#so it's not like an immediate replacement is super critical

[moonsinkfoxgirl]

my new girls ^_^

[reineydraws]

had to draw this to understand the way i feel about him now that the manga's ended. 🥲 on that note: if you like hawks and his ending, maybe don't read my tags lol. it's not bashing (imo) but they're not v nice. 😅

bg + unobstructed pose under the cut!

his expression's a lil different 'cuz i only changed the merged layer, all the lighting effects already flattened onto it. 💀 alas.

[maxlarens]

🩷 x Lando coffee shop/bookstore date plz

ohhh so gorgeous i love this immediately

You sigh, back pressed into the sturdy wood of the bookshelf, paper coffee cup warming your hands, “I don’t get it, Lan. How can you not love them?”

Across from you, trailing his fingers across the spines of the books on the T shelf, Lando shrugs, “I dunno, babe. They’re—”, he cuts you a sideways glance, a little wary maybe, “The words blur. ‘S not fun.”

You suck your teeth, feeling shame gnawing at your insides. You know he’s dyslexic, you feel a little bad that he’d had to remind you— a little bad that you’re sort of disparaging him for not reading. It’s just that books are integral to you. Completely unable to be separated from your very existence, your childhood, your adulthood so far. It’s sort of unfathomable to you that Lando doesn’t read, though you know for good reason—

“Hey,” he says, moving into your space, drawing your attention as he does so, “Stop freaking out.”

You frown, “I’m not.”

He makes a face. Eyes wide, almost rolls them and his mouth puffing out with trapped air for a moment. Like he’s calling you ridiculous without actually saying it.

“You are.”

“Hush,” you say, trying to swat his chest but ending up with a palm flat on the fabric of his t-shirt, “‘M sorry. I was being pretentious.”

Lando laughs, a breathy thing. He reaches for your shoulder, his blunted nails scratch there in an attempt to soothe you.

“Mate,” he properly rolls his eyes now, the nickname, usually reserved for friends, not girlfriends— betraying his frustration at your criticism of yourself.

Secretly, you like it. Makes you feel closer to him. Not like some potentially replaceable fling he’s having, and more like someone who knows him, cares for him, is connected to him in significant, important ways.

Regardless, you gripe, “Don’t call me mate,” then you sigh, manoeuvring your coffee so you can wind one arm around his middle, “I was being pretentious. Not everyone devours books like they’re running out of time.”

Lan pulls you to him, his firm chest flat against yours, his chin resting against your head. He turns, presses a kiss to your hairline.

“Sweetheart,” he says, a twinge of exasperation to it, “It’s one hundred percent fine, I promise.”

You sniff, more annoyed at yourself than anything, but trying to forget the mishap, “I’ll read to you? How’s that sound.”

Lando hums, you feel it against your ear, sending shivers down the length of your back, “Yeah, babe. That sounds perfect.”

i really like doing these little conversations/moments in a setting. i know its not super shippy but it’s a fun little vehicle to get some thoughts out about something or explore how an interaction might go. hope u guys are enjoying them!

[novlr]

How do I strengthen my writing? I tend to fall back on bad habits because I can't find good habits to replace them.

Building sustainable writing habits that really help you improve can be really difficult. Especially if you don't know where to look. So, here are 10 tips for building good writing habits that can help strengthen your writing!

1. Clear out your creative faucets

Step away from your project and do something else! Write something different. Let yourself write badly. Or just plain old take a break. Your writing will suffer if you're constantly forcing yourself to work on something that isn't bringing you joy.

2. Read voraciously

In the immortal words of Stephen King: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.” 

Read widely in your own genre and outside of it. Take inspiration from other authors, and read critically to see what they do well and what they could do better.

3. Read some bad writing, too

Breaking down exactly why a piece of writing doesn't work for you can be super helpful for understanding what to avoid in your own work. 

4. Try on different writing styles

Try out different approaches to storytelling to find the voice that feels most like yours. You might find yourself attracted to descriptive, sensory prose, or more to austere and pointed prose. Your writing will be strongest when you're the most authentic self you can be.

5. Explore characterisation 

People are messy. Accurately and compellingly conveying this innate messiness is essential to creating a powerful story. Explore your characters and who they are, and if it's a character-driven story, don't be afraid to let them drive.

6. Make friends with your thesaurus 

A great way to make a piece of prose shine even brighter is to expand your vocabulary. There are a lot of words in the English language that mean similar things but have slightly different moods and tones. Finding the exact right word to convey what you’re trying to say will help your writing land more emphatically with your reader. 

7. Banish filtering words

Filtering is one of the most common mistakes new writers make. It involves describing a character’s sensations or feelings with filtering words like felt, saw, heard, knew, watched, or realised. This holds the reader at a distance and makes them feel like they’re hearing a story, rather than living it.

An example of filtering would be, “She watched the sun rise majestically over the mountains”. It would feel more immediate to simply say, “The sun rose majestically over the mountains”. The reader already knows your point-of-view character is watching; now, the reader can watch it with them. 

8. Glare disapprovingly at the passive voice

Passive voice isn’t necessarily wrong all the time, but nine times out of ten, it will slow down the pace of your story and encourage the reader to lose interest in your characters. Passive voice means having something done to a character — “John was punched in the face by Nick” — instead of a character actively doing something: “Nick punched John in the face”.

9. Familiarise yourself with story structure

The best stories follow an established plot structure, and follow it so smoothly that the reader doesn’t even realise there’s an ancient storytelling template behind it. These structures are designed to introduce just the right amount of tension and suspense and to give the reader the ideal payoff by the end. Rather than being formulaic, they help with pacing and plot development.

10. Get peer feedback

Finally, the best way to make your work as strong as it can be is to get some feedback from other writers. This can be from a professional editor, a beta reader, or a collaborative writing group. Getting a second pair of eyes can help you catch plot holes or inconsistencies before you send your story out into the world.

Want to know more? Read the full post at the link below!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for getting my childhood best friend a new friendship bracelet even though he has a girlfriend?

Basically my mom and her best friend got pregnant within a year of each other. As a result me and Dylan were raised as siblings. Our families are super close, spend holidays together, we've gone on vacations together, and Dylan and I have always called each other brother and sister.

Dylan's been dating Maya for the better part of a year. Maya is nice, but clearly has some feelings on me and Dylan being as close as we are. We've both explicitly stated there have never been romantic or sexual vibes between us, and I have made the hard choice to pull away from Dylan quite a bit to give Maya more room.

(For example I stopped our weekly hang outs, only really hang out with Dylan in a group setting, we don't hang out on FT anymore, ect.)

Maya is generally polite, but there's been tension and a few pointed remarks over the months. I know the girl best friend is pretty much a pariah in boy/girl friendships, so I've tried to just be as unobtrusive and respectful as I can.

Onto the current problem: Dylan and I have always had friendship bracelets and a few matching items. For example we have matching photos and photo frames from the holiday to Greece when we were little, we both have matching hoodies from a concert we went to, and one or two other bits. Its not a lot, but I guess it would all fill a small box if you put it together.

Dylan's friendship bracelet broke last month and couldn't be fixed. He put it away in a keepsake box but was pretty bummed about no longer being able to wear it. It took the whole month of scouring secondhand sites and ebay but last week I actually found one and was able to get it for him as a replacement. I gave it to him when our families met for dinner on Tuesday and he was super happy. He put it on immediately and hasn't taken it off.

