#most of these are really thought out but not beyond drafting bc I just. dont wanna. for no real reason. brain pls

[krystalrage]

Tell us about Sea of Solitude!

Wooo rambling about my OC stuff time! So quick preface, Sea of Solitude (SOS) is 1 of 5 stories that I’m working on atm. The other 4 are Canary (Calls) (CC), A Gentle Softness (AGS), Hellmaw, and Looper. Hellmaw is the one that draws all 5 seemingly unrelated stories together into one universe and explains how this stuff actually works, and is about tied for highest development with CC and AGS with the overall story and most character info being sorted out with actual writing as the main holdup

Also Iv'e gone into way the hell too much depth for CC's battle mechanics it's literally mostly functional and could probably be ported to tabletop with some calculators and dry erase boards, and with the more fiddly bits cut out

The rest under readmore bc its a little lengthy

Unfortunately, SOS is my least worked on story so far despite being the second oldest (CC and SOS were thought up on the exact same day), just barely beating out Looper in development. All of these are written in a pretty typical way but I visualize their stories through video game formats with SOS being some flavor of survival, maybe survival horror or something. It’ll end up centering on somewhere around 2-5 people, but probably only 2 or 3 and I want it to be themed pretty hard on finding beauty in the strange and/or horrifying. Survival-wise the physical threats will probably be pretty minimal? So the rotation idea I reblogged a bit ago would probably be more focused on mental effects, with the main rotating bit being more like mental fortitude, and injury decreasing the characters tolerance of these mental effects before they break. Injury would still be able to kill obv but is the depth of the pointer in the healthbar not the actual rotating

The environment will be consistently water-themed, with the first and central main area being similar to flooded salt plains. The second’s like… y’know those aquarium tunnels where the fish and stuff can swim over you? That but super dark and hard to see in. There's a thing about finding a path through it bc it’s a maze and basically you need ‘reach out’ to the walls and it lights up the path with bright ghostly aquatic animal things in your favorite colors. So thats 2 out of the at least 4 areas I'd want it to have

Uhhh the characters are supposed to recognize one another and kinda hate each other’s guts so second theme of learning how to communicate with others maybe? I don’t really want them to ever actually like each other as much as learn to tolerate and talk things out without devolving to fighting too

Also yes the title abbreviating to sos is intentional I came up with that while figuring out the title like 5 years ago and it’s stuck ever since

[moonshynecybin]

you cantttt just say rosquez feminization and not elaborate…. penny for your thoughts

shout out to @lestelledreams who sent me another ask like this but tumblr ATE my response when i tried to post it. luckily i draft in notes app…okay so it would be easier to list thoughts i DONT have about rosquez feminization… under the cut bc we do in fact get a lil nasty here

so i’ve talked a bit about some of the non-racing oriented things marc does for his body like his hot girl routine (laser hair removal. skin creams. slutty workout videos) like my girl enjoys being SMOOTH he enjoys being conventionally SEXY (personally. bush til i die but whatever live your truth marc) and the first time he’s doing it as. okay i’m famous and photographed all the time AND around my hot older crush/idol who has fucked more people than i’ve ever even met in my lifetime… like a little insecure part of marc is like this is what vale wants… and one thing about my man marc is he will COMMIT. so he waxes himself hairless the entire time they are fucking the first from 2013-2015 (and beyond) and frankly vale would like him either way but MARC gets off on it so hard… making himself pretty for vale… and maybe vale says something like that in the moment, just like mindless dirty talk about how good he looks how he made himself all pretty like a girl, and marc jolts like he’s been electrocuted and whines and comes right then even though vale had like JUST got inside him… and he’s curled around vale panting eyes shining leg hitched around vale’s hip asking him to keep going and it’s SO clear he liked whatever that was a LOT.

so vale uh. catalogs that information. and starts to test some hypotheses #olditalianmeninSTEM by which i mean the next time marc is blowing him he curls his hand into marc’s hair and tugs a little until marc looks him in the eye and vale just sends it like they’re whipping 310km/hr around the track— like breathless mischievous confidence… starts feeding him a stream of dirty talk, calling him gorgeous telling him nasty stuff about his tits riding that lovely edge of complimentary and degrading and getting sooo gender about it, and he watches marc’s eyelashes flutter and his hand on vale’s hip tightens and then marc like. literally chokes himself on valentino’s dick he’s clearly so so into it and vale feels crazyyyyyyy… SORRY..

and then it’s onnnnn baby it is. using the feminine forms of italian endearments in bed. playing with his tits. losing the condom. weird roleplay where they laugh so much. it is delightfully horny and slightly goofy gender transgression that they are both SO obsessed with… like the sex whiplashes through tonal dissonance it is simultaneously the most intense thing they’ve ever felt and like. lethally campy. at one point they are BOTH the baby girls bc they love being hot and are not serious people

that being said it culminates with vale just like. buying disgustingly expensive neon yellow designer lingerie and leaving it in marc’s motorhome with a lil note that has like. a dumbass turtle doodle on it instead of his signature. like something very silly and valentino. and then they have the WORLD’S most insane sex about it where vale says all kind of nasty stuff about marc being his best girl and spits in his mouth and tries to get him pregnant. hashtag catholic weirdo moments. crucially it is never formally discussed until like. genuinely ten years later when vale is like impish nervous smile WE REALLY SHOULD HAVE TALKED ABOUT THAT EH? and marc’s like ? best sex of my life? wdym?

[altschmerzes]

How do you decide that something is good enough to post? I struggle with endless edits and never posting wips because I want it to be Done before sharing. But then I look at your wips and I am so thankful you decided to post! I'd much rather have the first part of your wips and wait for updates than miss out on the experience! Do you outline your works so you know the overall story and post the chapters once you reach that point in the outline? Do you write based on vibes and post what you have completed? I end up going through round after round of editing to get my writing to the place I want (I tend to write very sporadically, so it always takes some work to get my stuff to the quality I think it should be) and I'm curious how you decide your writing is in a good enough spot to post.

Again, I think you're hugely skilled and I am so grateful you take the time to share with us ❤️❤️❤️❤️

first off, thank you so much for the lovely compliments, i am beyond flattered that you think so highly of my work and that you thought to ask me for any kind of writing advice :') it also comes at a very good time for me as i have been getting Very in my head this week about posting WIPs and then taking one william years to update them lmao, especially bc ive got another WIP getting very close to 'i could post the first chapter' (history rhymes) and i know i have a lot of them floating around unfinished. makes me feel a lot less guilty and a lot more like. hmm maybe- about getting that one going too.

as to your questions!! i never used to outline but i almost always do now, especially as i am often writing things that end up being very, very long. i write based on vibes haha and i post when i get to the point vibes-wise of being able to post a new completed chapter/oneshot. i just... post when it's ready to go, as soon as it's fully written out (the chapter/oneshot not the whole thing, i mean). i don't really decide it's good enough so much as i just sort of go well that's done and chuck it out there.

honestly it's mostly a defence mechanism so i dont have long enough to like, stare at it until i hate it and can never allow it to see the light of day, haha! i tend to post things as soon as they're at all ready to post like. completed. and i also tend to edit as i go a lot? i dont do a ton of actual editing but my drafting process is extensively detailed most of the time so i can play with wording and continuity and stuff like that. i probably SHOULD edit more, honestly, but i just can't like. resist posting it as soon as i can lmao, i'm just so antsy to get it out there and i know that if i keep looking at it, ill hate it.

thanks again for your lovely words and i hope you find a process that works for you! sometimes, it's about not letting the idea of what your writing could look like in the best world stop you from letting it exist at all in the imperfect way it does, y'know?

[ashtraythief]

Hey! So ive been a long time reader of ur underneath verse (since like.. 2018? Maybe even 2017?) and i just wanted to drop by and tell u how much im enjoying rereading ur writing! Like in general i think this is one of my fav fics series just bc its so extensive and well done and thought out and fleshed out so well it works so well? Like seeing all the different angles and the way u choose to frame things is really fun for me and kinda inspires my own writing in some aspects.

Ive never read the whole thing all in one go before so ive decided to do that right now and im just about done with the pied pipers song - more specifically willys chapter. And i kinda needed to let u know that ur series really stands out to me just bc of how many glimpses into other characters and all these different povs of the same thing like on it stands out on a technical level but then ur actual writing of these things is so good and compelling and like as an outsider pov bitch it hits the spot for me so well? Like ur writing is never stale and its always interesting.

I specifically wanted to take this time to mention that i really love willy and winstons characters and how u went about it. Like im ngl the way u wrote them kinda makes me want to cry tears of happiness for them bc they have found ppl who appreciate them and they have connections with other ppl but then the bittersweet tang of jensen and willy is kinda fucking me up rn /pos djjdjdjd like in general u really do the bittersweet jensen is stuck undercover angle really well and it HURTS so good

But yes i dont really have a good concise message or comment to leave beyond the fact that i keep stopping every few sentences to get up and jump bc im so excited about what im reading i need to get rid of that excess energy lol so sorry if this is all over the place and a really messy message! I just really wanted to let u know how much im enjoying reading it all rn. Thank you so much for sharing ur writing with us and for continuing to write for this series its so fun!

omg nonnie, I'm kinda speechless here (this is the second wonderful message in two days so I'm kinda overwhelmed. is it send wonderful messages week somewhere??)

I just am so grateful and this message made me so happy. never apologize for maybe not having a five point outline lol, this is amazing.

