#tbh i'm not even sure if this kind of posts even works for characters weeks

[yume127]

Roxas and Ventus Week Day 3 - Differences

One of the main differences between Roxas and Ventus is their personalities, so I thought it could be interesting to see how they react when facing similar situations.

For example, in the first two gifs, they’re both upset with one of their best friend for treating their other best friend unfairly. While the situations are similar, they handle it very differently. Ventus is vocal in expressing to Aqua what he thinks right away. On the other hand, Roxas doesn’t confront Axel at all; instead, he keeps what he feels to himself, and gives Axel the silent treatment.

In the next couple of gifs, Roxas and Ventus are both confronting someone dear to them, someone they believed they could trust, to learn the truth that was kept from them. Again, Ventus —while hesitant at first—snaps at Eraqus almost immediately, and doesn’t hold back in saying what he thinks, even displaying anger in his tone of voice and body language. Roxas instead starts talking with Axel calmly, and only raises his voice when Axel refuses to give him the answers he’s looking for.

Lastly, we see them deal with having someone essentially trying to end their life. In this situation, Roxas is the one displaying clear signs of anger and aggression, while Ventus doesn’t fight back at all, and even tries to convince Terra that what Eraqus tried to do was the right thing.

So, my take on this is that, normally, Ventus is the one more impulsive, more prone to anger, and that speaks his mind, while Roxas mostly keeps to himself, and tends to approach situations more calmly. When they have to face grim situations, though, Roxas is the one who reacts more strongly, with anger and aggression, while Ventus surrenders more easily.

[the-s1lly-corner]

How about digital circus x princess! Reader with their very own castle. Elegantly leaning out of their tower singing lullabies for anyone to hear. Ps Keep up the great work 👍

TADC cast x princess!reader

I know I usually stress that I answer stuff chronologically but I misread this as just jax (I'm sleepy!!) So I went to search for a princess reader post i did weeks ago, snagged the link then reread the request and saw it was the whole cast... but I've already committed to the bit by searching for the link sooooooooo

CAINE:

You and I both know hes goinv to use the fact ypure a princess for IHA... captured princess trope stuff, basically! So have fun with that! Absolutely loves your singing, so so much. Probably joins in with you, complimenting your part..or perhaps he hums.. other princesses have cute fairytale animals accompanying them, and you have..... bubble..... huh....

Really ups the whole... act when talking to you.. bows deeply, waves his arm around in a grand fashion when showing you to a room, ect ect ect

POMNI:

Has probably subconsciously/accidentally said you were pretty outloud. Gets absolutely lost in the sauce when you sing. Like just stands there, hands awkwardly clasped together in front of her as she listens. Probably sways side to side too. Gets very pink when talking to you, her face does the O^O thing... absolutely smitten

RAGATHA:

Ah my favorite, royal princess x common lady... well, at least aesthetically... whether or not you're royalty in the real world is debatable... anyways, that aside, I think this is probably one of my favorite ship dynamics... I love.. similar to pomni she is very bad at hiding her feelings around you. Tends to stare with a blushing face. Loves making you dresses; assuming you can swap out dresses considering the whole "their clothes are attatched to their bodies" thing

While I doubt your clothing can rip or tear thanks to the properties of the digital world, I think if she could, she would patch up any holes

KINGER:

Honestly I think out of this entire post, kinger is the only one who gets a platonic/found family take on this... just an old king and his princess kid. Again I'm not sure if he truly believes he royalty or if he was trying to appeal to the gloink queen by saying "as a royal myself.." but.. honestly I like the idea that he just likes playing the part. Like he knows hes not royalty but. You know? Let this man embellish himself

Pillow fort? No, pillow TOWER! No... pillow CASTLE! Pillow kingdom!!!