We all met as a group to hang out today and Maya seemed a little...Vaguely annoyed toward me? When you can just tell someone's got an issue with you, even if they're not outwardly acting any different.

But she came with me when I went to the bathroom (as girls do) and as we were washing our hands she told me she was really 'surprised' I got Dylan another bracelet. I wasn't really sure if she meant in general or that I was able to find the exact same one, so I asked what she meant and she said she didn't want to be 'that girlfriend' but when the bracelet broke she was internally relieved, because she thinks its kind of inappropriate that we wear matching bracelets and have a 'claim' over each other like that.

She said she's been thinking about the future a lot more recently and she doesn't want anything 'held back' or 'obstructed' by my obsession with Dylan and the 'premade family' we have.

I'll admit I got annoyed by that, and immediately asked if she'd have an issue with me if I was a guy. She said I know that's different, and then one of the other girls from the group came in to look for us because we'd been gone so long and we kind of had to put it on a shelf for the rest of the day.

She text me a bit ago saying 'think about what I said.' Internally, I want to tell her to get a grip on herself, but I also know that I'm the girl best friend, and pretty much anything I do from here on out is critical and could make me the asshole. I also didn't want to hurt her or cause problems for Dylan, I was just trying to replace part of our friendship that's always been there.

AITA for replacing it? I can't exactly stop wearing mine (he'll ask why) or tell him to stop wearing his (again, he'll ask why) but honestly I'm also unsure of what to do now. Maya's the only one who thinks us being best friends is a problem, even our families know we've always had a sibling relationship and not one that might change to romantic.

What are these acronyms?

[chibishortdeath]

Alright I’ve thought about, I’m gonna actually start posting some of my criticisms of Netflixvania starting with the first season. I actually have a notepad document on my computer somewhere that’s just various rants about it that I’m gonna take from lol

Rant under a cut cause it’s long, spoilers, and also cause uh tldr I do not like the show 💀

Ok let’s start from the beginning of the show, episode one.

The first episode isn’t terrible, it’s a bit rocky, some red flags here and there for what was to come, but that’s kinda expected of animations like this. It usually takes them a couple episodes to pick up and grow into their own, so I was skeptical, but not gonna knock it entirely when I first saw it.

My biggest criticism of this episode was the complete missed opportunity to introduce certain characters from this section of the series’s story. Imagine if they had shown Isaac and Hector in the background of the castle or something at this point for foreshadowing later, as they would’ve already been studying under Dracula at that time. Imagine if that old woman Lisa helped ended up being one of Lyudmil’s family members, cementing them as friends of her for later. Alas, Netflix just decided not to use most of the already written backstories for most characters. But eh, that’s getting into nitpick territory.

And then the second episode happens… I honestly genuinely hate the concept of the Speakers and it’s because they completely replace a much more interesting (especially for the tone and themes they were going for) group for Sypha to be a part of: The Church. In the game, Sypha is a witch, something that’s currently not very good to be at this time, however the church employs a bunch of male wizard soldiers. This is already a perfect opportunity set up and ready to go for them to make their points of the church being hypocritical, add some intense dramatic irony with maybe the audience getting to know Sypha is a witch before anyone else does and seeing her interact with a bunch of people who would have her dead if they knew, and create a super conflicted situation where these church soldiers all die during their encounter with the cyclops, but yet they scrapped it for uh random group of magic users that kinda exist entirely for a plot that didn’t need a new device to work. And Sypha just being all hood down and no hiding just takes away something interesting about her character, making her kinda bland in the process. Like it’s one thing to have the Girl™️ who owns the braincell trope and another to have a character with some actual immediate conflicts. They totally could’ve played up the “oh no if Trevor knew would he kill me” dynamic, especially with witches being commonly lumped in with ‘monsters’ in a lot of other media and Trevor being ya know a monster hunter. And already just from this one design choice she completely loses her symbolic putting the hood down scene for much later in the story to show that she actually trusts people and feels safe enough to not need to hide anymore because she’s got people on her side now.

Also the lack of Grant is just a crime in itself. Grant could’ve worked perfectly as like the everyman of the group. Hell, with his background of being a former noble turned thief presumably after hard times to straight up losing his entire hometown to flames and leading a revolution about it, Grant literally has like almost every common not magical vampire hunter person experience. He could’ve given the group any of those perspectives and been told the perspectives of the vampire hunting life he hasn’t had, ya know? And he’d help differentiate the personalities and humors of the group in general. I literally can’t think of a negative to having Grant in the group.

So we were robbed of character development for Sypha and the existence of Grant, what’s next—

The Bishop character is someone that could’ve been interesting if he was written with any kind of nuance, but instead he’s extremely on the nose and blatantly laughably evil. Otherwise this guy is pretty forgettable besides how lame it was that they used Blue Fangs to kill him instead of ya know an actually recognizable enemy. Like the Blue Fangs design wouldn’t be bad if it was in literally anything else, but compared to the designs of most Castlevania monsters it’s just really lame. I’d’ve even accepted a Warg or something, idk. Personally I think having Death walk in taking the form of Zead and going through that speech while eventually turning into the skeleton form we know him as woulda gone hard but for some reason Death isn’t a thing until seasons later which sucks.

I also absolutely hate Alucard and the Cyclops being in the catacombs! Hate it! The Cyclops kinda had like a courtyard area for it and made sense being there since it was standing guard on the way to the castle. Literally what it is even doing in the catacombs 💀💀💀. Standing guard for… eepy Alucard? Why??? And the whole sleeping soldier thing or whatever they called him is just so obviously an excuse to have him appear faster and make it seem like it tied into the plot. Alucard absolutely should not have been introduced to the main group this early on because again that robs him of a bunch of opportunities for background and character development. He got maybe the one oh no dad don’t commit mass death that’s bad scene and nothing else when they had plenty of time to show him initially following his fathers orders and eventually growing to stand against him. And again??? Missed opportunity for anything radio drama related??? Like if there’s any opportunity to get any of that story more known it’s in an animation? And besides, it’s less work to just use whatever materials and supplemental materials already existed for the game!

Dracula’s Curse and CoD have:

Two games

Two manuals

Three manga (TokyoPop and Preorder)

A couple game guides

Flashback sequences in a radio drama

Flashback sequences in SotN AKA: the game everyone knows

A ton of references in later games cause IGA is a big Dracula’s Curse fanboy

Pachinkos

That is plenty of material to make an animation based on, especially because most games don’t get half of that, especially not NES games. They were literally handed like the NES game to adapt lottery and decided not to scratch like half the ticket 💀💀💀.

Alucard also being able to levitate kinda negates a lot of things. Like what the hell is the point of having a bat/mist form and a double jump then? If he can just be flying vampire Jesus immediately or whatever people call him idk. And you can’t tell me Alucard wouldn’t be painfully embarrassed if someone ever saw him shirtless come on this is the guy that wears like 5 layers of clothing in every game he’s in to the point that even in the modern era he’s choosing a suit over casual clothes. Every action he makes in this introduction to him is obviously fanservice for the sake of fanservice with very little thought behind it, except I’m not feeling very served right now. And having Trevor kinda lose that fight is a reoccurring problem this show ends up having: putting down other characters just to make certain ones get the cool fanservice moment. Contrary to what the writers of this show may believe, it actually doesn’t make me go “oh wow, Alucard is so cool and much badas”, it just feels weird and uncomfortable that Trevor is getting cheated out of one of his canon achievements because the writers preferred one character’s tits more than him.