The underneath verse has always been my fandom baby, so praise for it is already amazing, but the pied piper fic and Winston and Willy epsecially, it just makes my heart so full. Ten years ago, they definitely started out as stock characters of mob drivers, because I didn't think this fic would get so big, but then it did, and Willy especially became a real character. a) because I knew he'd fall in love with Jensen too, as anyone does really and b) because I looooove the bittersweet undercover Jensen shtick where I write from other character's POV and the reader knows how wrong they're getting it but they don't *mu har har* (yeah I'm a little mean sometime. sorry?)

but in all seriousness, the Willy chapter, I'ev been working on that for months. And I kept adding things and rewriting things and trying to get it perfect even though I know that most people who read the story mostly care about Jared and Jensen (which is totally fair and understandable), but I care about him and there are a few people out there who do too (and I love you for it, so much), but with Willy, I just wante to do this /right/. I've come to love him so much, and he's come to be so important to Jensen, it felt like he and Winston really deserve their own story told even though that's kind of ridiculous because they're not real, but they're a little real to me now. All this to say, nonnie, this comment and your appreciation of Willy means so fucking much to me. And my poor alpha reader who read like four drafts of this (seriously, M. is a saint) and my beta readers who then had to beta four iterations of this. To know that this effort is appreciated this much honestly make me cry a little (I am not having the greatest time right now, so I cry easily but the point still stands. Thank you.)

This message was actually such an energy boost I'm currently trying to fix the next timestamp, lol so I'll have something to post next month. You're a true treasure, nonnie <3

[togamicrying]

honey you e got a big storm coming

35, 39, 47, 48, 51, 56, 83 hee hee

MAPLE.

35. A character who should’ve got more character development?

like. sooooo many of them lol. can i say the entire cast of v3? because honest to god that's my answer -- even my faves in v3 leave Something to be desired

beyond that, i actually think that thh and gbd do a really good job of stretching characters to their maximum narrative utility before killing them off, and i do feel like in both games the most narratively flexible ones are the ones who live. i think if i had to say anyone from those games it'd probably be leon or sayaka just because the way the free time events work in trigger happy havoc work mean they get like three events and then they die and you never get to know more lmfaoo (but even then i still don't think their characters are Lacking in the way that the v3 cast is for me. sorry for being a v3 hater lol)

39. Smartest murder plan?

komaeda's, obviously LMFAO. god every time i replay sdr2 chapter 5 im struck by it all over again. like they literally had to guess!! even with nanami revealing herself! even then! they still had to be like well. hope his luck actually worked out! king popped off and the entire trial is SO good for advancing the plot and tying off hinata's dynamics with BOTH komaeda and nanami! the moment of sickening clarity when hinata realizes that he DOES understand how komaeda's brain works, and knows what his intentions really were? nanami and hinata's final goodbye? uuuugh sdr2 chapter 5 i love youuuuu.

rest under the cut bc Long.

47. A headcanon you have about a character?

*pushes two million unfinished drafts of Togami Headcanons to the side* i am going to talk about komaru. i think she's a butch lesbian and every time she's depicted as feminine in fanart my soul dies a little even though butch komaru exists solely in my head. i also think she's really sporty, but i've talked about that elsewhere hehe.

ok i'll talk about togami a little bit. it's 100% projection but i think he's agender. not in a way where he like. actively thinks about it -- even at Full Self-Actualization i'm not sure if i ever see him actually realizing it and actively thinking about himself in that way -- but i just dont think he as any particular connection to being a *man* outside of how it plays into his attraction to other men/his family's expectations of producing heirs. like he just kind of is how he is and doesn't feel compelled to make any particular effort to present as masculine. i could make a joke here about his gender just being Togami, but genuinely i do think that rings true. he's not a boy or a girl but a secret third thing (byakuya togami™️) does this make sense. like. to anyone (<- projecting and insane) whatever. i think he would look nice in a floor length skirt.

48. Favourite OST?

i... usually play the games on silent :X legit i know like 3 songs including mr monokumas lesson. just tried to remember what beautiful days sounded like and the wii sports theme is what my brain supplied (<- embarrassed)

i WILL say that i think drv3 has the best opening track of any of the games. its so jazzy and fun hehe

51. Character you thought you were gonna dislike but loved in the end?

mmm. hard to say, honestly? it's been so many years since i formed first impressions of the thh and gbd casts that i kind of dont even remember what i first thought of them? i have a lot of v3 characters who i thought i would like and wound up feeling kind of ehh about, but that's not the question lol

i think, Big Terrible Writing Choice aside, i was really surprised by how much i wound up actually *liking* korekiyo? like okay OBVIOUSLY they took his character in a terrible direction but before that when he's just like, a weird little freak? that ruled lol

in terms of characters that i've had full turnarounds in opinion over the course of 2012-2022? i remember not particularly liking/caring about kirigiri, sayaka, fukawa, souda, or gundam when i first read the playthroughs of their games, and now they're some of my favorites hehe. but that's less about me going *into* the games thinking i wouldnt like them -- because in both cases i went in completely blind -- and more about them growing on me like a fungus over successive playthroughs lol

56. Best free time events?

ok. take this with a grain of salt because i'm stalled out in my sdr2 replay rn so i haven't redone the free time events for that game in awhile/haven't done any v3 ftes besides maki's and ouma's because im a hater.

i think kirigiri has really good fte's. i love that she gets a little sillay in them and how subtle her progression from "why are you talking to me" to "i care deeply about you" is. i also really appreciate how the game cutting her off as an option for free time at certain points serves to make that progression feel really natural with the game's actual plot. love you miss kirigiri.

mondo's are really great as well, he's such a fun guy to interact with and him talking about wanting to be a carpenter and loving his stupid tiny dog and being too nervous to ask girls out all add such levity to his character and make it SO sad when he dies. like damn that biker gang leader trapped in a murder game really is just like. some guy in high school :-( i also loved that they brought him wanting to be a carpenter back in dr:s! made my heart soar uuuuugh i love you mondo, sorry i never ever talk about you

komaeda gets an honorable mention for his botched love confession. buddy you did So Bad.

83. Least favourite chapter?

[staring myself down in the mirror] i will not hate on v3 this time i will not hate on v3 this time i will not hate on--

chapter 4 of v3 was soooo boring guys. i hated the virtual world and idk if it was just me but the controls for it were just. nightmarish. whatever lets talk about the games i do like.

i also agree with @ovidiomedes about thh's c3 kind of dragging. it's one of my favorite trials, but the actual chapter is. really slow lol. i think part of that is due to the anticipation of chapters 4-6 which are some of my all time favorites across all three games, but i think it has larger narrative problems that contribute to that dragging feeling ://

[miraculouscontent]

There was an anon who responded to this post about “what if they make Luka evil to try and end Lukanette and make Adrien look better by comparison” and it was absolutely fantastic so I’m just gonna slap their whole thing here:

Anonymous asked:

i wanted to respond to that anon asking about "wyd if they make luka evil" from a slightly more metatextual/philosophical angle, bc "dealing with a thing you like doing something you dont like" is something i'm pretty interested in as like, how do you enjoy fandom if the thing you like could be ripped away at any moment by shitty writers? and the answer, ive found, is to just say no

stepping back a little, let's look at the idea of the spacetime continuum. (bear with me lol.) as most people with an interest in the area know, space and time are not so much separate things as merely that we are fourth-dimensional beings who can only view the lower 3 dimensions. from a 5th-dimensional perspective, time is just another dimension, and the whole of time can  be viewed in its entirety from outside of itself, in the way you can view an entire rubix cube by picking it up and moving it around

and what is a story, but a single spacetime continuum? a single ribbon of time and space, which we move through, and then can step outside of and view from a nonlinear perspective? fanfiction (especially "missed scene"/"canon divergence" fanfic) is essentially taking this ribbon of spacetime and picking spots along it wherever you like to flesh out or peel off and explore alternatives

now, moving back into the question. all fiction is equally fictional. fanfiction is not any less fictional than the original work; the original work has no more weight on reality than the fanfiction, because both are equally made up. the only difference between fanfiction and original fiction (beyond the parent-child difference of derivative work and the work it derives from) lies in the capitalist realm of profitability and copyright law, social structures which lend more weight and power to original fiction than derivative fiction 

stepping back again. have you ever felt like you're "not allowed" to put down a book, even if you aren't enjoying it? like it's some sort of crime not to finish what you've started? i think most people have. there's a pervasive myth that you owe something to a story you are reading. reality is, you can just stop. you can put it down, and never find out how it ends. and - here's a fun kicker - you can still write fanfiction about it. if you got halfway through a book and suddenly it started not being fun, that doesn't negate the fun it was before 

this ties into some mild discourse ive seen (by which i mean one post that i thought was fucking hilarious in a "damn you really live like this?" way) about if salty miraculous fans should be "allowed" in the fandom. which is a ridiculous statement on its face; as if you can just decide a whole portion of the fandom "isnt allowed" and they'll all just shrug and pack their bags. but like, of course you're allowed to make art about something you don't like. as long as you're still having fun, you can interact with a work however the hell you want. even if youre not having fun tbh! tho i don't recommend that lol, there are better things to do with your time than pursue a hobby you don't enjoy

gonna loop into a completely different fandom; homestuck (sorry). at a point late in the game in the story, a narrative decision was made that would negate a LOT of the previous story. a lot of fans were understandably upset by this; they felt as though it negated the entire reading experience, as if they had slogged through, enjoyed, gotten invested in, THOUSANDS of pages, THOUSANDS of words of dialogue, TONS of character development, for nothing.

but imo, just because later in the story that stuff no longer exists, doesn't mean it doesn't exist earlier in the story. this isn't a rewrite before a final draft is published; this is an ongoing tale. the previous stuff still happened; you still experienced it; you can still write those versions of the characters, write in that portion of the timeline. however much the retcon powers may pretend to be retcon powers, those pages didn't get deleted. your experience of them didn't get deleted.

you can simply decide to ignore the parts that you don't like and continue writing as though they never happened. you have the power, and the right, to do that. canon isn't any more real than fanfiction, and fanfiction isn't any more fake than canon. you can just decide that canon is wrong, and operate under your own series of events. it's basically what saltfic writers are doing anyway; deciding "canon is wrong for declaring these mean things about marinette, we are going to declare they are untrue and write accordingly." capping this off with a little love note to saltficcers - i havent actually seen beyond s1 xcept for select episodes, but i got sucked into the ladyblog au and have been mildly in love with the entire salty half of the fandom ever since. yall make such phenomenal art and it makes me so happy ♡

[m-feys]

OK NEURODIVERGENT GAANG TIME BC I WANNA

these hcs are kinda halfway set in a modern au bc thats my context for this ! (gonna split it up so its not as long bc i drafted the original and it was LONG) water tribe siblings first !!!

