyze a stronger one if their venom was different enough...

i kno there is more but. sleepy....... sleepy... i am so VEWY sleepy so im sorry if this sounds rambly or doesnt make sense DX TY AGAIN a lot for the question ;w; i havent talked this much abt oc stuff publically in 500000 yrs no joke lol

[another-corpo-rat]

✨️TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OCS✨️

Template by @vincentmatthews | Find it here!

I am. quite proficient at rambling, so I'm putting this under a readmore as to not clog the tags

.

Name Victoria Elizabeth Delilah Crane

Nicknames Blondie, Queen Victoria (both are ill-advised)

Age 42 (in 2077)

Pronouns She/Her

Sexuality Bisexual

Hair Color and style Blonde, typically worn in a bun.

Eye Color Gold (optical implants)

Height 5’11 without heels (is never seen in public without heels)

Body Type Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry- (Idk how to describe her body so here’s her ref instead)

Personality There’s a particular type of cruelty that tends to shine in the corpo offices; the one with a sweet smile and sharp eyes that spot a struggling co-worker from across the room, the sort that promptly step on them to climb that little bit higher – Victoria Crane belongs among that ilk, she climbed high off her mother’s shoulders and then higher still off the backs of those she was kicking down.

She has a ruthlessness hidden under a thin veneer of niceties, and with no shortage of pride since she’s good at what she does.

Tattoos None

Piercings Lobe piercings, only wears earrings on nights out.

Any definable features such as: Birthmarks, Scars, Freckles, Beauty Marks, Accent when they talk, Lisp, Natural slurring of words, Walk with a subtle limp, ect. VERY in-your-face cybernetics, including her gold arms and neck, but also smaller features on her cheeks. Her accent is also distinct in Night City (she was raised in England; I have no idea where specifically yet – but she definitely has an upper-class way of speaking.)

Hobbies She commits crimes against humanity in her free time Usually messing around with quickhacks, modifying them to suit her needs if not theory-crafting new ones with the input of other netrunners on forums. In truth, she struggles to have a hobby that’s not tied to her work in some way; even her reading materials are non-fiction research about brain functions and the like. At most, the biggest disconnect between them is her penchant for anything about maritime disasters.  

Someone get this woman a romance book goddamn

Gang/Occupation {Mox, Max Tac, etc} Arasaka netrunner (working under Smasher, currently)

Do they smoke? Yes

Do they drink? Is so, what's their poison of choice? Also yes – as long as something doesn’t have tequila in it she’ll likely finish the glass. If ordering for herself, she defaults to a mojito.

What do they usually wear on a normal day? Usually a suit of some kind, her entire wardrobe is full of them. If someone tells her to ‘dress casual’ she’d look at them as if they have two heads. Her idea of casual is still ‘dressy’ by most people’s standards.

What do they wear when they "Get dressed up"? And what would be considered a "special occasion" to them {such as an "Oh they're gonna be there so I have to look my best." Or an "It's our anniversary".} Getting ‘dressed up’ for corpos is sort of a way to show off, peacocks the lot of them. Victoria included. She favours dresses for those sorta things, low neckline, high slit up one of the legs – gotta highlight the assets, y’know? Normally the dress is a simple enough piece so she can put sparkle on in other ways.

As for what she’d consider a special occasion to get particularly fancy; she honestly doesn’t need one. She dresses for herself tbh.

What do they smell like? {For example: they smell like cinnamon flavored liquor, cigarettes, leather, and motor oil.} There’s the constant vague lingering of caramel smoke around her, courtesy of the smoking habit. As well as that, her favoured perfume smells like daffodils.

How do they walk? Do they sway their hips? Do they walk with a sense of determination? Do they bounce as they walk? Etc. She has that murder strut; shoulders down, chin up, glaring at anyone who steps in her path.

Are they more of an early bird or a night owl? Definitely more of a night owl; she’s far happier to stay up to ungodly hours and doesn’t mind getting to watch the sunrise when she’s already up anyways. Comparatively, waking her up early is like poking a bear. Don’t talk to her, don’t look at her. Don’t acknowledge her existence until at least 8am, please and thank you.

If you had to use one word to define them, what word would you use? Awful

What words or catchphrases do they say that's unique to that character? Not certain if it counts, but she’s likely the only person who has been able to call Adam Smasher ‘Tin man’ to his face more than once.

Favorite Season Summer

Favorite type of weather {Thunderstorms, sunny, etc} Sunny, just the type of day she can sit out by the pool and soak in the heat.