So, basically, the show starts out with missed opportunities, concepts and characters getting cut out, watered down versions of characters that did make it in, cheap fanservice, poor explanations for things, etc etc. this all culminates into a resounding m e h + dread for later seasons being worse (boy was I correct on that fear lol).

Here’s some other things for the first season I didn’t know where else to fit:

None of the humor hit for me at all, like not a single joke. The humor was either a no response at best, but definitely a physically wincing from secondhand embarrassment at worst. Related to this, I feel like most of the dialogue reads like either someone who just learned what swear words are and thinks they’re really cool and funny or genuinely forced. At times most of the characters talk with the same delivery, cadence, personality, etc, it’s really obvious they were all written by the same person or group. And that even goes for background and side characters, too. This is a criticism I’ve never seen said: I really don’t like the voice acting in this show. I’m sure it’s no fault of the voice actors at all, but there were times in this where I either could not hear characters properly or could not understand characters properly and I had to watch it with closed captions on. The clearness and volume of the characters voices varies A LOT even just between scenes sometimes. And that combined with all the characters having really similar speech patterns, there were a lot of times where if I looked away from the screen, I genuinely could not tell if it was Alucard or Trevor speaking cause it sounded like it could reasonably have been either of them (and in some cases it literally didn’t even matter that much which character was saying what). It’s an absolute tragedy that the color schemes in this show are not remotely similar to Dracula’s Curse too. I understand why some color combos wouldn’t make it for eyestrain reasons, but the pixel artwork in all the NES titles is beautiful. Same goes for music, like I am never going to forgive this series for using Bloody Tears for a Dracula’s Curse ‘adaptation’ and not Beginning or Aquarius or Dead Beat or Ghost Ship or Clockwork or— ya know? These are two things that the series are really known for so you’d think with some of the fanservice they did they’d be all kinds of ready to use stuff like that for more of it.

Anyway, past season one is when I started watching the series primarily through clips/episodes reposted on YouTube or elsewhere cause I had completely lost any interest in it. I’ll probably go through synopsises online again for season 2 just to try to better remember what happened in that one because I do remember having very little good to say about season 2 as well and I gotta do that research so I can hate things properly :3.

There’s a certain part of this where I just kinda blanked on things to even say, partially because Season one is kinda bland in general, but partially because I started getting sleepy while typing. So if I feel like I missed anything season one specific I’ll just put it in the beginning of the season two post. d(_ _ )

[pareidoliasys]

I love ZZZ and I love Hi3, Part 1 and Part 2, can we please stop comparing them and also stop shitting on Part 2 I'm so tired, I have so many thoughts and I'm tired and sleepy and might! Delete this in the morning who knows, maybe my thoughts will change by then. I'm just. So exhausted of this

Positivity at the end regardless. It's not all hurt and doom and gloom

- A story that is life changing and completely stunning with some of my favourite characters of all time

Things Honkai Impact 3rd is:

- An 8 year old game with a structure originally built to run on the mobile devices of the time which does make it stiff to play at times but still makes it an absolute wonder

- Doing it's best building off the clunky original code base of the game

- Continuing to make great stories with Part 2 while trying to make it's own identity as a new Era of Honkai Impact

Things Honkai Impact 3rd is not:

- Failing to live up to its past with the new part, there's been 3 chapters and most of the people I see complaining about it haven't played more than the first chapter and even if they have they look at it with such a clouded and negative lense, the part 2 story is WONDERFUL and it just gets better with each chapter

- The Worse ZZZ, Honkai Impact is and always has been its own thing in comparison to EVERY Hoyoverse game to come after it, even Honkai Star Rail is not like Honkai Impact at all.

- Deserving of being completely shit on constantly, criticism is fine but I've not seen any good cases of that in months, I actually do have my own criticisms of hi3 part two even if it's been my entire life since it came out but nobody approaches it critically nowadays because they're too stuck in part 1

Things Zenless Zone Zero is:

- The best combat I've played in a while for a gacha game

- Full of really fun characters and designs with amazing and fluid character animation

- A game that came out around two days ago and barely has given us enough to make a proper judgement on the quality of the story.

Things Zenless Zone Zero is not:

- A HONKAI IMPACT 3RD REPLACEMENT

- A GAME THAT SHOULD BE COMPARED TO AN 8 YEAR OLD GAME CONSTANTLY JUST TO CLOWN ON THE OLD GAME

Can we please. Judge ZZZ on its own merits without making people feel shit for enjoying Honkai Impact 3rd and especially for liking Part 2. I don't even want ZZZ to be in the same category of games as the other Hoyoverse games, please, let it be it's own thing so we can just enjoy it for what it is, super ultra fun.

I hate continually seeing people I Look Up To in the Honkai Impact 3rd community using part 2 as a punching bag for not immediately having the most engaging first chapter ever when we ALL know how bad Hi3 was before Chapter 9, so many people go out of their way just to explain to newcomers that it gets good by chapter 9 and how the early chapters suck and you have to read several Manga just for anything to make sense.

Give Part 2 the love it deserves, stick with it for longer that one or two chapters, play through the third chapter and wait with the rest of us for chapter 4 through 6 and beyond, if it continues to disappoint you that's fair but please stop thinking of it like Part 1. It's not Part 1, it's not Part 1.5 and definitely not something like Part 1.5 the second, it's a new story that has its own characters and its own dynamics and its own story to tell with characters who have an incredible amount of depth to them, like Thelema and Songque.

I love Honkai Impact Part 1, I love Honkai Impact Part 2 and I love Zenless Zone Zero. Can we just enjoy our own things without constant negativity with all the comparisons. It's so so so tiring. These are amazing worlds that touch the hearts of so many and that.. Is what should be focused on.

We should focus on the lives that these stories change, the people who were made better by the experiences these games gave them. Focus on the amazing artists in these communities that feed everyone amazing works of all kinds and focus on the passion behind both the people working behind the games and the passion of the people playing them. That's what deserves the focus here, not lashing out with negativity when there's good in the world like this.

I wouldn't be where I am in life without Honkai Impact 3rd. And I am forever grateful that I now get to be here to experience ZZZ with the people I love who I met because of Hi3.

That's what's most important to me in the end.

[rhysintherain]

Me: Lae'zel is a giant pain in the ass.

The Writers: no you don't understand! Lae'zel is super young and grew up in a strict environment where loyalty to a central figure is mandatory and critical thinking and independence are discouraged. So when she learns that central figure is a lie, she immediately picks a replacement because she doesn't know how to form an identity outside of loyalty to her cause!

Me: I'm in this picture and I don't like it.

[say-hi-intrepid-heroes]

thoughts on Honor Among Thieves (spoiler free)

i finally got around to watching the new D&D movie, and I have some thoughts.