Sokka

adhd/autism king 😌

[ID: a screenshot of Sokka standing on a raised stone platform with a map of the Fire nation hanging behind him. He’s holding his arms stiffly by his side with a wide-eyed look on his face, brows raised as he has his mouth open, saying something. End ID.]

- schedules to survive, he likes to know what hes getting into and if you try to change plans on him without warning he’ll be very resistant

- smart kid who doesnt study, oh he tries, oh boy does he try, he ends up reading the same sentence over and over until he gets distracted by drawing something, working on the blueprint for his latest invention, or with researching something completely unrelated to what he’s mean to be studying. then he tosses and turns all night because he’s stressed by not having studied, but when he actually takes the test he makes a 105, despite there not even being a bonus question, he just answered the essay question so well the teacher gave him an extra 5 points

- special interests?? we got em!!! classic weaponry (think swords, boomerangs, but also, like canons and catapults and shit) engineering/physics, art/drawing, strategy games. he tends to hyperfocus within his special interests, so like for a week he was hellbent on building his own full sized trebuchet, much to the dismay of Gran Gran who just wanted to grow her tomatoes without them being crushed by said full size trebuchet

- (also he plays all types of games probably, but he def plays those ones where you take over the world, like the ones online and azula also plays them too and they end up being rivals, while not actually knowing who the other is outside of their usernames)

- he also talks a lot in his classes/is like the ‘class clown’ and ppl think this is him not focusing but engaging this way actually helps him focus way more than sitting silently, a lot of teachers dont understand it but the ones who do are actually paying attention and realize that he’s generally talking/joking about their current topic

- some observations (this shit is all canon babey!!!) - sokka is great at being a leader and communicating in groups he’s in but he really really struggles in front of crowds, one-on-one and sokka can talk well, joke and stuff but as soon as he’s separate from other people and everyone is just listening he clams up (solar eclipse pt 1). he also loves to joke and make people laugh, and a lot of the time he misinterprets stuff because he’s autistic but he also will realize this and do it anyway because he thinks it’s funny and he likes laughing with his friends (idk if this happens in canon but i do this and sokka does too bc i said so :^). He also takes up the protector/comforting role but despite his best intentions he can sometimes say insensitive stuff and not even realize what he’s done to upset people (when he happily told aang ‘the whole world thinks your dead!’) works best when he feels needed, if he feels unnecessary or like something doesnt matter he struggles to complete it (i feel like the beginning of sokka’s master rlly demonstrates what i mean here), and this goes both ways, he will put too much value into certain things that he cares about and can get his priorities mixed if he’s focused too much on what he believes matters more than what might be most pressing (zuko destroyed his suki sculpture, oh right bc he was attacking aang)

Katara

she also has adhd/autism, (so do both Hakoda and Kya 💙)

[ID: a screenshot of Katara, Hakoda, Sokka, and Bato. Hakoda has his hand on Katara’s shoulder as they both look at Bato who is saying something, she has curious look on her face with her brows raised, while Hakoda looks exasperated. Sokka beside him his also looking curiously up at Bato, with one brow raised and the other furrowed. Bato has a neutral expression on his face as he speaks. End ID.]

- palms sweaty thoughts spaghetti, she tries to be practical bc she thinks someone needs to be but really her brain is like a runaway train, she sees something that needs doing and is like, guess ill do that now! and drops whatever she was doing first. she can get very anxious because of this because all the thing that need doing start to pile up because theyre all in her brain at once. that and as much as she tries to be practical she’s very impulsive, getting help from other people really helps alleviate this stuff

- interacting w ppl, when she was only part of her own smaller community she had a lot less toll on her, bc she knew everyone and was used to them, as she meets more people she gets really frustrated with how many people seem to refuse to say what they really mean. Katara is very straightforward herself and she says what she means, so even tho she gets more and more perceptive when interacting with new people, she resents how much she has to work just to decipher what people really mean half the time.

- caring for ppl, with people she cares about communicating is much easier bc she knows them, so she’s very open about her feelings around these people, and she can be hyper empathetic at times, but then sometimes she will say SUPER insensitive stuff off the cuff because she’s just very impulsive and she might regret it after the fact but she really struggles with apologizing because being wrong makes her feel like ppl are going to reject her

- perceptions, she knows what’s expected of her by the world, but she really rejects the idea that she has to stay in her role. still, she has internalized a lot of these expectations and tries to perform them, even when she sometimes struggles. beyond herself, she’s very certain about what she knows is wrong and has a strong moral code, she sees something wrong and she wants to fix it.

- she’s awful in school, not because she’s not smart, but she’s smart in ways that society does not appreciate. she doesnt care at all about all the worksheets and math she’s never gonna use, and all the history that got distorted, she’s much better at learning stuff on her own and she will go on deep dives of subjects she cares about and is super knowledgeable abt them.

also:

[ID: A cropped screenshot of Sokka with his arms extended outwards, palms flat as he gestures. He has a slight grin on his face with his mouth open to speak, eyebrows raised and looking at the viewer calmly. He’s wearing his usual blue tunic with the Earth Rumble XI belt along with his earth kingdom bag hanging across his chest. The text on the image says, “This post made by ADHD Sokka gang. End ID.]

[ID: a cropped screenshot of Hakoda, he has a serious expression on his face as he looks ahead. The text on the post reads, “This post made by ADHD Hakoda gang.” End ID.]

from this post (part of what inspired me to write these out) @meteor-sword​ now just katara needs one 😄

adhd aang next, i will finally live up to my url (will edit with a link when i post)

[throwing-summers-at-the-walls]

Hi, i hope you are feeling good! Im better than yesterday so i can finally answer you. First of all: i am so happy that you shared your fanfiction! i had a great time reading it! Im always open for more recs. Maybe your all time favorites? Or if you know some good h/c these are always welcome :) And YESSS please send me a link to your fanvids. -- yeah 13rw was super cursed. haha i also watched season 1 but thankfully i was able to sto watching becaue i could feel it making me feel bad (1)

I agree the suicide scene was just cringe (but i think i remember reading somewhere that they cut it out? idk) and overall this show just gave me the feeling that there was no hope and things are always getting worse instead of better and i hated that. but enough of that cursed show. can i just say i really admire how open you are about your feelings (like being suicidal and that) i realy, really admire this about you. i have so much respect for you that you can just share your feelings here (2)

I have never heard of ace attorney but that story you described sounds really good. and i get reading sth that isnt good for you and still doing it (because im a dumb bitch too :D) -- okay i might accept that Root will never grow on you (but i thought so too and look at me now :D) but i havent fully given up yet :)-- yes thats the girl. i think it was really sweet when she said that to Shaw. and i think Shaw appreciated it that someone tried to figure her out instead of just writting her off (3)

Shaw is really cool and definately also a badass and in combination with John its just great! but you will have to suffer trough some Shoot.  but maybe, maybe you will end up not hating Root. hope dies last (idk how the saying goes in english, sorry). -- Did you ever ship Caresse (in a romantic way)? cause sometimes i do and sometimes i dont and i get so confused about it :) but i think most of the time i like them more as friends. anyway her death really sucked and you are right with (4)

her death and them losing the library it felt like a different show (i mean i guess it was a different show then). i kinda get your feelings about the destroyed library because i also really loved it (and im really bad with change) but i dont think it affected me as much as you. but yeah i still missed the library very much. and while the subway is a really cool new place its not the same. (also the subway is super dark cause its underground and idk it just makes the whole thing less homey) (5)

Yes he is everything! such a great, interesting character and i wish there were more John-centric episodes! (like ones that explored his character more). that was one of my biggest dislikes of the later seasons that John wasnt featured as much anymore. i think he chuckled a few times in the show but a real laugh? i cant remember one :(  -- He did promise Joss to talk to Tyler so @show were is that talk? -- if seen the vid its awesome! thehiddenmemory has some great poi vids! (6)

yes i think so too. Like Grace would probably be relived and thankful that Harold is still alive and maybe they would even try again but eventually she would figure out that she cant trust him after lying to him for so long or sth like that and Harold would ofc realize that he is in love with someone else now. And then he finds out that John is still alive but stayed away cause he didnt want to get in the way of Harold/Grace. But then Harold comes back. And when they meet again John is like (7)

you came back for the machine? what about Grace. But Harold tells him he came back for John not the machine and then they kiss and have a happy live with Bear (sorry i got a little carried away here :D). -- Yeah Zoe is really hot and she needed more screen time! -- i hope you have a good day and i hope i havent messed up the numbers on the asks! :)

Hi ! I'm finally free from the resits, I hope you're doing okay with your thesis 💛

Sorry for replying late, there was the exam resits, and I read a bunch of fics, then I fell into pokémon and started bingewatching it. (Also I had a breakdown during therapy today so I'm gonna finish writing my answer to distract myself - it's been sitting in my drafts for so long rip)

Thank you !! It was a very personal thing, I'm really happy you liked it !! Your support and your comment made me thrive 💛💛