Do they have someone they're with relationship-wise? If so, who? Incredibly self-indulgent but I have put her in a relationship with Adam Smasher. Theirs is not a healthy romance, but it’s sure af is a fun one to write.

Main Ship/Pairings Victoria/Adam Smasher

Side Pairings None at the moment!

Favorite/Self-indulgent Pairings The main ship is def both of these things tbh

How do they show affection to their loved one? Gifts, gifts, and more gifts, with the occasional peck on the cheek. The more she loves someone, the more thoughtful their gifts will be – stuff they mentioned needing or wanting even offhandedly is stored away for her to spoil them with later.

How do they sit in a chair? She sits favouring the right side, elbow propped up against the armrest, chin resting on her own knuckles, with her knees pressed together if her legs aren’t crossed.

How do they sit in a chair {uncomfortable version} When she’s engrossed in processing info she pulled from the net, she props herself up on a chair like a damn gargoyle, squatting with her back curled as she hunches over a screen. (She tends to do this in the dark too – so please imagine opening the door into a dark af room and seeing a hunched shape poorly lit by a dimmed computer screen. If you make the slightest noise her head just snaps in your direction, her eyes glowing as she stares. Unblinking even as you slowly back out and close the door behind you.)

What do they wear to bed? A satin slip night dress. Because she has to be fancy even when she’s bouta sleep I stg-

How do they usually sleep? {Side sleeper, back, fetal position, backwards, nest sleeper, blanket mountain, etc} She falls asleep curled up on her side, tucked into herself. She tosses throughout the night (RIP to anyone resting beside her you WILL get kicked or smacked across the face) but will wake up in the same curled up position she fell asleep in.

How do they sleep in a place they don't know? {Can't due to anxiety, in small bursts of sleep that are short lived, holding themselves, etc} It might take her a little longer than usual to fall asleep but generally she has no trouble sleeping in places unfamiliar to her. Her rest would be more readily disturbed if the mattress isn’t soft enough or if the pillows aren’t the right height.

Do they have to have a form of "white noise" in order to sleep? {The sound of a fan, the sound of rain, the sound of a city, etc} Not at all, so long as she’s not cold she can sleep fine.

What's a place they go to feel comfortable, that's their "spot" they always go when they're upset? The Ebunike. Usually she’ll plop herself on the shitty little settee that’s up behind the ship’s bridge / opposite Smasher’s secret office and smoke. It’s far enough from the Arasaka offices and things that tend to wind her up that she can just let herself settle.

What do they do when they're nervous? {Fidget with jewelry, pick at nails, bite nails/lips, play with knife/zippo lighter, etc} She’ll put pressure on her lips somehow. Usually this takes the form of just simply biting/chewing the bottom, but occasionally she’ll press her knuckles against her lips – both for the pressure and to hide an anxiety that might come through in her expression.

What is their "tell" for lying? While she is scarily good at faking sincerity and keeping it going for quite a long time, she does have this little smile when someone accepts a lie she’s fed them – if she’s particularly proud, there’s an added little glint in her eye that observant folks can pick up.

What is their favorite color? Despite being decked out in gold implants, she actually really likes pink. But she’ll be damned if she gives Smasher the chance to add ‘Barbie’ to his list of nicknames for her.

Favorite flower/plant Stargazer lilies, even if she can’t keep them in her home anymore courtesy of Nibbles.

Favorite sweet of choice She will kill for strawberry liquorice

Do they have any pets? If so, tell me about them She has a naked little fiend running amok in her home. Nibbles (full name Peaches Nibbles Crane) – who she loves and loathes in equal measure (“Of all the things, you had to choose lilies to be harmful to you?”) In truth, much as she gripes and claims that Nibbles is an ugly little thing that’d be dead without her, Nibbles has very much become a source of comfort that Victoria doesn’t think she could live without – and yes, she is looking into ways to extend the kitty’s natural life. She spoils her rotten.

What are their triggers {If they have any}? If so, what calms them down? The continuous sound of crunching bone triggers a panic response in her – black at the edges of her vision, brain feels fuzzy sort of thing. She hasn’t found a fool-proof way to settle herself after, but she knows for certain what DOESN’T calm her down (someone trying to physically comfort her through touch, especially rubbing her arms is a BIG no-no.) Usually she finds a corner outside to smoke, and she makes an effort to find the loudest space she can; the quiet doesn’t help.