(no spoilers, except for things that are obvious in the trailer, like the big wildshaping druid)

first, some good things:

each character played their stats well. dumb and strong? makes stupid jokes. dexterity-based instead of strength-based? dodges attacks instead of blocking them. the dialogue was very true to stats as well.

the easter eggs. lots of references/appearances of dnd creatures, locations, and different species, even so of the more obscure ones

it felt like the dice were behind it all. there were lots of failures that seemed so far up to chance that someone had failed a check, and a few successes that felt like nat20s, plus things in between. there wasn't an obscene number of successes or failures in a row, as many movies are prone to have.

material components! they dont forget about them :)

now, my criticisms:

too many damn wildshapes. i think i counted six or seven in one scene, and i guarantee the druid is not an archdruid. this bothered me more than anything else, to be honest.

chris pine's character. i don't care what anyone says, he's not a bard. he doesn't do anything a bard would do, no spells, no obvious bardic inspiration. honestly i think he's a commoner with 3 hit points.

the lack of diversity. two humans, a half elf, and a tiefling. the half elf just looks like a human, and the tiefling is in no way a tiefling except for her horns. tieflings typically have funky eyes and skin, and she had neither. i get that CGI is expensive, but it's really easy to slather someone in green paint and call them a half orc. (also, i've heard criticisms about the lack of LGBTQ+ representation, but there wasn't a whole lot of romance anyway, so i'm not super mad about that)

forgetting about action economy. i get it, you have to make a movie that's super cinematic, but a single barbarian, even at level six or seven (which is around where i estimate this group to be, max) cannot take on almost a dozen guards in heavy armor with weapons and take barely any damage, then go on to fight again almost immediately.

overall, i think it's a fun movie, and it's nice to see something i love up on the big screen. i do think it will cause problems for dms introducing new players who have seen the movie and not any actual play shows, cause i can already hear players wanting to do the cool things they do in the movie, then rolling poorly and getting mad at the dm when they cant do what they wanted to do. i'm interested to see if they add to it in the future, maybe with a bigger budget and some more diversity in character species. i also hope they replace chris pine, but hey, you cant get everything in life i suppose.

TLDR: good movie, not totally representative of actual D&D, but definitely give it a watch if you like D&D.

[blade-that-was-broken]

In soldier on au. How do the bros react to JD’s squad?

Hmmm… this one is harder I think. This got super long so I'm going to shorten it up and just write a bit about everyone. The long post will come later when I finish. These are initial reactions/thoughts. Not how things end up!

BRUCE

Pete - Bruce and Pete do not get along. Like at all. Bruce literally thinks Pete is a criminal or a bounty hunter after a criminal at first. Pete is also kind of an ass.

Delta - Bruce is convinced John and Delta are secretly dating. Like he is convinced. They aren't, but he's not really convinced that they aren't. But they get along, although he is a bit jealous of her hair, which she grows out.

Chaz - Could have been best friends. Almost were. And then Bruce realized how manipulative he was, why JD can't stand him and now he roadblocks Chaz and JD.

Dickory - This is rocky territory. They don't really get along much due to history but they aren't cruel to each other. Awkward and quiet. A bit critical. Bruce doesn't think he gets enough credit about things but they don't really talk about it.

Tresillo - Sweet kid, real helpful, although doesn't seem to like authority. At first Bruce sees Tresillo as kind of... almost a replacement brother for the ones John lost. He hates that he thinks that. But eventually he comes to the conclusion that how JD is with most of his blood brothers and how he is with Tresillo is a bit different.

Quincy - Bruce feels like he's trying out dad him. Recognizes that Quincy has a BIT of fatherly tendency with JD - although John probably doesn't see it - and despite trying to outdo each other, get along.

Gus - Bruce sees him and thinks...cowboy. He's not entirely wrong.

Ludwig - intimidating.

CLAY

Pete - I'm not even sure if they meet, at least for now. But if they do, neither of them care much. Pete doesn't really get along with anyone but if he did, it would probably be with Clay.

Delta - slightly awkward at first cause Delta is just a bit mom like tendencies and Clay has anger towards his mother (towards most people) but he likes her although once again, a little jealous how well she has been able to know him and how long they've known each other.

Chaz - It takes Clay a while to figure out/know about how Chaz operates, his charm and manipulation. Clay loves to talk about his interests and Chaz... will listen.

Dickory - small, angry but Clay respects that. Clay is angry too (although not short/small) and he ends up owning up to his guilty feeling so he might be Dickory's favorite eventually (not including Branch)

Tresillo - initial thoughts? Jealousy. He gets over it.

Quincy - way too much dad for him. Quincy is just straight up very dad like and it makes Clay uncomfortable.

Gus - Clay loves this guy. Takes one look and thinks he's just the funniest dude.

Ludwig - intimidating.

FLOYD

Pete - Literally nothing. There is nothing there. Pete doesn't talk to him or say anything and neither does Floyd. There is some kind of strange mutual understanding.

Delta - Loves her. She is the sweetest thing and thinks she'll be a fantastic mother one day. She's badass, protective, nurturing, strong, gentle, all the things and he loves it.

Chaz - didn't realize something was off until he noticed JD when Chaz was with him. Chaz and Floyd meet when JD isn't there and Chaz's act is SO good, Floyd doesn't see it. But then Floyd sees JD and doesn't understand why but he immediately just NOPE

Dickory - Immediately knows Dickory doesn't like any of them and is a bit devastated.

Tresillo - a bit of jealousy at first, sees the troublemaker and difficult with authority but then sees the kind and guilty heart underneath. They get along okay and although closer in age than Tresillo and Branch, Tresillo ends up being closer to Branch.

Quincy - embraces the dadness. He's totally okay with Quincy being the way he is with JD and having those dad-tendencies.

Gus - unsure

Ludwig - intimidating.

BRANCH

Pete - Staring contest

Delta - Initially? Jealousy. Branch historically isn't good at getting along with people and connecting with others so with her knowing JD so well and being such a big part of his life, Branch feels robbed. He never got any of that - never even knew about him. (this changes)

Chaz - JD becomes kind of protective since Branch is a minor so idk if he would let Branch meet Chaz without him there. Branch struggles to understand since Chaz seems so nice and stuff but Branch also understands that his social skills aren't great so he ends up kind of deferring to JD with this. So ignoring.

Dickory - Branch didn't actually believe that Dickory was kind of off with the other brothers at first, since Dick seemed to be pretty interested in meeting Branch. Branch thought he was kind of funny and the yodeling through him off but they became friends-ish. Once again, a bit of jealousy with how close Dickory and JD are but he gets through this.

Tresillo - Branch is super confused meeting him but they become real fast friends.

Quincy - Branch has no idea what to think of the dad-ing. It wigs him out a little. Finding out Cooper's dad and JD's old squadmate were the same also wigs him out.

Gus - weird games and racing. Idk why, they just do. They get along okay but they don't talk much.

Ludwig - Branch laughs. Ludwig laughs with him.

[mixelation]

A long time ago, someone asked if I could summarize what each Akatsuki member thinks of Tori, and I said I'd answer after Chp 16. So here we go!! This is also useful for my own organization.

In order of their meetings:

Hidan: Hidan genuinely thought she was discount death god for a second there, and her persistence in existing near him both embarrasses him and pisses him off. He feels weirdly vindicated by every manipulative piece of trickery she pulls off, because that means he wasn't tricked by some random idiot. He thinks she's pretentious and stuck-up and occasionally pathetic, but her more unhinged bullshit is entertaining. His hatred for her has started mellowing out with time and carefully crafted narrative bonding time, but she's far from his favorite coworker.

Kakuzu: Kakuzu does not have strong feelings about Tori. He doesn't think tricking Hidan or Deidara is much of an accomplishment. She's consistently been acceptably competent at the Akatsuki-related tasks he's had to work with her on, sometimes to a surprising degree. He's still salty about her breaking one of his expensive storage scrolls, and he's probably never going to let her stop making replacements. He has noticed she's probably more innately dangerous than the way they've been treating her would imply, but he considers this none of his business.