Tbh I was surprised to see it get kudos given that the only intended audience was my self projecting ass 🤣

So, my fav fics (my fav fic ever is in French, rip to y'all bc it's so good):

I am, I am, I am by RavenWhitecastle

Actually check the entire series this work belongs to: The Sinner and the Saint. I haven't finished it yet but I love it (I just skipped the explicit fics bc I don't like smut or sub!John)

Breaking All The Rules by talkingtothesky

Outsider Perspective by Neery

A Really Private Person by astolat

Hamartia (the hero's fatal flaw) by astolat

If Only for Tonight by spacemutineer

From Here, Where? by AKMars

Stroll by TheaNishimori

and the world was gone by lunarcorvid

a light that never goes out by vindicatedtruth

Limitations. by Michaelssw0rd

Reel you in and spit you out by Michaelssw0rd

All I Want For Christmas Is You by richmahogany

By What Power I Am Made Bold by brinnanza

Aftershocks by darringtons

At Certain Hours It All Breaks Down by nogoaway

construction of a kingdom by the_ragnarok

You Take Me Higher Than I've Gone by talkingtothesky

All Together Now by beadedslipper

I'll Let the Waters Still by brinnanza

Birthday Tradition by talkingtothesky

Things My Father Taught Me by KRyn

Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder by infiniteeight

Better Luck This Time by Lisztful

Motivations by JenNova

What's On the Table by cortue

In Another Life by Della19

I Thought We Already Were by talkingtothesky

Misunderstandings by thisstarvingartist

This is already fucking long omg so for the h/c: my bookmarks filtered with Rinch and h/c

Here's my playlist, it's mostly Rinch, but there are a few not Rinch vids, plus some scenes I like

This is long enough already, so it's time for a read more. Also, warning, we be talking about suicide

The portrayal of suicide is cringe most of the time anyway. If my suicidal ass can find a list of suicide methods and their lethality in 2 mins on Google you'd think writers who are supposed to do some research would be able to find them too but no they're like "ah yes slicing wrists" even though it's literally the shittiest method 🙄 (I just don't understand why slicing wrists seems to be such a popular method in the collective imagination ? It's weird.) At least in 13rw she took aspirin and cut herself vertically instead of horizontally but still, no hesitation wounds, and she dies even though she only got 4 wounds iirc ? I know more about jumping off bridges than slicing wrists, but it kinda sounds like bullshit to me. Also Netflix once suggested "beyond the reasons" to me, it's a sort of discussion with the cast and crew of 13rw and the only thing I remember is a moment of intellectual masturbation abt how they "opened a discussion abt suicide" 😬😬😬

They may have cut it out it's not impossible, idk I didn't hear about it, but it's not like I look for info about this dumpster fire lol. Maybe they faced backlash ? Wouldn't be surprised given how shit the show was. And yeah it has a hopeless vibe, I mean that's how it be when you're suicidal, but I didn't like it either.

You're sweet 💜💜 it's interesting that you find it respectable or admirable, I don't have an external point of view, so I'm just like 🤷 it is what it is. I understand where you're coming from though, I guess it's still quite a taboo subject, and suicidal people don't always feel comfortable talking about it, so me throwing around that I jumped off a bridge must be surprising. I'm detached enough from my suicide attempt that I'm able to talk about it without much of a problem, and I'm not really suicidal anymore.

Dumb bitches unite 👏👏👏 we be out there reading shit we shouldn't read

Yeah I think it's nice how the show didn't portray Shaw as a bad person for not having "normal feelings". Well, hope makes one live as we say in French (idk the English saying either lol) but don't hold much hope about me liking Root lmao

I used to ship careese bc they kissed in the crossing, but then I read some Rinch fics and I just ended up falling into it to the point where I stopped caring about careese. Now I think their relationship works better as a friendship.

Yeah all that change really puts me off... It just gives me "bad spin-off" vibes. Especially since there is less John :( and less Rinch :((((

Lmao yeah I just have a lot of feelings about early poi hgkfglrk. Also :/ I'm sad about the subway being less homey pls I just want happiness ?? I swear this show destroys my heart on top of owning my last braincell (brb changing my blog title to this lmao)

Mood I need all the John-centric eps, give me m o r e characterization and development and backstory and feelings hhhhhhh. I love him so much I just wanna spend more time with him. And that's what fics are for ! Yeah thehiddenmemory is so talented ! Astolat made some good ones too, on top of writing really good fics ! (Our fandom has been blessed with the presence of one of the ao3 founders hell yeah)

Also, remember how we talked abt the poi subreddit ? The other day I left a comment on there, wild I know. It wasn't a discussion about the last seasons though, I'm not crazy, it was about the impact poi had in our lives so I said it literally taught me English. Who knows maybe sometimes I'll comment again lol. I just don't wanna meet one of those people who prefer late poi over early poi.

Allow me to uuuuh write something based on what you said. Don't ask me how John survived with no major injuries, my man got that Thick Plot Armor alright. Hope you appreciate me getting carried away sjdkdksk it's kinda rushed and the first part isn't that good bc idk how to write Grace I'm just here for that sweet sweet Rinch stuff

Harold is eating breakfast with Grace in her kitchen – he can't think of her home as his home – when his phone vibrates. It's a text from the machine. It's a surprise, she barely contacted him since... He blocks the thoughts and the images coming to his mind. The machine sent him a picture. When he opens it, his heart misses a beat. Right here on his screen is a silhouette he thought he would never see again. His phone vibrates again. Another picture, this time it's unmistakably John, wearing his signature suit, Bear next to him. Transfixed, he stares at his phone until he feels Grace gently touching his arm. She goes straight to the point.

"Is it John ?" He looks up in confusion, but before he can say anything, she adds, "I hear you call him in your sleep every night."

"It's him, yes." He doesn't want to explain. He only wants to see John, to touch him, to tell him how much he loves him.

"You should go back to him. I like you, Harold. I am deeply relieved to see you alive. But I've been thinking, and... It's not working. This, us... You aren't really the man I fell in love with, the man I grieved... I can't trust you anymore." She doesn't say 'You lied to me' but Harold hears it all the same.

~

Harold sits on their bench. The machine indicated John often comes here. Soon enough, his arms are full of Bear, and John is standing in front of him.

"John. How are you ?" he asks when Bear finally calms down.

"Busy. And you ?"

Harold eyes him suspiciously – John once said he was busy when he was bleeding and way too close to death – but he seems to be well.

"I'm fine." He doesn't have time for awkward small talk." I thought you were dead. Why didn't you contact me ?"

"The machine told me you were with Grace. I thought you wanted to come back to your previous life. I didn't want to crash into it and ruin what you had."

Harold wants to be angry at him, but he understands. He did the same with Grace.

"You would never ruin anything. Besides, my relationship with Grace... didn't survive my lies. She's very dear to my heart, but she's a part of my previous life, as you said."

"So you came back for the machine, and the numbers, like the good old times ?"

Harold gets up from the bench.

"I came back for you. You are an important part of my life. The most important part."

John smiles, finally. He takes a step towards Harold, they're so close they could kiss. Harold reaches out, grips his shirt and slowly inches closer. He's still afraid of being rejected but John wraps his arm around him and kisses him. The kiss is over too soon. John's smile is even wider when they part.

"You're the most important part of my life too," he says before kissing Harold again. "You will stay ?"

"Always."

Damn I live for sappy Rinch stuff.

Bitches decided that Harold saying "always" is peak Rinch. It's me I'm bitches.

Also ofc I had to make a reference to number crunch, who do you think I am

Anyway. I hope you have a good day ! 💛

[pfandghoul]

what the sokovia accords really are

a quick study bc what the fuck guys

(copied from the mcu wiki entry about the accords - all of it and not just parts of it)

here goes:

The currently known regulations established by the Sokovia Accords include:

Any enhanced individuals who agree to sign must register with the United Nations and provide biometric data such as fingerprints and DNA samples.

- Any who AGREE to sign. I dont think this is asking too much. If ur working for a government agency, if ur using force in any way during ur work, I think its fair to ask you to give them biometric data. And if its only so in case there is an investigation afterwards (which their always should be imo) its clear distinguishable who was where and did what.

- Also, what if someone suddenly decides "something happened, im changing sides, imma take revenge" (no matter if its a concious decision or brainwashing 👀)? Would probably be good to have some data and perhaps be able to track them. If its managable or not- hm. But theres no harm in giving that data if ur only goal is working towards a safer world.

-----

Those with secret identities must reveal their legal names and true identities to the United Nations.

- Oh nooo, no unknown vigilantes that might make mistakes while fighting on their own and then cant be held accountable? No one is perfect, OF COURSE, but from a realistic pov I wouldnt feel safe with someone running around fighting whoever-

And I know we love the romantic comic fantasy of "everybody can be a hero", and I swear I love it as much as you! But imagine ur just a normal person while spiderman is swinging above ur head- or even imagine ur spiderman- and then one tiny thing wents wrong. The normal person is crushed, dead or paralysed- Spiderman is in shock because that was Not supposed to happen and he is so so sorry!- But what now?

- If enhanced people were to work under an organisation (that is ideally not as shady and riddled with Hydra as Shield was) then those incidents would be covered. Yes it would still be terrible but Spiderman would get mandatory therapy session to work through it and the normal person... well if theyre dead then i guess the organisation would at least pay for the funeral and compensate the family (like if they were the only one providing for partner and kids), additionally a conversation between both partys if possible.

-Basically: nothing can be swept under the rug. The enhanced people can be protected!!! PLUS they only have to reveal their identity to the UN and not the world.

---------

Those with innate powers must submit to a power analysis, which will categorize their threat level and determine potential health risks.