Nothing too hyped specific here he's just your dad here

ZOOBLE:

Oh? Cool. I mean your singing isnt really their cup of tea, they look like they're into alt/indie stuff tbh...maybe rock. Confession I'm terrible at identifying genres so I'm literally speaking out of my ass rn on what type of music zooble would listen to I'd have to list specific artists and songs

But this isnt about that

Depends on what kind of princess you are

If you're independent, resourceful, and badass I think you guys could build some chemistry

If you're like, damsel in distress, ,kind of stuck up, whiny, prissy, ect then it's a hard no

Not many ideas here tbh <\3

GANGLE:

Also thinks you're very pretty! Also loves your singing! I think she grew up on disney films, and even if she doesnt remember them it's still a core memory that like. is kind of instinctive atp. So she finds comfort around you, you know? LOVE that trope btw, where a character doesnt remember something but still finds comfort in it while not fully understanding why because as far as they know this is the first time with the thing

Absolutely melts if you compliment her. Sure, she would still melt if you weren't a princess.. but having someone so pretty and graceful saying it hits a certain way for her

JAX:

[mammoth-clangen]

Do you like Clangen and Sabertoothed cats? Great, me too!

My name is Pav and this is my clangen blog! <Start reading here>

Important Things

🧓 Im a '99 bby so please don't DM if you're a minor (actually would prefer no unexpected DMs period tbh, im anxious)

⛏️ I work 12hrs 7 days, week on/week off, meaning I will completely vanish 50% of the time and there's nothing I can do about it

🦘 I'm also an Aussie, so my time zone is weird even when I'm not at work (So if I don't reply, im not ignoring u! ;v;-b )

❔️Asks and Anons are turned on! Please read the FAQ below before asking to avoid repeats c:

😻 I read all the tags and replies even if I don't reply. Tysm everyone saying nice things, it makes my day ;v;

😵‍💫 My focus changes like the weather lately, so while I'm Hoping I'll be able to keep this up, please don't get Life Or Death Invested c':

Tags

#mammothmoon -all chapters are tagged with this

#moon (1/2/3/etc) -each moon is tagged by number, and in-character asks from given moons

#mammothask -asks sent to me (will also tag who asks them)

#paleo stuff -anything where I'm nerding about paleo biology etc

#ooc -Pav updates about Pav!

FAQ

This will be added to as I get more asks and replies to go off!

How often do you post pages?

I try for at least once every 2 weeks, as I spend 50% of my life in the outback with no ability to draw!

Where/ when is Mammothclan set?

In late pleistocene North America, around 12ka ago, during the Younger Dryas!

What species are the cats?

They're Homotherium serum, a scimitar toothed cat.

How paleo accurate is this setting?

Relatively accurate? There's not going to be any species out of their time and place, but I'm not super bothered by, say, exact plant species and how realistic certain story aspects are.

Can I ask the characters' questions?

You can, but I can't promise to answer all of them!

Are we allowed to include characters as cameos/ draw fanart?

Yes definitely absolutely!!!!

You are also welcome to change them to regular cats if that fits better cx (please don't humanise them though, I find that specifically very uncanny)

What mode are you playing on Clangen/ what toggles?

Expanded mode, mass extinctions on, cheating on, "pregnancy ignores biology" off, unknown second parent pregnancies off (bc in my trial run every queen was constantly spawning kittens at lightspeed, no ty)

How far ahead are you from the pages you've drawn?

Currently 40moons ahead, cause I like playing the long game with foreshadowing >:3c

Where do you download Clangen?

Here!

Could you elaborate on/ explain content of (page/panel/speech bubble) that confused me?

Sure! If something is unclear, but it seems like it should be explained, please ask and I'll make sure to clarify c:

Can you tell me about (character backstory/spoilers/ aspect of lore not touched on in comic yet)?

No! I don't want to spoil those kinds of things, I'd rather they come up naturally in the comic than dump them under an ask.

I'm a firm believer that if it doesn't happen in text, it's not cannon.

[shai-manahan]

Hi! It's been a while since I've talked about the upcoming updates, but I finally had a chance to actually sit down and make plans! (the life of a corporate slave, am I right? 🙃)

It has something to do with the changes I will be implementing on my patreon, though. I've thought for a while how to give content that's worthwhile of subscriptions while also making sure I can be comfortable with them, and in all honesty, I had a tricky time doing it. HM is too personal for me, as I used to talk about before, and some of the patreon benefits I promised before eventually felt too revealing - of my own thoughts and people whose lives were a huge inspiration for this story.