If they could visit anywhere in the world, where would they go and why? (I need to preface that this is ENTIRELY headcanon/I have done no research into the lore for if something like this exists but-) There’s this exclusive hotel off the coast of Crete that is entirely underwater. It’s built in a way that its ‘grounds’ allow guests to walk close to ancient ruins and a few shipwrecks (one of which is actually quite a new addition; a submarine that sank a few years prior, and despite its proximity to the hotel rescue efforts didn’t get there in time to save the crew and their bodies were never recovered. It was initially going to be removed as it was considered an eyesore, but guests asked if their premises would be expanded to reach that wreckage instead.)

Victoria was there before the submarine sank, and she’d love to get there again. Especially since she’s heard rumours of the campaign to recover the bodies finally, she wants to see that.

What is their favorite comfort meal? Hot toffee pudding

Do they have a food they hate? Pork. She has never had it prepared in a way she’s liked, so she just avoids it entirely.

What is their favorite {non-alcoholic} drink? Caramel Frappuccino

What are their plans for the future {if they have any}? Her plans for the future are up in the air at the moment; she’s learned to stop trying to plan her life around Smasher who is a tremendously large influence considering he’s both her input and who she works for directly.

(Things are further complicated when she nearly dies and is put into a Gemini conversion frame. Her contractual obligations to Arasaka just got a few more decades added to it, so there goes the early retirement she’d been saving for.)

What's a song that "fits" them? Angel of Small Death & The Codeine Scene - Hozier

Give me 5 facts/random bits of information about them > She was a designer baby! Her father’s side of the family had some medical issues that her mother didn’t want her inheriting, and while she was at that genome editing appointment Marion also made some other changes – for example, neither of Victoria’s parents are blonde but she wanted a blonde daughter so she got one.

> Hoards information like a dragon does gold, she’s modified her Kiroshi optics to sync with her own database so she can have an individual’s name, likes, dislikes, and any spec of blackmail she has on them ready at a glance.

> Mildly obsessed with maritime disasters. While she has a load of information saved in databases, she doesn’t need to access them to talk at length about even the most obscure shipwrecks. Her ‘comfort’ media is actually an old documentary about the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror and the hunt for their wrecks. (Yes, I am working my own hyper-fixations into her interests.)

>Tying into the prior point; Victoria’s favourite piece of art is The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault. She is seething at the fact that the original was purchased and is likely in someone’s room in the Crystal Palace. (Never mind the fact that she owns the original of Landseer’s Man Proposes, God Disposes.)

> She has a Midnight Lady implant but doesn’t have any of their extra accessories at the moment – none of them really appeal to her.

Give me their backstory {can be long, or brief.} I haven’t thought her backstory entirely through yet, so here’s a rough timeline of events I have so far for her (incredibly loose and undetailed lol) 2035, born in Night City. Her mother takes her to England at six months old. 2051, started an internship in Arasaka’s European branch at sixteen years old. Her notably high scores in netrunning meant she was basically told that’s what she was doing – initially, Victoria had wanted to get her foot into the PR department but she wasn’t going to argue. Internship continued until- 2053, graduated from Arasaka’s private academy at eighteen and starts a counter-intel apprenticeship. 2056, apprenticeship completes and she goes into full-time employment in counter-intel. 2058, transferred to the American branch and sent to Night City. 2064, officially meets Adam Smasher for an op Two weeks after that op is officially marked as a success, she’s transferred to work directly for him. Sometime after 2077 > almost killed, becomes a ‘borg herself. (Gemini frame)

Free Space! Give me any sort of extra information about them you'd like to share Some development information! Victoria used to be very fucking different when I first made her; she was a street-kid, had purple hair and piercings, I dressed her entirely different and she was a rude lil shit but something about that didn’t vibe with me – I couldn’t think of a story for her beyond what the game was offering. So, I made some changes.

First was starting a corpo file for her, which felt much better. Her hair changed from purple to the pink-blonde combo, and story-wise I was thinking that when she was tossed from Arasaka, she became an information broker, had her own little crew surrounding her. Which is an idea I still like but it didn’t feel right for her.

So, kept at the corpo file – played along, and slowly just pieced Victoria together in a way that I felt fit her. Someone who stays with Arasaka, awful but has the means to protect herself from any feathers she ruffles.

She’s still a work in progress, like I need to sit and think through how the events play out with her, since she’s technically a V who went off-script well before the events of the game. But I much prefer her now compared to as she was.