- This would benefit the person with power too, you realize that, dont you?

You cant possibly know how much power you actually have. Is there gonna be another level-up for you? Are you Jean Grey? We wouldnt want to repeat that specific clusterfuck, right?

But if you submit to an analysis it can help find ways to train you, circle ur weaknesses, etc.

Yes the UN would know ur threat level- and that would be bad why? Are you planning to attack Them? If not then no problem. Instead they would know if they should send you in or not- depending... you dont need a level 5 when there is a cat in a tree. We want to avoid unnecessary damage, thank you. If ur a level 1 you also dont want to be on the front lines against an alien invasion for example- better help evacuate non-powered individuals and not die immediately.

- Also worth mentioning: this is all still part of the "if you agree to sign" paragraph

-------

Those with innate powers must also wear tracking bracelets at all times.

- Yes I admit this one sucks. I could argue the pros but I dont really want to because this one is literally just a "we want to control you" rule and should be scratched.

------- (new paragraph in the accords)----

Any enhanced individuals who sign are prohibited from taking action in any country other than their own, unless they are first given clearance by either that country's government or by a United Nations subcommittee.

- I really want to think I dont have to say anything here but I feel I do.

No I do not want a guy wearing an american flag running around in my country if my government didnt explicitely allow it. Same for a giant tin man or a creepy spiderlady.

- If anything then this paragraph would help improve the communication between countries. Yes people fear that in emergencies this will all take too long but 1) thats not the Accords fault and 2) I think we already have situations like this irl and most times it does work.

---------

Governments are forbidden from deploying enhanced individuals outside of their own national borders, unless those individuals are given clearance as described above. The same rule also applies to non-government organizations that operate on a global scale (including S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers).

- Same reasoning. I really really dont want Shield around with their shady everything.

- And always needing consent before weaking havoc in other countries? nice

--------(new paragraph)-----

Any enhanced individuals who do not sign will not be allowed to take part in any police, military, or espionage activities, or to otherwise participate in any national or international conflict, even in their own country.

- Basically if you dont sign up then you cant be a super-cop. Groundbreaking.

(This is very much explained in the first paragraph already.)

----------

As a corollary, they will not be allowed to participate in any active missions undertaken by private or governmental law enforcement/military/intelligence organizations (such as S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers).

- s a m e t h i n g

--------(new paragraph)-----

Any enhanced individuals who use their powers to break the law (including those who take part in extralegal vigilante activities), or are otherwise deemed to be a threat to the safety of the general public, may be detained indefinitely without trial.

If an enhanced individual violates the Accords, or obstructs the actions of those enforcing the Accords, they may likewise be arrested and detained indefinitely without trial.

- Cancel the without trial part and then Id say its just. This way it stinks and I feel Ross had his hands in this. No, I am not defending this one. Its Not Okay.

------(new paragraph)-------

The use of technology to bestow individuals with innate superhuman capabilities is strictly regulated, as is the use and distribution of highly advanced technology (such as Asgardian and Chitauri weaponry).

- You cant just experient and turn urself into the Hulk anymore??? Where is the fun in that?? //sarcasm//

- I dont need to go deeper into this, do I?

-------

The creation of self-aware artificial intelligences is completely prohibited.

- Here comes a problem. For Tony mostly.

- I can think of a few reasons for this but I dont think many people are even capable of doing this. I think it would bd enough to file a request if you want to try and build an AI.

--------(new paragraph)----

The Avengers will no longer be a private organization and will operate under the supervision of the United Nations.

- See.. all of the above on why this is a good thing?

- The Avengers as a private organisation is actually a super scary thought. And if you arent at least a little freaked out about this (all from the point of looking at this as if it were real) then idk what to tell you.

---------(new paragraph)-------

For the purposes of the Accords, an "enhanced individual" is defined as any person, human or otherwise, with superhuman capabilities. This includes individuals whose powers are an innate function of their biology as well as individuals who utilize highly advanced technology to grant themselves superhuman capabilities. However, individuals with advanced prostheses do not seem to be considered "enhanced", even if their prostheses give them capabilities beyond those of ordinary humans. 

- Basically just explaining what they mean by "enhanced individual": people with powers. Doesnt matter if you are born with ur power or built urself a supersuit.

-If you got leg protheses that are super bouncy you arent considered an "enhanced individual" (to put it as simple as possible).

-----

All members of the Avengers are subject to the same conditions as enhanced individuals, even if they are not enhanced themselves: Black Widow was required to sign so she could continue serving on the Avengers, and Hawkeye was incarcerated on the Raft after violating the Accords.

- I think this is fair because if you consider urself an Avenger and fight with them then you also should be held accountable.

- You wouldnt want a Someone to work in super-person capacity which both gives a great deal of responsibility and allows a high chance of fuck ups and destruction without them having any regulations, okay?

AND THATS ALL THERE IS

THATS ALL THE MCU WIKI SAYS THERE IS

Which is ofc bullshit because the Accords were thick and 117 countries worked on them for idk how long. Do you understand what that takes? The compromises and politic battles thats been fought over this document?

And yes it is still not perfect.

But who in the seven Hells said that this was the final draft? Who??

"I dont wanna sign away my freedom of choice" F you! What about my freedom of choice of having some costumed weirdos run around my town blowing stuff up killing people?

"We cant save everyone" yEAH but maybe just mAyBe if you werent a dumb cunt then mayyybe with some teamwork with the countries respective secrurity personell (as every fucking country does have) then maybe Kyle, Maria and Dembe would still be alive?? Who knows.

So what I hear is "I dont wanna give up my freedom and continue to do as I see fit. Because I think I am a better judge than a UN committee and 117 governments that dont want me breaking into their countries on a semi-regular basis."

and thats why im generally pro-Accords :)

[mneiai]

I have read some of the books and i never saw something that made me think of them having an important connection, and well sansa is kind of really young in the books. And about jonerys, i am not a fan, i am not using the series meeting as an example bc they fucked up a lot of things🤷🏻‍♀️ But its for me is more understandable if people ship them even if they dont know each other, bc they are the main characters and there is a lot of mysticism(? around them and the possible meeting

Found this while cleaning out my drafts lol

Sansa is three years younger than Jon in the books. Sibling order was Robb-Jon-Sansa. So while she is very young in the books (though not too young to be married to and have her naked breasts fondled by a grown man), it’s not as if she’s excessively young for Jon.

As I said in my first reply on the subject, Jonsa has probably more support in the books than Jonerys does.

Basically there’s two points that can be brought up for book Jonerys--the sweet smelling blue rose at the Wall (almost certainly representing Jon considering RLJ) and the wolf howling that is believed to symbolize Jon’s murder.

Beyond that, it’s mostly just people going “well, Targs, incest, etc.” Like you said--they don’t know each other, Dany doesn’t know Jon even exists and Jon only knows Dany as a relative of Aemon’s, they’ve never met and there’s no basis to say they’d have any chemistry.

In the books, Sansa also hears a wolf howl, in the chapter she’s reminded of Jon, most likely symbolizing Jon’s murder.

Along with that, there’s her exchange with Ned that’s often brought up in support of Jon’s name being Aemon, about how she was supposed to be the Naerys to Joffrey’s Aemon, with Ned saying "that boy” isn’t a Prince Aemon and that he would match her with someone gentle/brave/etc. (meaning, Jon, the actual Prince Aemon under this theory).

There’s a lot of parallels with Ned and Catelyn (looks, attitudes, that they would start off not really on a good footing with each other, etc.). That they specifically aren’t as close as the other siblings are, probably instead being about as close as cousins would be, works in the ship’s favor, too, unlike with say Arya/Jon (which was the originally planned Jon ship by GRRM). Jon has had fond thoughts of Sansa, and Sansa has had decent thoughts of Jon, but not at all in the ways the two think of their other siblings. And cousin marriages are perfectly normal in Westeros.

And the Ashford Tourney theory is also good support, where Sansa has basically had suitors from all the houses that were champions at the tourney but Targaryen, making it seem like she’ll have a Targ suitor.

People often bring up that Ashford can mean fAegon (and that’s what I personally believe), but if that’s the case, the whole Targ incest thing with Dany can be for fAegon, too.

Also, tbh, I think Dany’s experiences with men have made her double down on a certain type of man (ie Daario-esque) whereas Sansa’s have made her wish for someone more like her own father (ie like Jon), so as far as actual love-matches go, Sansa would be more likely to go for Jon than Dany would be.