Sasori: Sasori considers Tori a useful hostage right off the bat, and she also manages to run away from him with nothing but her own wits. That chapter got a lot of criticisms along the lines of "what was the point of that if it didn't change the outcome," and the answer is: it did change the potential for the dynamic between Tori and the rest of the Akatsuki. Sasori recognizes that Tori is clever and has skills potentially useful to him, and he's really not surprised when she pulls out newer and weirder fuinjutsu techniques, because why wouldn't she? There are aspects of her personality he doesn't care for, but she can keep up with him in conversation. As of chapter 15, Sasori was probably the member who liked her the most. Unfortunately friendship with Sasori wins you unsolicited comments about your appearance and being poisoned.

Deidara: Deidara starts off pretty neutral about Tori. She's a convenient excuse to force Sasori into doing things Deidara wants, but he doesn't actually care about her on a personal level until she makes a fool of him. Then he really dislikes her for a bit. Then they come to a weird understanding. Deidara is... volatile. Tori escapes having a life-long grudge against her because, unlike Itachi, she does like talking about ~art~. They are mutually down for doing stupid experiments while drinking, so their dynamic is slowly shifting into something more like an actual friendship, which is why he follows her around for a chunk of chapter 16.

Itachi: Tori stresses Itachi out so much. He was not impressed by their first meeting and then immediately realizes she could ruin his entire life's plan with one word to the wrong person. This freak out is not completely apparent to Tori because she her own problems to worry about over Itachi's personal problems, but Obito does have to talk him down from murdering her. His more domestic interactions with her convince him that she is: sometimes annoying but otherwise perfectly fine company. Their interests and personalities aren't super aligned, but god help you if you say something stupid and both of them attempt to correct you. Itachi's nerves were soothed slightly by Tori telling him she doesn't give enough of a shit about his problems to go blabbing to other people, and also by the fact that while drunk and also genjutsu, she just talks about grass.She's fine. The fact that she had the ability to do wild fuinjutsu with her own blood all along and they were just letting her wander around is sort of upsetting, but it's fine. Everything is fine.

Kisame: Kisame also doesn't have super strong opinions on Tori. She's fine? Why is Itachi so stressed? He has noticed that she... sometimes just does things which are completely unhinged? But so do all his coworkers. He's not super interested in her skillset beyond "does it work, y/n" because he values combat over other things, but at the same time he doesn't mind hanging out with her. Kisame is one of the members more likely to actually trust Tori, because he doesn't see her as someone who'd have a reason to work against him, and his life experience make him likely to go, "well, she's one of those lofty thinking-types, so she's probably right."

Pein and Konan: Honestly, they probably like her more for administrative assistance than anything else. She makes sassy comments, but she also shows up and figures out how to translate multiple insane accounts of the same mission into a cohesive report. She hasn't had a weeping breakdown that they know of the way they're pretty sure brining in other types of support would result. Sometimes she's funny? Plus she feeds herself and no one's killed her yet. 8/10 hostage.

Zetsu: What a weird new parameter. Her presence does not particularly change his plans, as she has yet to ever verbalize anything about Kaguya.

Obito: As the person who's interrogated her the most of the topic, Obito is not completely convinced Tori actually can see the future, but holy fuck does she have a lot of information she must have gotten from somewhere. He's mostly operating under the assumption that she has some other inexplicable kekkei genkai that she's chosen to lie about for some reason, because what else could it be? Obito does not hate her. Her attempting to weaponize the Tobi persona against him and other people is actually very entertaining. He thinks she's funny when she's mad.

[universestreasures]

My Brother Is Also My Dad…?

(A Drabble Requested By @shacchou )

"It's time for my Final Phase and time to finish you off, Akatsuki! Impact Call! I pay 3 Gauge To evolve Bal into an Impact Monster!" Mokuba declares, three of the floating cards in his gauge meter turning into stars as their energy floods into the monster located to his right area.

"Bal…Bal will do his super best, bal!"

"Bal is now a Size Two monster, with 1100 attack and 6000 defense and a critical of five thanks to having Bal Knuckle equipped! And his attacks cannot be nulified, meaning that Art of Body Replacement card I know you have in your hand is useless!"

"Oh no! I knew I should have used that to guard your item's attack earlier, but with only one card left in your hand, I didn't think you could have possibly had your Impact Monster!" His ninja friend panics, realizing his mistake as soon as Mokuba pointed it out. Seems like he still had a long way to go to catch up to his brother in terms of Buddyfighting.

"Go for it, Bal!"

"Bal Burst Smasher!!!!"

And the attack succeds, the impact of Bal's attack reducing Akatsuki's remaining life points in record time. The young Kaiba had outplayed his opponent by anaylzing the situation and predicting what cards they may hold. Mokuba truly did learn a lot about gaming by watching his brother, and was using that knowledge even in a game his brother hadn't played. He was a Kaiba and a gamer in his own right, and his victory today was a showcase of why.

"Game End. Winner: Mokuba Kaiba."

The sound coming from Mokuba's Core Gadget, which took the form of a floating capsule akin to those found in Capsule Monsters Chess, signaling the end of the match. The effects of the fight vanished immediately as Akatsuki's Katana World flag shattered, and the proud Sun Dragon returned to his mini form in a flash of light.

"Mokuba and Bal won, bal!"

"We sure did! We totally kicked their butt! Up top, Bal!" The raising of his hand for a high five was soon met with the dragon's own palm, both winners giggling and celebrating their victory. Mokuba really had come to get good at Gao's Scorching Sun Dragon Deck that Baku had made not too long after he met Bal. In fact, some suspected if Mokuba became more than just a casual Buddyfighter, that Bal might have become his buddy instead of Gao's.

With the dragon now atop his fluffy hair, Mokuba moves to exit the Castle's Buddyfight arena to meet his opponent and his Buddy Monster, both understandably disheartened by the loss. Noticing this, the Kaiba approaches them, offering them a friendly handshake of good sportsmanship that Bal then mimics.

"Hey, don't look so down, guys! You both played well today. If I didn't have that Green Dragon Shield in my hand on the previous turn, Byakuya's Shadow Dive mulit-attack combo would have taken the rest of my life points! Besides, I had a lot of fun playing with you guys today!"

"Bal loves Buddyfighting with Akatsuki and Byakuya, bal!" The dragon adds, his innocence and sunshine smile, along with Mokuba's kind words, seeming to improve the other's moods rather quickly. Both monster and Buddyfighter return the handshakes, a confident expression now facing Akatsuki's face.

"Yeah…that was pretty fun! We did almost have you. But next time Mokuba, it will be us who are the winner! Big Z and I are going to go through a special training together soon! When we're finished, no one will be able to beat us!"

"I look forward to seeing the results of that training, Akatsuki."

The two boys and two monsters then both laugh together. Following his adoption, never did he celebrate a match with his opponent like this, win or lose. This change in his behavior was a sure sign that his friends, as well as Yugi Muto and his own crew, really had rubbed off on him. It…It felt good to be able to share games like this again with others. Now he just needed to get into doing them regularly with his brother, a task that seemed more impossible than one might realize.

"That was a great fight, everyone!"

The voice of Gao Mikado breaks through their laughter, Bal immediately waving to his Buddy and the others who were accompanying him. Among the group included Gao's other Buddy, Drum Bunker Dragon, in addition to Gao's two friends Baku and Kuguru. Mokuba may not be as close with the Mighty Sun Fighter's deck builder and analyst as he was with the Buddyfighter proper, but he had come to call the pair his friends in their own right.