[celiciaa]

Could you ramble to us a bit more about cèline and your vidyadhara oc?

oh my gosh, hi— so sorry for the late, sure thing, and thank you for your interest! 🤍 (placed under readmore bc it’s long ;v;/)

i. céline.

MISTRESS MADELEINE: the woman who owes céline her life, the current owner of rhodolite’s most successful theater and art gallery under the same names. true full name as of now is "béatrece de beauvoir

and it's the name known within rhodolite. her birth name was "bèatrece bertrand." currently, she's referred to as 'mistress madeleine.'

a woman who married a nobleman and the owner of the theater within the land of roses. it’s commonly known as "aurora borealis" theater. it's well known that the previous count de beausoleil was a crude man who was only successful because of his wife's artistic talents. she was married off quite young, but suffered greatly from her husband's wish to never have her beauty belong to anyone but him. thus, she stopped showing her face and expose any of her skin to the public in fear that it would bring jealousy and possessiveness of her husband. no one knows how mistress madeleine looks but many whisper about her possibly now hiding her aging face. oh how wrong they are.

however, bèatrece met céline — during those days just a late teen who was searching for someone...for her. upon witnessing the truth of bèatrece — the very reason that now she not only wears a mask and covers her body simply because of her husband's jealousy but because now she was harmed by him, for years even. resilient and stubborn, bèatrece was waiting for the day when she could take what she believed was always hers: the theater and her life.

after spending enough time with young céline, bèatrece for the first time felt a surge of power. her eyes would light up and her inner wish for revenge was flared up. It didn't take long for her husband to start getting sicker, but none would think about his wife. bèatrece was well-beloved across rhodolite for her charitable work, for her support of those who enjoy arts, and for those who wish to work in the theater. while her husband had the name and the fame, she did all the work and it was well-known. her husband passed away in benitoite where he was found with his mistress, the mistress was the one who killed him. or so the story goes.

what people don't know is that her freedom was intoxicating to bèatrece to the point where she would pledge her loyalty to céline, borderlining worship as she'd kiss the young girl's hand. but the only thing that was asked was this: be my eyes and ears within rhodolite, mistress madeleine, and give me everything that you are.

what did it mean? oh, let us tell you that no one knows when it's mistress madeleine who visits the theater or when it's céline éclair in her disguise. after all, it was all how it was supposed to be. madeleine would welcome actors and actresses, scriptwriters and costume designers, artists and more to her place from all across the world. to them, she is their savior. to céline, she's her prettiest doll.

CÉLINE’S GENERAL BUSINESS: céline is someone who has her eyes and ears almost everywhere in rhodolite solely because of how many people from rhodolite visit the black market or wish to gain information from her about others. no one knows how the owner of A.S.H looks like similarly to how it goes with mistress madeleine and the theater. many higher end people from merchants to owners to more exchange information for drugs, for tools, for valuable items, for other information, and for...other favors. only the most loyal have the pleasure of seeing céline herself.

céline is known under the name of mademoiselle dominique richelieu who is famous for her grand balls and her even grander...more indulgent events that happen after the dark hours. a closed club for those who love to enjoy themselves in more than just money and pretty pictures, but more of indulgence of the flesh, of the spirit, and of the darker sides. nothing of... criminal activity, it's quite similar to casinos and many people who work in the government visit it to de-stress. dominique as an identity showcases herself being of bright and extravagant manner, indulging in lavishing events and letting others indulge in those as well...even if they are not of noble birth.

the only two rules of the dominique richelieu's balls are: you must always wear masks and you must never say your name. it’s all to prevent information from being given away.

in rhodolite, many political, royal and rich figures see this as the 'necessary' evil. without this indulgence, they wouldn't be able to live on like they always do. and, well, no one really knows until you receive an invitation yourself from mademoiselle richelieu. fun fact is that dominique richelieu is also a real person who céline uses to mas herself when she took the role as the current head of the éclair house. however, she is - similarly to mistress madeleine - is a woman who devoted herself to becoming dominique richelieu to thank céline for giving her a new life. who is the one behind dominique’s mask if not céline? that woman's name and history has been erased fully, not even a single knowledge about her birthright can be found. what’s known is that dominique is an ash silver haired woman with eyes of magenta.