[doctormage]

hi i just need to be really dramatic and long winded bc if i dont get it Out im going to fucking explode

ive actually been trying really hard this semester with my thesis and its REALLY fucking difficult for me. my depression makes me catatonic and unable to complete simple tasks or be motivated to do literally anything; my anxiety paralyzes me at the slightest unexpected change and then obsess over whether everyone in my life hates me because of my anxiety; my sleep schedule is constantly fucked and my doctor is unhelpful; my bdd will sidetrack me from my work and responsibilities for literal hours or days, and sometimes if its feeling spicy send me on a full scale fucking breakdown; and my adhd makes all this shit worse on TOP of all the NORMAL adhd shit. like thats just!!! my life!!!! at all times!!!!! and there have been several times where i have genuinely considered leaving this program or not continuing school after bc i was so fucking overwhelmed and exhausted and scared but i didnt!!! like i make a lot of jokes about procrastinating and wasting my time and doing the least and whatever but in reality its really fucking difficult for me even when im medicated!!! but i dont like admitting that bc of all my exhausting childhood baggage and shit but that is not the point of this rant so anyway

this semester i made a specific effort to try and be a better student even tho all of this stuff has been exacerbated by grad school. i felt i owed it to my director and one of my committee members because theyve been so fucking helpful and put their faith in me and took a lot of their time to help me. i wanted to show them i was worthy of it and capable of being a good student who does all the shit she’s supposed to do, does it well, and does it on time. i overloaded my fall semester and nearly lost my goddamn mind JUST to have a lighter class load this semester so i could focus most of my time on my thesis (like for real that was actually incredibly stupid of me. i lost almost 30 pounds from september to december without conscious effort just because i was so fucking stressed. not a brag and actually kind of concerning bc that has LITERALLY never happened to me). it has been like....significantly taxing, but i wanted to show them how much i appreciate their time and effort and help by being responsible and respectful. my Trying Hard is a lot of people’s Barely Doing Their Best and i know that. turning something in 2 hours early is below average for some but for me, literally anything more than 30 minutes before its due is an actual goddamn miracle. but i wanted to work hard and do things right for my committee members because they deserve it

this christmas my parents asked what i wanted and the ONLY thing i asked for was help with my library dues. last year from like march to october i was significantly depressed and entirely out of my head, and i racked up some pretty bad overdue fees. i didnt even ask them to pay all of it, just some of it. less than $100. im really truly grateful for the gifts they DID get me, but i didnt ask for them for any of it, and my overdue fees were left alone. i was under the impression that they got paid and, like a fucking idiot, i didnt check up on it to confirm. ive been so hell deep in my thesis and teaching and grading and applying to phd programs and looking for apartments and shit that it really just slipped my fucking mind!!! crazy!!!!

today i was in crisis bc i thought i fucked up with scheduling my defense/exam/whatever the fuck. im going to call it defense and i dont give a shit bc everyone calls it some other shit and i dont CARE. anyway i really thought i fucked up but i went and talked it out with my director and it was all sorted out. i’ve gotten like 50% of her feedback on my thesis draft, which i’ve incorporated, and im waiting on comments from another reader (the other helpful person on my committee). we have to run some dumbass software before scheduling, so i ran it today and tried to schedule it but couldnt bc theres a hold on my account. i went on a fucking....ALMIGHTY QUEST to figure it out and i finally discovered that guess what!!!!!!! its my GODDAMN LIBRARY OVERDUE FEES!!!!!! THAT I THOUGHT WERE PAID!!!!!!! i had to pay them myself which is fine idc but it takes several days to process. this fucks up my life on SEVERAL levels

for one, its fucking impossible to get a hold of my third committee member. she is a vapor in the wind. shes like super busy and thats all good and well but the point is theres like zero communication there. i finally got confirmation on a defense date from all 3 members and had been literally planning MY ENTIRE LIFE around this date. after todays first scheduling crisis i was so happy i was still on track, but now this? now i have to wait 3-4 days before i can even SCHEDULE the defense. the super delightful part is that we have to schedule a minimum of 2 weeks in advance. so now i cant schedule my defense until tuesday at the absolute earliest, but that ALSO bumps my defense date several days ahead. i have no fucking clue if my committee is going to agree on another day that works for everyone bc theyre all busy as shit and we’d been working toward the original date for weeks if not months, and im so fucking upset because this is exactly what i DIDNT want to have happen. i havent tried to email them yet because im hoping beyond fucking hope i can call somebody at the university tomorrow and see if the hold is something else besides the fee, but it makes me sick to think of having to be like “oh sorry i know i constantly fuck up everything ever and im a piece of shit but can we change this date we’ve had set since january because i was an extra shitty piece of shit this time??” like OHHH MY GODDDDD

and the thing thats really fucking with me is that like, yes its my fault but this one time its not ENTIRELY 100% my fault. i asked for a favor and had the understanding that it was taken care of. yes the fees were my doing and yes i shouldve checked but oh my fucking god. i feel like all the effort ive put into being a better student this semester has been for fucking nothing because im going to have to email my committee asking for a different date and ruin all their fucking lives and theyll be so disappointed in me. i have like legitimately been crying on and off about it since like 4:30 today

it so shitty in and of itself but i especially dont want to do this to my director bc she is legitimately the reason im finishing this program AND that im going to a phd program. a year ago i’d barely spoken 20 words to her but she still agreed to be a reader on my committee just because she heard me explain my thesis for all of 30 seconds and decided to give it a try. she literally had not read a song of ice and fire at the time and she started reading them for me to help me with my thesis. in the fall when my original director basically threatened to leave my committee if i didnt change all my ideas, my current director stepped in and helped me and talked me through it and then offered to take her place even though my research is BARELY distantly related to hers. through all of this she’s been so insanely patient with me, super encouraging of my ideas both in this project and in others, helped me decide whether it was right for me to get my phd immediately after my masters, proofed and edited and helped me with ALL my phd application materials, and STILL is in the process of reading these goddamn books just to be a better director. i have lost my head so many times and shes always been there to help me figure my shit out, and i wanted to have it figured out for once. how stupid of me

like bumping the date isnt the end of the whole world but its really not just about the fact that i have to reschedule. i was trying real goddamn hard to be a better student this semester and i REALLY fucking owed it to my director and other reader, but especially director, and i still managed to fuck up this bad. i feel like such a DISAPPOINTMENT and it just will not leave my brain bc im so mad at myself. i tried watching shows and youtube compilations about game of thrones and shit but now my bf is asleep and im alone and its all i can think about. im so fucking tired of being the person i am honestly and i dont mean that in an edgy way its just like jesus christ i wish there was less shit wrong with me. i wish i had any kind of willpower or discipline so i couldve learned these skills and been a better student from the start. i wish i wasnt a giant piece of shit!!!!! 

and now im going to be up late being anxious about all this which means that i will, once again, wake up late but also still be really exhausted, which means i’ll do a shitty job teaching and get overwhelmed by everything and who the fuck knows what fun bullshittery will ensue because of it. i am so fucking tired of me and my fuckery and the fact that it fucks with other people even why i try so hard for it not to. tired!!!!!!!! fucking tired

[misas-biggest-fan]

Every single question

LOL you are very kind and long suffering savannah <3333333 i wont ramble too much!!

2. Which scene was your favorite to write in [title of fic]?

i had a BLAST writing the open house scene in ‘a means’. i was proud of having found an interesting, telling setting and i felt like I used it well. i also had the opportunity to let B reveal some more of his insecurities through misdirected anger, which was interesting. this is rivaled only by the next chapter where he drags her shopping for clothes? the ending of that chapter was something i was rly proud of i think it was a cherry on top of his whole apology scene and i reread it sometimes to have a laugh

4. If you could change anything in [title], what would it be?

;laskdfj i sent misa away on a music tour at the beginning of ‘an exercise’ bc i couldn’t think of a good reason for her to convince light to go out with her but i wish i hadn’t and i regretted it as soon as i realized that..... sending misa away....... means she’s gone........ and is not here....... LOL so, sort of felt like a doofus after that bUT she will be back so soon!! and i’m going to give her an important role in this fic if it kills me. i want her and L to be friends a;lsdkfj

5. Did you make an outline for [title]? Did you stick to it?

not rly LOL i typically dont outline, i personally find it easier to have a vague idea of where the characters are and where i want them to go and then try to puzzle out the most in character way to get them to that point. so i have things planned and i have a vague timeline so i can be sure what major event happens when during each fic (such as Able’s Mysterious Disappearance happening before ‘a means’ but during ‘an exercise’) but i don’t have a strict outline.

6. Which scenes did you cut, and which were added in [title]?

hmmmm i have a hard time cutting scenes LOL i usually write all of my thoughts and then try to find ways to include them and if they dont get included by the time the fic is over, then so be it. so i have a zillion ‘potentially to be cut or potentially to be added’ scenes.

7. Who was your favorite character to write in [title]?

;alsdkj;lasd writing beyond is an absolutely blast he’s so off the wall but i love giving him a really human side, too. it’s also a lot of fun to write Able. i want them to be seen as really multifaceted and flawed and i sort of want people to question how healthy their relationship is

i feel like it’s a tie for writing L and Light tho. to me, they go together like peanut butter and jelly, i just can’t write one without the other!! i love comparing and contrasting them. so can i choose them together as like a single unit???

10. What are some facts readers may not know about [title]?

mmm fact abt me i get rly insecure abt my fic sometimes!! it’s a lot more lighthearted and cutesy than a lot of stuff i find and i hope people don’t think i put the characters out of character. i also spend a lot of time dedicated to finding a good balance between loving and humanizing beyond while still not excusing the things he did

a fact abt the FICS tho.....  in very early drafts, i wasn’t going to have any Able flashbacks at all. All I was going to write was what B said about them to Naomi in order to make them more mysterious. But then I realized that I loved my ideas for them and I wanted to see him and Able interact as kids and that idea went out the window!!