I will be talking about these changes and the update schedules as well below the cut.

UPDATES

I aim to finish at least half of HM's Book 1 this year. It seems to be a more realistic goal than forcing myself to finish everything right away (which tbh may have been a huge pressure I put on myself the past few years), though admittedly, things are unpredictable in the field I'm in; my job is full of overtime hours, and I spend most of my weekends trying to recover (or sick).

Still, I gotta finish it one way or another, and it's not going to write itself (though I wish it would!), so yeah, set realistic deadlines, pull out a few all-nighters, and maybe I'll actually get through it, who knows?

I do hope I'll have steadier finances by the time Book 2 starts so I can put more focus on writing and have sufficient energy for it, but that's a conversation for another day.

Changes in Prologue - Chapter 2

Okay. I know I promised not to make revisions until I write more chapters, but changing how some game mechanics work and reworking the stats made it a necessity, and I underestimated how much rewriting I'd have to do. A few scenes ended up not working well anymore, and I couldn't resist from revising a few clunky sections while I was at it.

Dialogue options were one of those that were significantly affected by the stat changes, but no worries, nothing is changed in the story -- meaning Wesley still fucks with the Ripper's life (oops), Richard still goes off doing whatever non-sus thing he's doing, you can still punch Bale (it's even a lot funnier this time), Bertrand remains a bitchy cop, and you'll still have your sad flashback with your former best friend/lover/crush or whatever they are to your MC.

The plan is to release the updated version of Prologue and Chapter 1 to patrons by the end of March (I will have a few days off work that week) and release it to the public once the new content is also ready, which I presume will be available next month (I will keep you all posted but I really hope I can get it done by then because it's been forever 🥲).

I might tweak Chapter 2 a little so the available portion can stand on its own rather than be divided into two parts, because it's just too long lmfao and is harming the pacing as I keep worrying about the length. I'm also incorporating a few suggestions a few folks gave me these past few months.

Succeeding chapters

I've probably said this before but things are bound to get more insane in HM once we're past the first three to four chapters. But also quicker to write in a way. They're the kind of scenes I thrive in, and while they have bigger variations, they're a lot more fast-paced, characters start being manipulative little shits, and the threats are more prevalent than ever. Your Ripper will not have a good time, but I certainly will (I say as I look at my outline and get sad doing it). There will be a few "breaks" in between, but this is not and will never be a light-hearted story. Anyway, I'm inclined to believe I'll be more consistent with updates when that time comes, so bear with me for now :')

PATREON CHANGES

This is getting long, so I'll just list the updated tier benefits and end the day with it. I'll be posting a schedule that I will be committing to (here and on patreon tomorrow morning), with the below details as well (so if you wanna stop here that's totally valid) but for now, here's the tentative list:

Tier 1

Early access - 4 days before a public update (this month will be an exception and you'll get the update as soon as the other tiers get it, too).

Sneak peeks and deleted scenes - I included the latter because apparently I delete a lot of great scenes

Hints for future revelations in the story - the categories will depend on results of polls; the hints may be about Bale's death, about Ripper's family, Pharos, Cyro, the ROs themselves, or the nightmares that the MC is getting, etc. Might be in form of vague conversations/dialogues between unknown characters, might be me dropping subtle info about those involved. Either way, it will be fun :). The polls and these hints will be given monthly.

Tier 2

Early access - 1 week before a public update

all the other benefits for Tier 1

monthly RO snippets - I'm still experimenting with this, but I might simply write MC x RO snippets (with different kinds of MCs for different scenarios because I deeply hate writing blank slate MCs, sorry)

a choice to see the POV of a character, decided through polls, for every chapter/update.