certain people do know her of her…truer nature, of course, they do not forget that she was an elegant woman and that she is still very capable of making people bend their knees before her or even killing/beheading the corrupted/traitors. certain others say that she is intimidating, her fame and her presence are oppressive to them when she speaks as if she makes one obey her words. since the majority of her has been even during her younger days, the people will be able to say that céline is a cruel mistress through and through, a true morally grey icon in terms of survival and someone who chose the path of 'goodness' to help others. well, that's common knowledge, right? the public doesn't need to know of her darker wishes. her reputation is essential.

i. xue hua.

born to the mons grandis lineage, the vidyadhara xue hua spent countless lifecycles living alongside the others of her race. she spent many lives serving as one would expect a high elder to. using her knowledge of medicines and the powers for healing she had naturally to assist those she held dear. her people and eventually those of the xianzhou yuque. it was a job that she adored for a long time, even as her life cycles ended and restarted and followed that pattern. even as things continued on as they always had. despite all of that, she is someone with a fair mind, a brave soul, and a honey heart. she gives her citizens the utmost love, respect, and adoration. her kind-hearted and selfless nature makes her an easy target by others — she’s lithe. a wisteria tree that sways in the wind. she is delicate in a way that moves like water but isn't so frail that she would snap under pressure. it is languid and ethereal, leaving no trace of her steps behind.

her previous life, she used to be close with dan feng and the other high cloud quintet members. and she was the one who ensure that peace and tranquility are preserved for the villagers who inhabit it. kind and giving, besides healing, she taught their humans the necessities of communal life and provided them the tools to enjoy life as it was. though not nearly as powerful as dan feng. she contributed her share through research and study, the brain to his brawn to protect their world.

lotus scent flower are always and naturally on her person, as a result, the scent follows her around and it's quite easy to tell that she's nearby.

xue hua also speaks formal northern dialect due to years of training, but there's always a hint of southern yue / cantonese accent, too.

[aceoflilies]

Welcome to the Ace Space!

Call me Ace! I use she/him pronouns and I'm 21.

This is my primary blog! If you're looking through my profile because somebody's been liking your Pokéblogging posts, my active Pokéblogs are @humming-pokemon-helpers, @swagtastic-bougie-pompadour, @wigglytuff-guild, @pkmnathlete, @malie-city-library, and @mc-pokeprincess. Happy to talk about them OOC here too!

Otherwise, this blog is where I reblog stuff (sometimes with commentary), talk about my favorite fluff ships & series info, post the rare fics I complete, and sometimes even talk about life!

My main fandoms are Pokémon (most common), Undertale/Deltarune, Ace Attorney, Fire Emblem, and Splatoon (mostly for Pearlina content), but occasionally I'll talk about other series that interest me. Under the cut for post-shortening's sake.

Most of my ramblings are pretty much just character headcanons/interactions, but at times i like to focus on world-building/larger theories, and I'd love to connect with other people with those interests in my fandoms (especially Pokémon SWSH and SV!!)

Also, if anybody ever wants to toss me some writing requests, feel free! Just know I make no guarantee of speed. (If you want to see my writing, here's my AO3!)

A few things to note about me:

This should generally be a SFW blog! Please keep any asks/requests or the like SFW, but as long as you're respectful, anybody can interact.

I post a lot about ships I like! More below the cut. I try to tag 'em.

I try to be canon compliant. I make no guarantees of that.

Maybe I'll post OC stuff here one day???

If you're discriminatory towards any marginalized groups (racism, sexism, homo/transphobia, ableism, fatphobia), I reserve the right to block freely. Likewise, if I say/repost something that makes folks uncomfortable without realizing it, please let me know! Happy to correct myself.

Other reasons I'll block people: being rude, posting pro-ED content, posting pedo stuff, actively hating on my faves. Probably other stuff that squicks me I'm forgetting right now, too.

That's most of the important stuff! Please feel free to reblog, I'd love to find some mutuals here I can talk about shared interests with!!

Favorite characters/pairings/hobbies below the readmore! It's a lot. You have been warned.

My Faves!

Characters (top favs in yellow, sorry the list is so long,,,):

Hop (Pokémon SW/SH): I could rant about this boy for days and still not have said enough about how much I love him as a rival and character. He is the best thing to come of out SW/SH. And besides, we love Wooloo enjoyers.

Nemona (Pokémon S/V): She has so much passion and energy for battling!!! She genuinely just wants to connect with someone even though she's so misunderstood!!! Also, she can't handle exercise. I feel you, girl.