"Gao saw Bal and Mokuba's fight, bal!?" The dragon asked, quickly jumping off from Mokuba to instead land right ontop of Gao's shoulder.

"I sure did, buddy. You two were totally in sync out there! It was so cool to watch, and I think I may have picked up a strategy or two by watching ya!"

"I'm surprised you played the deck I made to match Gao's fight style so well, Mokuba. Call me impressed, bro." Baku adds, the compliment being a high one from a deck builder of his caliber.

"I saw no holes in your strategy, either. You took advantage of the Sun Dragon's unique skills perfectly." Kuguru then comments, pulling up her tablet to then show Mokuba the statistics she took during the match that support her claims. "Your Impact Call in particular was perfectly timed. Your attack formation and demeanor threw your opponent off from using his defensive spell prior."

"N-No need to rub it in..." The young ninja says, his expression looking disheartened. That's when he feels Byakuya gently pat his back, offering his Buddy some comfort.

"If he's getting high praise from you two, then that just proves it! Mokuba, you're an amazing Buddyfighter!"

The wave of compliments hit him hard, elating the young boy's heart. It was, after all, not a common occurrence that he was complimented for his gaming skills. Seto always took the spotlight when it came to that, and while he certainly thinks his brother is deserving of such praise, it felt good to hear it for himself too. Mokuba was a gamer in his own right, and he took pride in that fact, a pride not too dissimilar to Seto's own.

"Keh. Would you expect anything less from me? We Kaiba's are Gamemasters, after all! Mastering multiple games is our trademark!" Mokuba says with a prideful smile and hands on his hips for a few moments, soaking in the attention. He then takes his now de-transformed Core Deck Case out of his pocket and removes the deck out of it to hand back to Gao. "But…thank you for letting me borrow your Scorching Sun Dragon deck, Gao. It's always a blast to fight with Bal!"

"You can use it anytime! You know Bal is down for it!"

"Bal wants to fight everyone with Mokuba, bal! That be the best day ever, bal! Everyone Buddyfighting together, bal!"

"Huh…" The youngest Kaiba speaks, his mind formulating an idea sparked on by the dragon's words. "You know? That isn't a bad idea, Bal. We should…We should do something to make that happen. Like…throw our own Buddyfight tournament, with the winner getting some kind of prize! That way, everyone will be playing seriously!"

"A tournament with all our friends, huh? Now that sounds interesting! I'm in!" Gao's signature grin appears on his face, matching the one Mokuba formed on his own.

"You'd invite Big Z to this tournament too, right Mokuba?"

"Of course, Akatsuki! Can't leave you or your brother out of this! Same goes for Tasuku and Suzuha too!" Mokuba would invite his own brother if he was interested in playing the game, which he no doubt wasn't. He was too obsessed with Duel Monsters to probably even think of trying it. Besides, this kind of thing was so not Seto's vibe.

"I'd wanna invite all the best Buddyfighters you guys know, too! Like your classmates and upperclassmen, Gao! It won't be any kind of official event or anything, but I'm sure it will be fun! Plus, we can have it at my house! If…If…"

Mokuba then pauses for a moment, his expression changing from one of excitement to one that looked slightly disheartened. He takes out his phone then, staring at his home screen which contained a more recent photo of himself and Seto he took at Kaiba Land.

"If what, bal?"

"If I can get permission from Seto, first. He needs to approve any and all social gatherings that happen at the house, whether it's something like this or even just having one person over to play games." That's why Mokuba often hung out with his friends in public places or in their own homes. The process was much easier. "On top of that, he'd probably want background checks on everyone who'd be coming over who he isn't familiar with, Buddy Monsters included. Not to mention just selling him on the idea to begin with…"

The idea did seem like it be a tough sell, considering it's size and scale. It's not like this was a promotion event or anything related to the business. This was just something he wanted to do for fun with his friends, and while Seto respected Mokuba's choice to pursue what he wished, this was…different. He would be agreeing to invite multiple strangers, a whole group of them that included monsters with supernatural abilities, into his home. It was a massive security risk, as well as a distraction.

He hates to admit it, but…as much as he wanted it to happen, he just can't see Seto agreeing to it. This reality is shown on his face, Mokuba sighing heavily in defeat before the battle even began.

"Man…That's…That's tough, Mokuba." Gao comments, gritting his teeth as he looks to the side. "He's stricter with you than my mom is with me, and that's saying something."

"Lord Seto's even stricter than Big Z is with me!" Akatsuki chimes in. "I remember when you told me he banned energy drinks from your house and at Kaiba Corp just because you drank one too many one day!"

"Never met the guy personally, but it really does sound like he's basically your dad, bro. And a very, very overprotective one at that. I think he needs to chill out a bit, if you ask me."

Baku's comment takes Mokuba aback a few short moments, his purple hues blinking in utter confusion at the deck builder. "What…What do you mean by that, Baku? Seto isn't…isn't my dad. He's my big brother, always has been. And the stuff he does…is just what big brothers do. He's looking out for me, that's all."

"Big bros look out for their siblings, sure. But…" He then sticks a lollipop from his pocket into his mouth, Baku always being one to snack on something during almost any occasion. "I don't think it's the norm for little bros to ask their big bro for permission for everything, or for big bros to ban things from the house or want background checks on people coming into their house. Those are things that parents typically do. Gao, do you do that kind of stuff for Hana?"

"No way, Baku! That's Mom and Dad's job! I just do my part to look out for her, that's all. Though, if anything, she looks out for me! We all wouldn't get up on time if she wasn't there." Gao says, Bal and Drum nodding their heads in agreement.

"And Akatsuki, does Zanya do that kind of stuff for you?"

"Sorta…Big Z does a lot of things for me, but…he more enforces Father's rules when it comes to discipline. He…He tries to be like him when he's not around."

"And Mokuba. Isn't your big bro your legal guardian?"

"Y-Yeah…B-But that's because…because…" The words stop coming from his mouth, Mokuba unable to find an answer. He was completely stumped here, despite always having some sort of line to say when it came to his brother.

"He's the one responsible for you? The one who is raising you? The one who goes to parent-teacher conferences? Just face it, he's essentially your dad too, bro."

Those words from the deck builder, ones that Mokuba could not understand but was unable to fight against, caused him to stare back at the picture of Seto on his phone again. To him, everything Seto had done since they were kids was normal sibling behavior. Sure, they were in different circumstances compared to other children, but all of it seemed normal to him. But…he sometimes forgets how different his life was compared to those around him, and how that shaped his worldview.

"I…I should get going. It is getting late. Don't want to cause my br-" He pauses for a moment before changing his word. "Seto to worry. I'll…I'll get back to you guys on the tournament idea. If…If it doesn't work at my place, I'm sure Suzuha can host it just fine. That girl has multiple Buddyfight arenas underground at her castle."

That's when he starts to leave the area, putting some pep in his step. His heart and mind were a bag of mixed feelings that he just couldn't comprehend right now. He only stops his exit when he hears the voice of Kuguru calling his name. Mokuba turns around then, his eyes glancing upon the analyst.

"What Baku dear said…He didn't mean it as a bad thing, right Baku?" Kuguru glances at the other with a sharpness behind her glasses, her gaze a signal that he better answer correctly.

"O-Of course not. I'm…I'm sorry if what I said upset you at all. My bad, bro. Sometimes I can be a bit too blunt…" Baku answers, taking his candy out of his mouth, his face portraying his regret. He wasn't too close with Mokuba compared to some of the others here, and if he had, he probably wouldn't have made this comment to begin with. Anyone who knew the Kaiba knew he was sensitive when it came to his brother.