Tier 3

Early access - as early as it's available and goes through testing stages

all other benefits for previous tiers

Non-RO short stories

Previews on unintroduced characters :)

That's all for tonight! I am so tired lmfao but I hope you all are having a great weekend so far! See you tomorrow :)

[milkovichrules]

sorry to come into your ask box but i just rewatched mickey’s coming out scene and i just… i get choked up every time. i love ian but i also feel like he pressured mickey into coming out. of course he had to set his own boundaries but he KNEW how badly mickey was treated when it came to his sexuality, it’s almost seemed cruel to give him that ultimatum in some way. but then mickey comes out and all he could do was look at ian and ask if he was happy!!!! like i cant even explain all the emotions noel was able to put into his voice in that moment, it literally break me just thinking about it! he knew what was coming and he still only wanted ian to be happy.. thats really just something. i dont even have words for it but i wanna let out the loudest scream about it

hello sweet thing!! you're always welcome here💕

tbh the coming out scene always reminds me of noel's fucking beautiful ig post about Ian's character but especially 'the truly remarkable thing about Ian's inner courage is that it's infectious. to put it simply, he's brave and an undeniable reminder to those around him; they can be brave too.'

I used to absolutely not be at all but I am definitely an Ian defender about this to a certain extent.

like do we enjoy ultimatums? fuck no. it's a shitty way to go about it. BUT I have to think about what's probably going through Ian's head, right? keeping in mind he's in/just coming down from what we can only assume is his first ever manic episode.

mickey came to find him, literally carried him home and protected him from creeps. gave him a place to stay and didn't just plonk him on the Gallagher's doorstep, actively chose him over his marriage. went to the Gallagher's when Svetlana kicked him out and asked him to come back, agreed to do whatever he wanted to get him to stay with him. slept next to his tiny bed on the floor.

mickey kissed him, full on made out with him in public!! that's so huge!! he accepted an invitation to a little gay party with ian's new friends. he slept in the same bed with him without fear in a house full of strangers!! he doesn't even know that mickey told that guy that they were together 😭

we all know mickey is an acts of service girlie but Ian is the kind of person that needs to hear it too. and when Ian DOES ask it's 'of course we are'. like it's a given. mickey doesn't need to have the conversation, but Ian does. and as far as mickey's concerned 'it's working out so far so good' to be a couple that hides.

there's a million reasons mickey might want to still keep them a bit of a secret (though its a pretty open secret at that point). sure I think some of it is to protect his reputation, to not have any sort of weakness, and to some extent I think he feels a lot of pressure in protecting the reputation of the Milkovich name, no matter how infamous it is. maybe because of how infamous it is.

but I also think it's because what he has with Ian is theirs. and its something in both of their lives that's genuinely really beautiful.

like not to bring up 3x666 but that's obviously the moment that the bubble really burst. he had built up this little secret life with Ian behind closed doors and he was opening up! he was falling in love! and once people (Terry) found out it was just ripped open completely. ruined. I think there's some element of mickey wanting them to be back at that place before it all went to shit. which of course, they never can be.

just like when Ian starts heading for the door in the alibi. he doesn't think mickey's going to do it. Ian's going to walk out and not see Mickey for a while and then in a few weeks it'll be 'just cuz I've got a wife and kid doesn't mean we can't still bang' like it was back then.

but now mickey knows what it's like to lose him and he doesn't ever want to do it again (which 🥲 but anyway)

the fact that when Ian tells mickey he's sick of living a lie mickey's immediate response is 'I'm not lying to you' somebody fucking sedate me

and of course Ian wants mickey to come out so that they can be together but 'you're not free' absolutely kills me because he just wants mickey to be okay with being himself openly. and 'what you and I have makes me free' and ian's FAAAACE but then Terry shows up and he has to watch mickey tear himself away and go straight back in the cage and it hurts. of course it hurts.

so Ian drinks a little and lets himself stew and shoves mickey toward the edge of the cliff.

mickey's voice when Ian tells him not to bother coming back and he says 'what the fuck are you talking about?' breaks my heart every time because they're fine, aren't they? they just have to get through this bad thing and then they can go back to their little bubble.

mickey's always in survival mode, just varying degrees of severity. you can see him, literally see it on his face, weighing the options.