Hanamaru Kunikida (Love Live! Sunshine!!): I'm not much of a Love Live fan anymore, but I still love Hanamaru so so much. She is sunshine and light and sweetness and a bookworm and she gets so much joy out of enjoying food and spending time with her friends. A comfort character of mine.

Noelle Holiday (Deltarune): She's such a nervous little dork who's actually just a freak (affectionate), and honestly that is peak young lesbian representation.

Kris Dreemurr, Ralsei, Susie (Deltarune): Please ask me to rant about them individually. I love all of their writing.

Pearl Houzuki (Splatoon): I live for her gremlin energy. Yes, even the eating mayo straight from the bottle. I also admire the fact she managed to pull Marina.

Marina Ida (Splatoon): They really did make the coolest, prettiest hacker girl who loves anime and manga and said "make her fall in love with the scrungliest little squid".

Ashe Ubert (FE3H): He's just a little guy!!! A little fella!!! Love his voice acting, his love for books, cooking, and honor, and his tragic backstory. Poor boy.

Ibuki Mioda (SDR2): Is Danganronpa a great series. No. Did Danganronpa give us the most beautifully chaotic lesbian I have ever seen and then cruelly rip her from my hands far too soon. Yes.

Trucy Wright (Ace Attorney): Please, Capcom, please remember she exists, I am begging you. Yes she's another "teenage assistant putting on a brave face so she can help solve the mysteries". But I love her magic tricks and her interactions with Phoenix and Apollo, so here she is.

Apollo Justice (Ace Attorney): Please stop giving him backstories.

Bianca, N, Yancy, Skyla (Pokémon B/W/B2/W2)

Gloria, Marnie, Victor, Bede, Leon, Raihan (Pokémon SW/SH)

Arven, Penny, Clavell (Pokémon S/V): If you want more Penny and Clavell, I write them constantly on @swagtastic-bougie-pompadour.

Lillie (Pokémon S/M)

Nagito Komaeda (SDR2): No defense here.

Komaru Naegi (DRAE): I do not like UDG for many reasons. I do like Komaru.

Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, Klavier Gavin (Ace Attorney)

Rin Hoshizora, Umi Sonoda, Kotori Minami, Ruby Kurosawa, You Watanabe, Emma Verde, Rina Tennoji (Love Live!): My grab bag of gay people. I also generally love most of Aqours.

Edelgard, Caspar, Linhardt, Mercedes, Annette, Marianne, & more (FE3H)

Pretty Much Everyone In Undertale.

Dusa, Artemis, Zagreus, Thanatos (Hades)

My OCs! Feel free to ask about them.

Personal ships!

Mostly in the "I like the dynamics" sense, rather than the "I think these two would be perfectly well-adjusted together" sense. Ships with minors in them are purely fluff.

Hop/Gloria/Marnie (Pokémon SW/SH): Hop/Gloria is my main focus, just because I think their high energy (in my headcanons, anyways) play off of each other really well. I also like Gloria/Marnie for sunshine/serious. I also like Hop/Victor. I think about the Sw/Sh characters a lot.

Nemona/Juliana (Pokémon S/V): After 君と雨上がりを and Biri-Biri, they're canon. But also, you can't just ask someone to be your best rival like that!!!

Pearlina (Splatoon): They were literally built for each other. They are perfect. I will pull out a thesis on the Octo Expansion and Splatfest dialogue. Do not make me do that.

Caspashe (FE3H): Three words. Gay cat dads. (I also like Casphardt.)

Edeleth (FE3H): Yes, I'm basic. Speaking of basic:

Wrightworth/Narumitsu (AA): Like I said. Basic.

Klapollo (AA): I just find 'overly flirty guy and straight-faced serious guy who believes not a word of it' such a fun dynamic.

Suselle (DR): May I please point you to the ferris wheel scene as a whole.

Alphyne (UT/DR): Just a classic. They're cute and complement each other really well.

Komahina (SDR2): In the sense that "I think if you leave them in a room for enough time the room will literally explode". They're fun because they're so terrible. And on very, very rare occasions, fool you into thinking they're not.

Mikan/Ibuki or Band-Aid (SDR2): Let's be honest, 2-3 was a cop-out.

Rubymaru (Love Live! Sunshine!): Sunshine and sweetness.

Standard Love Live ships (When I say standard, I mean basic.)

Hobbies/other interests! (Alternatively: Ace Touches Grass)

Cooking/baking! I don't post my food much, but I do tag food.

Writing: I started out with Club Penguin fanfiction at age 8 so you know I'm the real deal.