"Your brother may be a bit overprotective like a parent, but what big brother isn't overprotective of their precious sibling?" Kuguru speaks, glancing over at Atatsuki and Gao.

"I can confirm Lord Zanya is very, very protective of Lord Akatsuki. Like there was this one time when someone tried to-" The words of Byakuya are then cut off as Akatsuki covers his mouth, no doubt trying to stop the chatterbox of a monster from saying something highly embarrassing.

"Yota…protected me in his own way. Even when he was in the hospital, he did all he could to help protect my spirits and…leave me hope for the future." Gao says, sunshine hues glancing up at his hat which was a signature part of his Mighty Sun Fighter uniform, the one his mother originally made for Yota to wear. "And I try to keep that hope alive…for Hana."

Drum then steps forward from Gao's side, walking over to meet Mokuba directly. "Listen, kid. Your brother may be one of the grumpiest humans I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, but…in a lot of ways, he reminds me of how we dragons are. Not all dragons…get to be raised by their parents. I'm one of the lucky ones who has, and let me tell you, my old man is worse than your brother could ever hope to be when it comes to discipline. He threw me across worlds to train because I didn't get his stupid riddle right!"

Mokuba, and the others for that matter, start to laugh a bit at the story. Normally such a display would upset Drum, but right now, he was clearly more focused on the younger Kaiba than himself. He certainly has matured since arriving to Earth, that's for sure. His father would be proud.

"My point is that what your family looks like or what you decide to call what they do isn't what really matters. What does is that you all care about each other, take care of each other, and your brother…cares about you more than most people, monster or human, I've ever met. That's something you should treasure, kid." Drum's words are followed by a nod and smile from everyone, Baku included.

The vice president, on instinct then, moves to open his pendent, staring at the picture of his brother when they were children. Waves of memories flood back to him, of the times Seto cared for him, did everything for him. Looking back, what Seto did for him did somewhat align with what he remembers his father doing for him back when he was alive. Deep down, Mokuba could have made the connection sooner if he wanted to, but it was clear he didn't.

His father was his father. His brother was his brother.

Those were what Mokuba knew them to be and that wasn't going to change. And even if in practicality, the roles of both of those individuals overlapped in Seto's behavior following his father's death, as his friends pointed out, what was important is that Seto loved him. His love was clearly shown through his actions, including the strict ones. He had always done all he could to look out for Mokuba, and if this conversation has reminded him of anything, it was to really appreciate everything his brother goes out of his way to do for him, despite the teen not initially understanding them at the time.

"I will." He says softly as he closes his pendant, gathering up his bag and preparing to head out. "Now, I better get going before my…big brother starts to worry about me. He can be quite the worry wort, and I don't want to be grounded! See you at school tommorow, Akatsuki! And keep an eye out for updates about the tournament, guys! I'm…I'm going to ask Seto, and maybe by some miracle, he'll actually agree to it!"

With that hopeful statement said, Mokuba takes his leave. He thought about asking Isano to drive him home, but he decided it would be faster if he ran. He…He wanted to see his big brother right now, to see him and give him a hug, a hug as a show of appreciation for all he's done for him…as a brother and beloved member of his family.

[dragynkeep]

Marco/Connie, Marker, Mitchentine, Clouis, Violetine, Clemerva, Luca/Sherry, Loretta/Nina, Maverick/Svetlana, DeliYang, Yang/Erica, Alex/Galahad, and Striker/Beretta for the ship bingo

marco / connie.

no cause marco & connie are so [clenches fist], there's so much drama there from what we had in their backstories to then the introduction of the destroyers & both of them falling into this toxic destruction of other's making but their love kept them alive long enough to reunite.

my only criticism would be that i wish we had more of them because it really felt like we didn't get much before connie was kidnapped & it made me sad, though the side manga helped to alleviate that.

marco / striker.

the obsession. marco trying so hard to get away from this life but the ghost of striker haunts him until he resurrects in that obsessive love to drag them both down to somewhere marco can never abandon him again. their promise they made as children ended up being a curse & it's so good to see, especially since even after marco's death: striker is still haunted. he'll never escape that man & it's unhinged!

mitch / clementine.

not one of my top ships for clementine but it's definitely up there in the top five because their immediate sardonic, witty banter together definitely endeared me. i think clementine can recognize that surly attitude in him that she definitely had in season 3 & it endears her to him. meanwhile mitch is definitely lowkey fascinated with this all knowing girl that just showed up out of nowhere with a mouth as big as his.

louis / clementine.

my second favourite clementine ship, these two immediately caught my attention when i started playing the 4th season because louis is exactly what clementine needs. someone who can break through that very tough wall she's built & remind her that she's still a kid, as well as someone who regards aj as someone that's the most important thing to her.

canon did them so dirty, why did they do that to my poor boy :((

violet / clementine.

i did really used to like them more but the behaviour of the shippers in two [redacted] servers just absolutely turned me off from the ship. they do have some really cute moments but i do wonder if violet's whole demeanour would end up dragging clementine further into her negative traits rather than someone who will hold her accountable & remind her that she's still a kid at the end of the day. idk.

clementine / minvera.

oh my poor baby scrungles. i loved their dynamic from day one & minverva remains the top wlw ship i have for clementine cause they're just so [clenches fist] fucked up. while other ships serve to remind clementine that she doesn't have to be the way she was for survival anymore, clem / minerva would go the exact opposite way in minerva dragging clementine down into her own trauma because she can't do it alone.

so much good toxicity that i always love to see play out ✨

luca / sherry.

for a background couple, they excel in married energy & i love how nonjudgemental luca is of his wife's profession: in fact he seems to adulate this aspect of who she is & put's her on for show, so everyone knows how amazing his wife is & how much he adores her. get you a man like luca!

loretta / nina.

oh my god no these two would be so cute & i like that they also seem to represent the future of ergastulum, wanting to do better for the good of the people there & that would be something they connect over greatly. also loretta hearing about nina's favourite drink from worick & she ends up buying an entire caseload wheeze.

maverick / svetlana.

not something super on my radar but there's just something so intriguing about these two & how they exist in the dyamics of their "families", how that would interconnect with how they exist within each other.

delico / yang & yang / erica.

putting these two together bc oh the dynamics here are just so !! delico as the replacement for the sister they both lost, that playing into their mutual guilt & tension between each other, they would die for each other & kill for each other but would that extend to what they become if they ever got erica back. how would that dynamic warp & twist with what erica has become, the traumatic psychosexual connections & all three of them just needing to be together. so fascinating.

alex / galahad.

not one of my main ships for either but i can't deny they would be so cute together, especially with galahad's protectiveness over alex & him convincing her to let loose & enjoy herself a little! adorable!

striker / beretta.

the definition of evil soulmates: they'll watch the world burn for each other because even with striker's obsession with marco, he remains at beretta's side. they're two puzzle pieces, a bullet & a gun, a whip & blood splatter. they'll burn the world. they'll survive in each other time & time again because this is just who they are.

[awildofnothing]

Here’s what I take from the critical role season 3 dilemmas (and I’m intentionally reading and projecting as far into everything as possible based on what I personally spend my days worrying about):

I don’t think religion in cr3 is a metaphor for real life religions at all. The gods in DND are much more present and directly impactful than real life religious figures in modern life.