what's gonna happen if he does nothing? he's going to watch Ian leave. again. he's going to get blackout drunk and go home with his wife and his son and his fucking dad and wake up like that every morning for however long he can stand it. he's going to be walking on the eggshells of his own broken heart.

what's gonna happen if he says something? he's going to be physically hurt. he's going to bleed. he's going to have to bite and scratch his way out of that bar unless he's arrested or knocked out first. there's hopefully enough people around to keep Terry from straight up killing him. and what else? Ian stays. Ian stays and they get to go home together. take care of each other. sickness, health, all that shit.

so he does it. he shouts and he bangs on that table and he says it and hes fucking brave!! because he might think he's fucked for life but he has one beautiful thing that's worth fighting for!!

oh my god and him asking 'you happy now?' I fucking knooowwwwww honestly it makes me a little bit? insane? there is SO much going on there.

fucking getting everyone's attention to announce he's fucking gay and 'I just thought everyone should know that' and then looking at the only other openly gay person in the room and going 'you happy now?' jEEEEEsus like?????????

the eyebrow raise as well like 'you know exactly what's gonna happen now' and of course it does.

but Ian absolutely no hesitation gets stuck right into the fight!! and he says 'I've wanted to do this forever' which, same babe. I too would take a chair to the back wrestlemania style to defend mickey milkovich.

all my blorbos shitty dads I would be in your walls but you're all dead so✌️

[katatty]

Sims Say the Darnest Things: When you get this, list five of your characters and their best quotes so far. Then pass it on to five other storytelling simblrs.

Aw man, this is a fun one! I've been writing stupid stuff for my sims to say for so long it's hard to think of a top 5, but definitely have some funny moments I'd like to reminice on :)

“Who cares about work? Money isn’t everything, Raye!” “I’m just not sure I’m responsible enough for this. I feel like a kid myself half the time!” “Well, better grow up fast, because I’m keeping the baby! Bleh!!”

This line from Emmie is iconic to me and kind of sums up both the good and bad in her character! She's enthusiastic, chirpy and always ready to jump into stuff but can be kinda selfish/thoughtless with like, poor boundaries lmao. It also always makes me giggle adding "Bleh!!" to the end of her lines idk

Bella: Cassandra! Oh my, are you all right? Cassandra: I’m fine, Mom. Bella: You’re having a mental breakdown on our back porch!

idk this is just funny to me bc Bella is half concerned for Cassandra and half worried that Cassie is bringing down the vibe at her fabulous dinner party lol

Camellia: I keep thinking I’ve forgotten something!  Lori: Cami, I feel like that almost all the time. Nine out of ten times it’s nothing important!

I'm realising going though these most of them aren't even particualrly "great quotes" they're just things I found funny to write, haha. My way of escaping the "5 characters" thing by making them all require context or somehting. idk! RIP to Orion

Lilith: Since when you do you cook, anyway? Ashley: I’m teaching myself. It’s called having a growth mindset, you should try it. Lilith: Hey, I’m all about personal growth. You know I achieved lifetime happiness this week? Ashley: Our date was that good, huh?

Ashley & Lilith's unhealthy-ass relationship banter is always so fun to write, I really miss them! I really like having sims actually mention, like, game mechanics? Lilith saying "I achieved lifetime happiness this week" just tickles me. tbh i also think "it's called having a growth mindset" is really funny, really fits ashley's self-improvement-reddit-guy vibe

ok and my all time favourite scene/quote is this ripp moment idk this was 5 years ago but i still laugh thinking about it it was so unhinged

“So this makes us and the twins, what? Step-siblings? That’s hot.” “You are such a pig, Ripp!” Lilith kicked him under the table. “I’m gonna kill you.” “Chill out, Tank! It’s not like it’s real incest! You and Angela can keep fucking if you really want to.”

like most inappropriate and gross comments of all time????????? lmao. very sad that Ripp has grown as a person I miss writing him as an immature dickhead lol

ANYWAY thank u for sending this, it was really fun & nostalgic and has me really wanting to actually write posts again, maybe I will queue some up :)

tagging @potential-fate, @moocha-muses, @dunne-ias, @antisocialbunnysims & @rurpleplaysmuttingtonac if any of you fancy doing this :)

[jezmmart]

Unwarped version of the photo from the very end of the Summer Special for funsies.