Practicing Japanese! I like to practice by listening to Japanese music (Ado/Suisei/Polkadot Stingray/Aqours/Vaundy/King Gnu/YOASOBI) and playing games in Japanese.

Archery! I got to try out kyudo in Japan. Best thing I ever did.

Sightseeing, trying new restaurants and foods!

Libraries, I work at one!

Reading (one book, in two days, every 6 months.)

Psychology! Mainly clinical and developmental psych.

Collecting stuffed animals and other cute things!

Animals! Favorite are penguins and foxes :)

RTGame, the Drift King Himself

Bad Karaoke (in Japanese.)

If you got this far, thanks for at least skimming over my post! Hope to make some new friends, allies, or maybe at least queer-coded rivalries here on Tumblr.

[army-of-bee-assassins]

hi I just have a question about image descriptions, is it better when I put it in the alt text or under the image? does small text make a difference? I shouldn't put the description under readmore, right? sorry for so many questions I want to do it right

hi there! thanks for these questions. i'm always happy for people to ask this sort of stuff! i appreciate that you want to learn more and do it right. :)

so just right off the bat, i'll say small text should be avoided. some people who need the image description may be low vision but not using a screen reader, which means the small text would be inaccessible. they may have ways of enlarging the text on their phone, but it can't enlarge the small text enough to read. and yes, a read more should usually be avoided as well. the only exception i would say is if you're describing something extremely long, such as pages of a comic. in that case, the best practice is to include a short description outside of a read more, like a quick summary of what the images are, that then also indicates that the full description is under the cut. but again, that should really only be for something super super long.

when it comes to alt text versus ids in the body of the post, they both have their uses and are preferred/more accessible to different people! alt text is designed for people who use screen readers, and it has been standard practice across the web for a long time. most people just weren't aware of it until recent years when sites like tumblr and twitter made it more visible to those not using a screen reader. when an image does not have alt text (which is the vast majority of images on this site), a screen reader coming across that image just says "image". so the screen reader user needs alt text to be able to have access to the content of the image. an image description following the image will also get the job done, but i have seen multiple screen reader users say that they're in the habit of skipping a post as soon as they come across an image without alt text, just because the majority don't end up having an id anyway and they just get tired of scrolling through inaccessible content.

some people do prefer an image description outside of alt text, since alt text still has some accessibility issues for those who don't use a screen reader, particularly in terms of color contrast and formatting. it can be hard for some people to read, which is why they prefer the image description to be in the body of the post instead. something to note for image descriptions in the body of the post - it's important to place the id right after the image and before any commentary.

basically - both alt text and an id in the body of the post are good things! different people have different preferences for one or the other. according to a resource i've seen shared around here a lot (i believe from perkins school for the blind), generally speaking alt text is for a short description, while an image description is meant to include more detail. so this can be good practice. you can also always mention in the alt text that the description will be expanded in the image description. something that i and a number of other people do is actually just use the same description in both alt text and the body of the post. in that case, for the image description i start it with "image description copied from alt text", so that someone using a screen reader could skip it easily.

sorry for rambling so long, and thanks again for your questions! if you have any others just let me know!

[alivegirlmari]

sorry i keep bothering u BUT i have another question😭 i was wondering if you’d seen this interview of melanie (https://youtu.be/xhHDMOEnuB4 the first minute and a half) and what you think of that because i’m pretty sure shauna does NOT care but to me jeff very much went from a sympathetic guy who loves his wife to a sinister little man😭 i get making bad decisions when you’re young but man😭

you are NOT bothering me omggg you could neverrr. me when i wake up to an anticurses ask and get to chew on it at work for the next two days: ❣️ 💕 💞 💓 💗 💖 💘 💝

i've seen a few people analyze that specific interview and tbh i don't think i have anything groundbreaking to add but i wanna just ramble about shauna anyways asdjnjsdk so! putting this under a readmore bc it'll probs be long-ish and incoherent <3

ok so. shauna's relationship to motherhood has always fascinated me. when i first watched yj it was all in one night, in a haze, during a not-good-mentally period in my life. so it took me an embarrassing amount of episodes to go from 'oh she hates callie bc callie's wilderness baby and thus a reminder of everything that entails, both jackie-related and trauma-related' to 'OH callie can't be wilderness baby, timeline wise, which adds an even more insane level to shauna returning to jeff post-crash'. bc the decision to date him let alone marry him has always been sooo interesting to me!! like yeah we all knew why but like, how did it happen? how long after the crash? did he call her up once she got out of hospital? did she go back to school? was it another drunk grief hookup thing again, but one that spiraled into more? did they discuss jackie at all? iirc, when he reveals he's read the diaries, he implies they never talked about the 19 months which is why he read them. but did they ever discuss jackie, separate to what happened in the woods? or was she the eternal elephant in the room? i mean, yes it's canon that shauna marries him out of guilt and shame and obligation, but the CALLIE of it all is the wildest part to me. bc she's pregnant with his baby, and then jackie dies and the baby dies, and then she goes back and has anotherrr baby with him, in spite of everything!!!!