The gods in DND / this campaign are basically Greek gods and are a metaphor for power structures (and maybe rich people or celebrities- super powerful people who can essentially make or break your life).

As a society we are at a turning point where people are (or seem) more discontent than ever, genuinely debating if existing government organizations and other powerful figures do anything positive for them, or enough. An immediate follow up to any conversations that conclude “no, they don’t” is: what to do?

The largest fear of any following conversation is: if we did do anything “against” those figures, what happens? How afraid of chaos are we, and how afraid should we be? How much do we take for granted? Is replacing the powerful figures with new individuals or enough, or is that approach cyclical and hypocritical? How comforting do those familiar figures and their security become when you wade a few steps into a challenging and maybe hostile future? What is the moral action if the system in place is bad but the alternative is also horrible? Can positions of power be overthrown and not replaced? If so what does the world look like? Is it worse, better, or different? Can you intentionally turn over one system to another, or do you have to tear the first one down and see what happens?

And all of those are just discussion of the ends. I appreciate Ashton’s comments so far regarding the means.

Anyway this is a huge reach but it’s how I can frame the discussions from this campaign to make the most sense for me.

[taoofshigeru]

Dr. Starline is a Columbo Villain

I finally got around to reading Bad Guys and it struck me just how Dr. Starline is simultaneously a smart, savvy villain and a really dumb one. Tangent incoming.

One of the things I love about Columbo (the detective show) in general is that all the murders are like, first drafts of a master plan. Not beta-read.

Like, there's this one guy who hosts a crime show and has reported on all these crimes. He hates smoking, and he's being blackmailed by a heavy smoker. So he comes up with a plan to murder the guy by dabbing Nicotine Sulfate poison on a cigarette, and make it look like just a smoker having a heart attack situation. He poisons three cigarettes, tricks the guy into smoking one of them, and replaces the poison cigarettes with butts ones he he lit earlier and let burn in another ashtray to hide all the evidence. Pretty slick plan.

Columbo, who smokes cigars, is on the scene for like 30 seconds before he notices the replacement cigarettes have been lit, but not smoked. Cigarettes have a filter that one inhales through, and the replacement butts were burned down, but had no stains on the filter. (Unlike all the other used butts on all the other ashtrays in the house.) This isn't the critical piece of evidence, but it gets the detective to order a toxicology report which immediately picks up the poison, and sets them on the trail of realizing it wasn't accidental death.

It is a good example of a cunning plan overlooking something that's damningly obvious to someone else.

That's a super-juicy theme in that show. Most of the killers Columbo nabs are smart, successful people who are very, very self-confident. Like tech bros or rookie engineers in general who pitch big ideas, not realizing an obvious flaw that someone with more experience would spot immediately.

Of course, it's not like you can just draw up murder plans on a whiteboard and do brainstorming exercises with your team. But in another setting, this is the kind of plan->failure that serves as a really good setup for a moral about the power of teamwork or the importance of taking advice.

So the specific event in Bad Guys that starts Starline working on the whole Surge and Kit plan was his experience seeing Rough and Tumble in prime rhyme condition handle a badnik in an unexpected way, exceeding his expectations via the power of teamwork. He then proceeds to betray his team, and while he technically gets what he wants (a new base) out of it, he misses an obvious lesson about the dangers of double-crossing your partners in crime.

And, critically, he never really learns that lesson. His solution to this "problem" of other people having their own wants, desires, and agency is to brute force brainwash the glitch sibs with the hypno glove. Which of course backfires spectacularly after they realize what he's done and get the glove out of his hands. It's like a cherry-on-top situation that the scene where Surge and Kit are wrestling for control turns on Surge taking a hit while Kit comes from behind to swipe the glove. Cooperation, teamwork, and trust.

Starline comes up with new plans, but fundamentally he's trying the same thing over again. Whatever good idea he has might get him to a point, might work the first time, but it falls apart because he fails to patch the cracks in his own control-freak personality. Essentially, he's trying to win without working on fixing the thing that always trips him up.

...

(IDW) Eggman has a lot of the same flaws and also makes flawed plans, of course! But in contrast to Starline, he's got different motivations. His plans generally are rough around the edges by design. He'll come up with the same type of big idea framework, but he's more concerned with maximizing the strong, fun points of his evil ideas and getting a little moustache-twirling in on the side rather than minmaxing to make sure they win. There's that line about how he could just go carpet bombing that blue hedgehog if he just wanted to be done with it. He wants to win, sure, but that's not his primary motivation. He enjoys coming up with the plans, and can always just do another thing if the first thing doesn't work. Like the Millennium Actress, he enjoys the chase whether or not he ultimately ends up catching his nemesis.

Anyways them villains in IDW Sonic are written really well and occupy a lot of mental real estate.

[numinous-queer]

so uh

it feels super weird not to speak about the big thing that’s been happening in my life because it’s absolutely dominating my time and energy, so whenever I keep posting as though things are the same it feels disingenuous! So, uh. As of Sept 12, my wife and I have been parenting a toddler with us through our state foster system. S--- is a a wonderful child who just turned 3 last month, and is preoccupied with the important things in life like Finding Nemo, Halloween, and hugging our big labrador. We don’t know whether she will be with us forever, because it’s early days in her court case, but we hope that we will be a positive force in her life for as long as she is with us.

Our biggest wish right now is for everyone to settle into a new, peaceful equilibrium at home together, and there has been a LOT of progress towards that goal! Bathtime has been transformed from a screaming match to only a handful of tears during the critical moment of washing off shampoo then followed by happy playing and splashing, and she has felt safe enough to begin pushing her boundaries and accepting redirection well (most of the time). Oh, and we have almost 100% mastered going #1 on the potty, which is a huge win in the buying-fewer-diapers arena. The biggest struggle has been navigating bedtime  and wakeup routines, so if anyone knows how to get a toddler to sleep past 4am CALL ME IMMEDIATELY SO I CAN GIVE YOU ALL MY MONEY. Kiddo doesn’t want to go to bed at night, and really lets her feelings be known about it, which I think overtires her and makes her sleep worse, leading to early mornings. (The last few days have been between 4:20-4:30am and I want to set myself on fire, burn into embers, and let the wind carry the ashes away. Anyone awake in the 4-5am hour in the PST time zone - know I am there with you, wishing for death.)

bellyaching about my lack of sleep aside, this really has been a tremendously joyful experience. Since the 12th, I’ve been experiencing every human emotion simultaneously and unlocked a new one - fearjoypain, which gets dialed up to 11 and can’t be turned off. Kiddo has started running to us and shrieking with giggles whenever she reunites with either me or my wife, and there is nothing like the feeling of a little hand holding yours. She is so excited about the world and it’s amazing to see her world (and vocabulary) exploding. She loves anything spooky-pumpkin-skeleton, space, the ocean, and naming every vegetable that exists. Every single day she learns something new, or shows us how much she is observing and remembering. S--- has survived a lot of early trauma, and we are aiming for nothing less than to help her feel safe again. This has already been the most difficult thing that we’ve ever undertaken and it may get harder before it gets easier, but she’s worth it, and we’re going to keep choosing her again and again.

(even when, like right now, I wish I could replace my blood with espresso)

If anyone has sleep training tips for toddlers, resources for parenting children with early trauma/ACEs, queer parenting ideas, or good wishes, please share them! It can be easy to feel alone and afraid when we don’t know what’s going to happen, and we could use whatever pep talks you’ve got. Plus I really do believe it takes a village, so I’m going to crowd-source all the knowledge I possibly can.