No more jokes or avoiding questions about exactly how long it's going to be, the Summer Special is truly over now!  Thank you all again for reading. I hope it was enjoyable for those invested in the characters and those who just tune in each week for a quick chuckle alike.

It's been a fun challenge to write my first longform story for the comic, as it's far from something I'm confident in.  All together it clocked in at 85 pages (though shave a few off in spots where I just used negative space for dramatic effect rather than filling the longer pages with panels all the way down).  With the average page taking me 3-5 hours to make, that's about 14 days of work.  If I just didn't sleep I could've cranked this out in less than a month, dang!  Well, next time.

I've had the jist for this story in my head for a fair few years so it's been nice to finally realise it.  I'll get into the nitty-gritty when the trivia posts get this far I'm sure, but while it's still fresh in my mind, here's some off-the-cuff bits regarding the broad story for fun:

(Spoilers for anyone who hasn't read it yet!)

* I originally envisioned this as a thing I'd secretly work on behind the scenes and drop in its entirety for download, framed like a traditional "summer special" magazine. But unfortunately I just don't have that kind of time, and knowing that it would be years of work to do it alongside my other output, paired with the fear that not every reader would necessarily ever get around to reading a longform thing when they're used to just tuning in for a 30 second fix once a week and moving on, it became a no-brainer to just make it a "special" in spirit only and make it part of the main comic.  And I know myself, the only way this was ever getting done is if I just posted that first one and then locked myself in to having to finish it, one week at a time.

* The fact that I did it in 2022-2023, and the pacing of the story for the first half, was entirely dictated by the fact that Chamomile's update day was due to land on Christmas Day in 2022.  If I wanted to make that inappropriate Christmas Day comic joke, it was now or never, and because it needed to be a standalone ridiculous one comic scene in juxtoposition to the rest of the story-driven special, staging it as a dream sequence between the two days had to be the time for it.

* To that end... when I began working on it, I didn't have the whole thing planned out.  Day 1 of the trip was more or less sorted but I still had a ton of comics that were just scenes with no jokes yet, and Day 2 was a big question mark that somehow had to lead to Vi's dramatic reveal to Bri and realisation/meet-up with Sam at the end of it.  Day 2 was only fleshed out and finalised by around December last year, when everyone was going to bed on Day 1!  The idea to more thoroughly conclude Brianna's story in an extra epilogue, segregated off from the rest of the special so Sam and Vi's scene would still feel like a "climax", and also allowing the summer special to continue through this year's summer rather than ending right beforehand, only came to me early this year, and finalising the particulars of it came right down to the wire, with all the comics involved fleshed out and ready to go basically when I began drawing the first (or maybe even second, lol).

* On the note of Brianna, her story here is a lighter version of a story idea I had for her back before Cammie even existed and I was considering making a comic about her - a story in which someone returns to their hometown or a special place to find solace but instead finds out that everything has changed and has to learn a hard lesson about how nostalgia can't save you from adult life overwhelming you etc.  In my head it was to be a relatively sombre mood, but tbh I don't know where to begin writing something like that and have it be engaging throughout.  All I know is how to do jokes!!  So I mourn the loss of that imagined version but I'm happy I made something of it at last.  It's impossible to make stuff to your initial vague vision, it was always bound to change!

* While weekly updates meant I never had the time to flesh out their pre-relationship friendship as much as I'd always imagined I would... Sam and Vi have been destined to happen since Sam was introduced to the comic.  Been playing the long game in trying to make them inconspicious but shippers gonna ship and plenty of people saw it coming, but that's fine, haha!

* The elongated search for a 20p coin to get into the public toilets and then it turning out that contactless card payment could have been used the entire time was a real thing that happened to me and my partner during our 2016 holiday in New Forest.  It was really really funny and I've been sitting on the story in order to use it in Chamomile at some point for years and years.

That'll do for now!  Please look forward to the return to regular ol' classic Chamomile antics from Sunday!