so melanie p much saying 'she can't keep justifying her decision to not have kids with him, so they have one'. is like. well she's right!!! i can 1000% see jeff pushing to have kids and shauna, unaware that he knows about wilderness baby and not wanting to tell him, agreeing to it bc a) she'd rather die than talk about it honestly, b) the guilt of it all, and c) well that's what normal suburban heterosexual couples do isn't it?? get married and have kids!! and to me jeff has always been that guy, which he even admits in canon! he was always gonna be the high-school boyfriend to jackie, but that's his life role, too: he stays in his home-town, he owns a business in his home-town, his only friend is his teen bestie, etc. he's the suburban straight guy who doesn't properly wash his underwear, whose wife cooks every meal (that he still complains about), who thinks flavored lube is too kinky and weird and gay for him.

and it annoys me that the show doesn't even lean into the horror of that, let alone like...the genuinely terrribleeee things he does. like if you're not gonna frame it as devastating, tragic, claustrophobic, and miserable that shauna marries jackie's very Normie boyfriend and has another baby with him, that her whole life has become a jackie altar and not what she herself wants, then at least frame it as awful that he blackmailed her and her friends using their trauma??? HELLO???and i hate that the adam thing kinda like. made them ~even~, narratively, or at least made people forget about jeff.

and if you're NOT going to make it a heterosexual horror story, AT LEAST make him the wifeguy people insist he is online!! what REAL self-respecting wifeguy would turn down strawberry lube or panic when their wife grabs the gun from the guy holding them at gunpoint!!! and i mean, his reactions (to the gun thing at least) are valid and normal, ofc he'd freak out, majority of us would too. but this IS a tv show, he's not real, and you can't have him be the freaked out, 'you're out of control' husband and the 'my wife can do no wrong' husband ykwim. (me & rose talked about that angle specifically here)

but also YES it's legitimately evil for jeff to not tell shauna he knows about wilderness baby and for him to just then. keep bringing up having another one. the most generous reading i can give him is that he also, of course, feels guilty about jackie, and his desire for marriage and children with shauna is driven by that, but again: he knew he was only ever the high-school boyfriend, so. and what melanie said in that interview IS right but it's not being said/implied/explored in canon, and i worry that if it was then again, it wouldn't be shown as the horror it is, so i'm almost glad?? bc i'm not sure the general audience would see through that and view it as evil either.

anyways, jeff n shauna to me is like. does she love him? probably, in some way, on some level. i think she enjoys his company sometimes, i'm sure they have happy memories together etc. but he will always be a reminder of #everything. and so will callie! and i think that's just a more interesting dynamic to explore!!! (though tbh. loveee the goat stuff, but shauna just kinda. saying everything so explictly to lottie did feel like a telling not showing, exposition moment. as did the fact that it was a KID like sometimes this show is so subtle and other times it's incredibly not ajdksjask.)

um anyways it's 4am. i need to go to sleep. i am probably forgetting something bc i have So many thoughts about shauna + motherhood ESPECIALLY in the teen timeline which i didn't even touch lol, and how it connects to adult timeline but i do wanna give the writers temporary benefit of doubt just bc we've still got 2 eps left. so who knows what'll happen. me personally i'm hoping jeff dies and/or goes to jail and we explore the complex web of feelings that shauna and callie have towards each other, and they change their names back to shipman. i think it's rly funny and sad and tragic that callie doesn't care that her mom's a killer (well, she does), she's just so happy her mother's being honest with her. </33 also just love women who aren't naturally maternal and aren't good mothers but they're not villainized for it, and it's also not a one-dimensional portrayal either.

(final note that i LOVE is that in the original pilot script, shauna has another kid!!! callie has an older sister!!! soo curious whether she was meant to be a surviving wilderness baby or if they had another kid post-crash...jeff im in ur walls regardless)