[quark-art]

i have a lot of thoughts about this!

there are two types of writing that webcomic creators use from what ive seen and heard, those being script-based and thumbnail-based. script-based means they write a script, which is not to be confused with prose, and its what i do because thats how i like to write my comic! (also insert rant here about how i have more experience as a playwright than anything else)

a script is not material thats meant to be its own product, its a blueprint for how to MAKE the final product and what its going to be, so its sort of like an outline but very very specific and long (and need their own outline). (i have a post about scripts in more detail here)

what i like about scripts is how easy they are to edit; scripts are very easy to cut material from, retroactively add material to, or move around (for instance, if i find that pacing requires i move the latter half of one scene into a scene-break in the middle of the next scene, i can do that really fast). one of the downsides of using a script for a comic, however, is that it doesnt specifically serve the medium, so you cant anticipate where the page breaks will be or what it will look like on the page, which might make the reading process a bit more awkward if you dont know how to arrange it on the page properly (but ive found that this generally isnt a problem for me)

thumbnail-based writing is when you write the story as you arrange the comic page, which follows the same principle as reds writing method. this is the opposite of script-based writing, because the story is shaped around how it looks in comic form and thus serves the medium better, but its also (i imagine) more difficult to edit beyond the scale of single panels/pages, which is why outlines are so important for this method of writing

originally i wrote chapters without any outline at all (or, at most, a basic description of the A and B plot) because i was still getting a feel for the story and the characters and improvising helped me get a grip on everything. luckily, because the scripts were so easy to edit, i had a lot of time to revise the messiness that resulted in until i was happy with it (i have done a LOT of editing for the earlier chapters on the scale of entire scenes or even plots, mainly bc i write so far ahead of what i draw and ive gotten a lot better at writing since those first drafts). i use scene-by-scene outlines now that i have a better understanding of what im writing and find that im doing a lot less editing. to be clear, in hindsight i definitely shouldve used outlines because i work better with them, i just didnt because i started writing my comic when i was in a state of "so mind-numbingly bored, could not care less about writing technique, just need something to do" and i didnt start drawing it for like a year anyway

i think the most important skill in writing a comic is figuring out the method that works for YOU, SPECIFICALLY the best, and that can be pretty hard! generally id say its important to experiment with different methods because that can help you discover what works best for you. if you cant bear outlines, try improvising a chapter and editing it later, and if improvisation horrifies you, try an outline! there are a lot of different things you can try. either way, its still important to edit your work if you dont want your final product to be your first draft

Hey, Red, I wanted to ask your insight on one thing about comic writing yet again

How do you write "serialized" media in comparison to traditional writing? Like, people often say that "your first draft will be bad, so you have to get back to it and revise at some point", but, like, for media released periodically, like webcomics, it's much harder to do, unless you write down the entire story beforehand in a lot of detail, and revise *that* instead, and only start drawing after like third or fourth edition of the script.

But, like, I assume that, beyond basic outline, some cool scenes in the middle, and the ending, there is only so much planning you can viably do. How do you handle it? Do you sometimes have to draw a page without knowing yet what will happen five pages later? How do you balance between leaving yourself the freedom to alter things (and also free time not spent on writing a novel before transforming it into a comic) and having a good written story, with themes and foreshadowing and stuff?

It's certainly different than traditional writing, because progress becomes a rolling, iterative thing rather than full draft passes.

What I have is a many-pronged approach that gets more detailed the farther in it goes:

The toolbox. This is a big pile of characters, subplot concepts and plothooks I add to whenever I think of something new and fun. When I'm building out a new arc from scratch, this is what I draw on.

The roadmap. This is a rough plan for the overall shape of the story - I know where the characters start and where they end, and I have a rough idea of waypoints they'll hit along the way. I have one of these for the story as a whole, with each "waypoint" basically being a rough-draft concept for the premise of a single arc. To give an idea of the level of specificity, the "waypoint" for this first arc was literally just "getting the gang together." It was the one thing I needed to have happen. On a smaller scale, individual sub-arcs have more detailed roadmaps of their own, but they mostly fit the format of "characters arrive in location A -> characters fight bossfight B" with the rest fleshed out in between.

The checklist. This is the specific list of "things I need to happen in this specific substory," aka the waypoints on the smaller-scale roadmaps. It gets fleshed out as the actual story gets closer to it and specific character arcs take turns I might not have been able to anticipate. This is close to a timeline, but it's more flexible, as at this stage it's okay to shuffle around the order of things - in fact I almost never make solid linear timelines of events, because sometimes I split the party and things happen at their own pace. In these cases I just set waypoints for when different sub-timelines will intersect - at what point in the conversation will the large flashy thing interrupt, at what stage in the fight will the cavalry arrive, etc. I just need to be sure to hit all the important parts. I'll know a story is ready to turn into a storyboard once I have every important detail nailed down - what specific sticking points will come up in the character conflict, what hidden threat is going to be in the environment they enter so I can set it up correctly, what conclusion will a character come to and how will they want to proceed, etc.

The solid storyboard. This is what I turn into finalized pages, and I work several chapters ahead to make sure I have the rhythm of the story. Once it's down on paper it generally doesn't change much, though specifics of dialogue can be reworked right up to the export. This is linear progress, and it usually happens in very discrete bursts. I don't storyboard something until I know exactly what is happening in this specific scene, where they're going, where it'll end and what it's setting up for later. Sometimes I get stuck on a single panel because I'm not sure which choice a character will make, and then when I come back to it I set down that panel and like five more pages flow out afterwards. Sometimes I'll just reread all my storyboards up to the current endpoint, take a nap, then wake up knowing exactly what to put on the next panel. Sometimes I'll do a reread and tweak the dialogue at several points because the first draft I wrote doesn't sound good to me anymore. This is where I do the bulk of the work that traditional media would do in the second draft.

In order to avoid rewrites - because in serialized media, rewrites are very bad - I frontload as much of that work as I can. I don't start the storyboard until I know all the relevant details of the scene's setup, so I don't end up retconning anything important. If there's a specific hidden enemy in the environment, I want to foreshadow it accurately, so before I draw the area it's in I want to know exactly what it looks like and where it could be hiding. If they're in a facility designed for a specific thing, I want to know exactly what that thing is so the clues and details line up. If I've reached the start of an argument, I want to know what is going to end it before I draw the first panel.

I don't need to know every detail of exactly everything that's going to happen, because the characters work better when I let them make their own choices on a panel-to-panel basis, but I need to know every detail of what they're reacting to and interacting with. In a way it's a lot like running a TTRPG. So there are many times where I draw a page and don't know what's going to happen five pages later - in fact I'd say that's the vast majority of my experience - but I always have a narrowed-down space of things I know will need to happen in the next sixty pages.

[nine-prcnt]

all your life

request ; hi ! can i please request a wenjun au (whatever format bc i honestly dont mind) where he is your family friend, but for some reason you have beef. enemies to lovers i guess?? thank you so much :))

requested by ; @duckmcduckerson

your family is the type of family that always has people over and participates in the community

and somehow, bi wenjun has managed to attach himself to your family

you don’t know when it happened but it did

at first everything was fine but then the fire nation attacked

jokes jokes

something happened and you just started hating the fact that he was always around you, even when it was supposed to be just family

honestly it’s been so long that you can’t even remember what happened

all you remember is that something did and it warranted you disliking him to the point where him even being around pissed you off

now it was your first birthday since you had begun college

you had gone home and looking forward to the celebration without wenjun around

he was supposed to be off at his own respective college

keywords, supposed to be

and yet when you got home he was already there, waiting on your parent’s damn couch

somewhere he had also developed a dislike towards you, from what you saw of him around you

you kicked his legs off the coffee table without a word

‘mom! we are back!’

your mother popped her head out from the kitchen

the two of you hugged and your father who had come in from the car joined the two of you

they sent you upstairs to your room to get changed since that night was just to relax and catch up, your birthday actually being tomorrow

you took a shower and you had just come out with just a towel wrapped around you when a figure propped itself up against the door

‘come on, don’t you want to to play?’

you looked over your shoulder and saw bi wenjun who made your doorway look small

‘okay first of all, last time i did anything with you, you hit me with your yo-yo

‘secondly, this might seem a bit indecent if anyone saw, considering i’m in just a towel.’

without missing beat, he said ‘I think you look pretty decent.’

grabbed the towel you had been using to dry off your hair and whipped him

he held up his hands in surrender

‘alright, alright, geez no need to be kinky with me’

‘just get out of my room’

by the time you had gotten downstairs, your parents had managed to break out all of the snacks and desserts which sat on a coffee table in front of the selection of board games they put out

the night was filled with the snide remarks that you and wenjun threw across the board at each other

the next day you and wenjun spent as little time together as possible 

or at least you had tried to do that, he seemed stuck to your side which was frustrating beyond your imagination

it wasn’t until your parents left to the store that he finally left you alone

even though it was a small get together with the four of you, your parents insisted on having a proper party with a big dinner

you had to go out to the shed which, for some reason, was where your parents still had the freezer

they said it was because they had too much and it wouldn’t all fit in the fridge freezer

you were hesitant to go to the shed on your own bcos the door had a habit of closing itself and locking

you figured your parents would be back soon so if the door did shut then they would realise

it wasn’t until you were out in the shed and reaching into the freezer that wenjun appeared

‘what are you doing out here?’

he was leaning against the doorframe with the door right behind him 

‘i could ask you the same thing?’

‘i saw you from upstairs and was curious. now why are you out here?’

he took a step towards you

‘i’m just getting some food for- the door?’

he turned around just in time for it to slam in his face, gust of wind disturbing his hair and all

‘what’s wrong with the door?’

you sighed and thought to yourself, just what was wrong with this boy and now you were stuck with him

‘oh nothing, nothing at all. except the fact that until my parent’s come back we aren’t getting out?’

your voice was dripping with sarcasm and spite

‘what do you mean not getting out?’

he was as pretentious and condescending as you had remembered, not a bonus considering today was your birthday

it was then he tried the door

surprise, surprise, it wouldn’t open

‘well hey, we wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t come out, distracted me from getting the food out and then let the door slam shut’

‘i didn’t even know that it would do that, sorry i can’t control the weather’

you threw the food back in the freezer and sat on it

‘you know what, just don’t talk to me and let’s wait until my mom and dad come back’

you check your watch

‘which should hopefully be soon’

wenjun sat on an upside down pot

well he tried to before giving up, he was too tall for this

instead, to your delight, he sat next to you on the freezer

‘what do you think you’re doing?’

‘sitting down, the pot was not a good idea’

‘ugh fine’ 

you moved over so that there was the most amount of space as there could have been between you two

the silence that came next lasted for way too long

your parents should have come back at that point and yet you were still with wenjun

‘do you have your phone?’