[neonscandal]

Thanks for answering my ask from a few weeks ago @neonscandal ..... If you don't mind me asking (again), what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before....

Thank you for asking in the first place! ❤️

Not at all unique is the fact that, as soon as I get asked a question about my top faves, I immediately draw a blank on everything I've ever enjoyed or watched, ever. 😅 I'm sure that's not the first time you've heard that. No need to apologize, as you can probably tell from other asks, my answers change regularly. This is my anime/manga blog so without any regard for order:

Life Lessons with Uramichii-Oniisan (anime) - depending on how old you are, there's a cognitive dissonance that occurs when you're no longer younger than nor the same age as your favorite protagonists in the stories you grew up with. This is the anime that eases the blow of that like the ibuprofen you now keep at home, at work and in your purse. And it's hysterical.

Attack on Titan (anime/manga) - There is something to be said for the eloquence of the exposition in this story which, when you know Isayama spent years shopping his art around to no avail because of the roughness of his style, makes perfect sense. While refining his art, he had all this time to pore over the story, hide little easter eggs so there'd be one string that gathered up all seeming loose ends. Just an incredibly interesting story to unfold. It's the kind of thing you wish you could read again for the first time but that's laughable because, every time you read it, you notice something you hadn't the last time.

To Your Eternity (anime) - This is the Grey's Anatomy equivalent in anime. Like, oh. You're emotionally constipated and need a good cry? Pick an episode at random. Watch a whole season if you're really about that life.

Sasaki to Miyano (manga/anime) - TBH I tied between this or Horimiya. They are not the same story but hold similar places in my heart. What I love about Sasaki to Miyano is how delicate it is. Yea, slow burn, whatever. But no, it just kind of gives Miyano space to come to terms with himself and Sasaki is the safety net that accepts him in all forms. Can love be this sweet?

Goodbye, Eri (manga) - Fujimoto is off the wall. Chainsaw Man is an excellent representation of that. Seemingly unfocused and always good for some sort of shock factor. I've been wanting to write, for some time, about how Fujimoto is like a trickster of a genie but I'll shelve that for the time being. Goodbye, Eri's disjointed narrative as if told in photographs and the art style which shows movement despite its static medium. It's a really elegant piece with a plot twist you don't see coming because, of course you don't. That, in fact, is part of the whole message of the story, isn't it?

Ranma 1/2 (anime) - Nostalgia. This was the first anime I ever watched that I locked into. It started me on a path of drawing, it encouraged me to seek out other shows.. this series is what started it all wayyy back then (okay, not that far back then, this was in the 00's). Tsundere x tsundere, yes but also just the immediate identification with characters who couldn't authentically be themselves because they kept bending and breaking under external pressures. I could very much relate and empathize even if the chaos of their universe was too fanciful for my own. Also, pretty sure Rumiko Takahashi is the longest running mangaka with consistent chapters in Shonen Jump for the last 40+ years is wild.

Vinland Saga (anime) - I honestly don't even know what to say about this story. But I think my favorite observation is a post I saw someone make where they wrote "No one will know the violence it took to become this gentle" with a picture of Thorfinn. And they were so poignantly right. Phenomenally twisted revenge story that is not at all satisfying. 10/10.

Link Clink (donghua) - This show is a vibe. If it hasn't been on a recommendation list yet, it's coming. The music, the art, the unfurling back story of the main characters as they untangle the lives of others? It manages to be both gutting and cerebral at the same time. Like every time I watch I'm like... I need to read the source material because the complexity of the concurrent storylines makes it such a head scratcher as to the larger plot.

Jujutsu Kaisen (anime/manga) - *Gestures vaguely to the rest of my blog.* We're still in the throes of how this story is going to play out which is nerve wracking and exciting for all its possibilities. I hold out a lot of hope that we'll see some stunning exposition in future chapters that we won't see coming.

Belle (anime) - It's just beautiful. 😘👌🏾 I talk a lot about my niece and nephew because I've turned them into my dorky little mini-me's. Also, being an aunt is like the best job. Belle is a movie that had them both gagged with the animation. If a show or series can get both of them to put their ipads, books, art supplies, etc. down, then I know I put them onto something special. Honestly, anything I enjoy with them makes it that much more special to me, personally.