‘no, why?’

‘i just wanted to check what was taking them so long’

‘oh’

and the silence came back, heavier than ever now that you both had spoken a few words

‘hey, why don’t you like me?’

you thought about it but you couldn’t remember what he had done in the past to annoy you so much

‘i dont remember but i do remember that you really pissed me off’

‘wait- you dislike me so much because of something that you can’t even remember?’

‘well it’s not as though you helped it because you act as though you don’t like me either’

‘that’s only because-’ 

he cut himself off as though about to say something he would regret

‘oh come on wenjun, i’d love to hear this. why did you act as though you didn’t like me for so long?’

he hesitated for a moment

‘it’s because i like you!’ 

the words poured from his mouth in a rush

‘you’re kidding me?’

‘oh come on y/n, we were kids and i thought that i was supposed to be mean to the girl i liked!’

he was off the freezer now, a few steps ahead and facing away from you

‘so why did you keep being mean to me then?’

‘i don’t know, you just kept being rude so i was rude back and it just became how i talked to you?’

you snorted but took a while to process all of this

‘look, i know that it’s not the best reason but it’s the truth or at least what i can figure out’

he was quiet, studying your unreadable expression

‘so,’ you said after a while

‘you still like me?’

the blush crept up his neck as he opened his mouth

‘don’t try to deny it, you said that you acted like that because you like me, present tense.’

he leaned against the door, arms crossed and a pout on his face, looking anywhere but at you

‘maybe, it’s not as though it matters though’

‘and why not?’

‘because you don’t like me like that. hell. you don’t even like me as a friend’

you shrugged

‘i don’t even remember what i was angry over wenjun’

he looked up at you

‘i’m sure we could start again, maybe as friends’

you glanced at his face and something told you that if you said it you wouldn’t regret it

‘maybe as something more?’

his heart leapt as the words left your mouth

‘are you sure?’

it was then that the door from behind wenjun opened and he stumbled backwards, almost falling over in the process

‘finally you guys are back!’

you and your dad went to the kitchen to start on food, not forgetting what you had meant to pick up from the freezer, unlike wenjun’s question

you didn’t need to remember it though

your mother who had caught wenjun comforted his doubts

‘trust what she says, she wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it’

DONE! okay this took forever and i’m so sorry but i’ve been bogged down with school and just i’ve had writers’ block which hasn’t been pleasant so this has been sitting in my drafts unfinished for the longest time! i’m so happy to get this out as i’m off to bed in the next few minutes~ 

i also have an oral tomorrow (i think) and i have been trying to get both study and this done all day! i got one done tho

-xinru

masterlist // rules

[junker-town]

Teams of the Week: Ohio State spotted an amazing Penn State team 14 points, then won anyway

Here are the 10 teams who most impressed in a wild Week 9.

It’s like Penn State begins every game with a 14-0 lead. The Nittany Lions have dominated the first quarter all season; they entered Saturday afternoon’s game in Columbus having outscored opponents 90-0 in the first 15 minutes, and they scored 14 on host Ohio State within five.

That they did it almost entirely without their offense (Saquon Barkley returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, then the Nittany Lions scored on a short field following a fumble recovery) turned out to be a bit of a foreboding tale. PSU would actually need its offense later in the game.

Team of the Week: No. 6 Ohio State (def. No. 2 Penn State, 39-38)

Efficiency matters. It’s why Ohio State ranked No. 1 in S&P+ these past couple of weeks despite the poor performance against Oklahoma. And it’s why the Buckeyes were able to dig back into the PSU game after the nearly instant two-touchdown disadvantage.

Penn State, so good at the Little Things this year, did everything it could to hold on. The return score provided a cushion, as did a somewhat lucky plus-2 turnover margin, a 2.5-yard field position advantage, and far more success at finishing drives.

The Nittany Lions just couldn’t make enough successful plays, however.

Success Rate: Ohio State 48%, Penn State 29%

Yards per play, first down: OSU 5.8, PSU 2.5

Ohio State has the best first-down defense, and one of the best defensive fronts, in college football. For all of its increasing strengths, PSU still has a shaky offensive line and semi-inefficient run game.

Barkley is the best play-maker in college football, but he still ends up having to make a lot of moves in the backfield. And his instincts backfire at times, like when he almost spun his way into a safety late in the third quarter. Ohio State’s defensive line found more and more advantages as the game wore on, and Barkley’s last 10 carries gained just four yards.

Meanwhile, Ohio State’s offense just kept pushing. The Buckeyes blew a couple of scoring opportunities early on, which delayed the comeback and almost pre-empted it. But efficient teams just wear on you. And efficient, deep teams wear you out. Ohio State ended up with 14 more snaps than PSU, and by the late second quarter, you could see the Nittany Lions’ defense beginning to wilt.

In the fourth quarter, it gave out. The only stop PSU made then was when Barrett and J.K. Dobbins muffed a zone read exchange. Barrett completed his last 13 passes, Dobbins gained 88 yards in 13 carries, and K.J. Hill and Austin Mack combined for 18 catches and 192 yards. And as PSU tried to keep up, new weapons kept coming out of the woodwork. Johnnie Dixon scored on two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, and with 1:48 left, tight end Marcus Baugh made just his second catch of the day, a 16-yard touchdown.

Just as J.T. Barrett was vastly underappreciated heading into Saturday’s game, so was Ohio State. The numbers saw it before we did, but there’s no denying it now.

Other teams of the week

2. No. 25 Iowa State (def. No. 4 TCU, 14-7)

Heading into October, ISU had beaten one top-five team in its history, the famous 2011 upset of Oklahoma State.

The Cyclones just scored two such wins in a month. They are tied for the Big 12 lead. They should end up in the AP top 20 this week, which will mark just the ninth season that has ever happened. These are unchartered waters in Ames. Matt Campbell is a coaching god.

3. No. 9 Notre Dame (def. No. 14 NC State, 35-14)

Last week’s team of the week upped the ante by laying the hammer down in the second half against a Wolfpack team that currently leads the ACC Atlantic. The matchups weren’t great for the Irish; it didn’t matter. And running back Josh Adams has now averaged 159 rushing yards per game since getting held to 53 by Georgia. He's done that in under 16 carries per game. Damn.

4. Boston College (def. Florida State, 35-3)

BC suddenly having a great O is my everything. That's not even a plot twist--it's a full-on "someone new is playing Aunt Viv" situation.

— Bill Connelly (@SBN_BillC) October 28, 2017

First 6 games: 98 points.

Last 3 games: 121 points. Against Louisville, Virginia, and FSU.

5. No. 3 Georgia (def. Florida, 42-7)

There was really no reason for the Dawgs to fear an upset in this game beyond “It’s a weird rivalry.” It was not weird on Saturday. Georgia physically dominated from the outset, went up 21-0 almost immediately, then resumed scoring after it got bored. Say what you will about the floundering SEC East; none of it applies to Kirby Smart’s Dawgs.

6. Houston (def. No. 17 USF, 28-24)

So far this season, Houston has:

held an increasingly unstoppable Arizona to 16 points in a win

eked by Temple

beat a good SMU by 13

gotten drubbed by a previously lifeless Tulsa by 28

and beaten an unbeaten USF on the road.

I’m assuming the Cougars will follow this up with a home loss to ECU. Are you not entertained?

7. UMass (def. Appalachian State, 30-27)

Mark Whipple’s Minutemen have shown some stark resilience. After an 0-6 start that featured four one-possession losses (and none by more than 10 points), they have continued to fight, and it’s paying off. They romped over Georgia Southern last week, and they pulled an upset of Sun Belt heavyweight Appalachian State in Amherst on Saturday afternoon.

I believe that earns you an automatic Sun Belt invitation. Hey, they let Idaho in for a while, didn’t they? Geography is a loose concept.

8. UAB (def. Southern Miss, 30-12)

College football’s favorite zombie is now within a game of bowl eligibility following a strangely easy romp in Hattiesburg. Down 12-9 at halftime, the Blazers outscored the host 23-0 in the second half. They have won three of four, they’re 5-3 overall, and they were dead and buried three years ago.

9. Arkansas (def. Ole Miss, 38-37)

Speaking of dead and buried, every sports outlet in the country was freshening up its “Bret Bielema fired” obituary on Saturday afternoon as Bielema’s 2-5 Razorbacks fell behind Ole Miss, 31-7. But this is Arkansas-Ole Miss, after all. We can’t have a normal, rational blowout.

Arkansas went on a 21-0 run to get within three, and after the Rebels kicked a pair of field goals to go back up two possessions, the Hogs scored on a fumble return with six minutes left, then kicked the game-winning field goal with four seconds left.

Keep that obituary fresh, just in case, but don’t deploy just yet.

10. Wyoming (def. New Mexico, 42-3)

Josh Allen, a.k.a. the artist formerly known as the surefire No. 1 pick in 2018, has had a miserable season. Heading into Saturday’s game with New Mexico, his Cowboys were a disappointing 4-3 despite a resurgent defense, and his passer rating was a ghastly 116.4. Wholesale turnover in the skill corps was more damaging than expected, but it’s hard to ignore the thought that the hype train was taking its toll on Allen as well.

With expectations off, Allen found a rhythm, and he produced his best game of the season. In a romp over the Lobos, he was 16-for-28 for 234 yards, four touchdowns, and no picks. Still not a great completion percentage, but a lovely step forward.

Perhaps with the ridiculous draft hype in the background, he can continue to improve as the season moves forwa- OH GOOD LORD, PHIL SIMMS.

. @CBSSports . Watching @wyo_football ans qb Josh Allen. I dont care about his stats, he is a high 1 st rd.pick next yr in the draft.

— Phil Simms (@PhilSimmsQB) October 29, 2017