This was lovely. I'll get back to posting lists soon, feel free to check out other recommendations!

[hikennosabo]

trimax vol 12 random thoughts

okayyy i'm FINALLY done with all the art i had to do this week so i can focus on writing this post lol. this volume is so much, i don't know if i want to read it again...

i love that vash is ourple on the cover <3

chapter 1:

i like domina, she's cute. tbh i wasn't sure whether she was a plant at first because i assumed they were all blonde...

wait, pause, tell me about this. what are the circumstances of the other plant fusion incidents. were they rebelling against humans, same as knives? or were there other reasons??

vash's black hair is so STRIKING. i'm sad about it but i also kind of love how it looks...

the memory montage has been talked about like a dozen times by now, so idk if i can add anything that hasn't already been said... LOL. there's some deep cuts in here, i don't even remember them all... it really speaks to vash's memory of people. and there are anime-only characters too, which is cool! part of me wants to go through each page and label everyone but... nah.

ik they've taken a bit of a backseat in the latter half of the manga, but i feel like meryl and milly's section should be larger. :( and for that matter, legato takes up a lot of real estate on his page?! that's kind of unexpected... although legato and vash DID have that seven-month-long psychic battle... and i guess legato is on vash's mind rn because of the coins... so i suppose it makes sense...

a few things about the ghg page - first of all, WHO is that on the top right?! is that supposed to be elendira??? is it??? because it's not like vash doesn't know what she looks like, they've met face to face!

secondly... livio. this is his old self. face in shadow, skull mask visible. i don't think this necessarily means vash still views livio like this; that's unlike vash. livio's face is obscured while his mask and long hair are highlighted, both things that he has discarded along with his identity as a gung-ho gun. this is vash remembering the gung-ho guns specifically. it IS a bit sad that this is what livio gets... i suppose drawing him twice might've been redundant, but still...

a bunch of people have already pointed out wolfwood's grave being depicted next to rem and given equal weight/importance (page space) as her, so all i'll say is that scrolling through the pages and expecting to see wolfwood but getting hit with his grave instead was a fucking gut punch that i DID NOT need.

anti-plant missiles... so plant incidents have been common enough that they'd need to be built in the first place, and built into the fleet at that...

so they CAN be broken apart?! i see...

domina is so funny.

the ark just straight up vanishing really had me think for a second "wow! so that's the power of thor's hammer!" but no it just teleported. LOL

knives... oh, knives... he's looking less and less like a person. i'm probably supposed to be horrified, but i'm just sad.

chapter 2:

knives is the first creature in the universe to warp... wow... he's so talented~ i'm proud of him~

domina is so CUTE!!!! it's too bad what happens to her right after this... and it's impressive how likable she becomes in just a few short scenes. it makes her death more effective than it would be otherwise.

nothing to say, i just think they're cute.

knives putting his feelers out to interfere with the earth fleet was brought up in... volume 9, i think... so it's not like this was completely unexpected. (also "feelers" is kinda cute... like a bug...) wow... knives is fighting so smartly~ i'm proud of him~

i speculated a few volumes ago if knives would try to "save" the earth plants, but he just want to kill them... or at least kill the independents. i still feel like i don't have a full picture of what it's like for plants on earth or the relationship between humans and independents. either way, it's unconscionable to knives that independents would work with humans like this...

chapter 3:

perhaps i shouldn't laugh but shooting straight up into the air is such a dumb thing to do. haha get rained on idiots.

brad is stunned at their idiocy, lol.

chronica worrying over domina is sweet. she's not always "cold and calculating"...

i love how this spread is framed, with the black bars on the top and the bottom. it's cool.

and the double meaning of the chapter title. "the interceptor"... knives intercepting the earth fleet and vash intercepting knives's connection to the fleet...

uhhh... i don't have that much to say about this chapter...

chapter 4:

the universe conspired to deal me massive psychic damage by having 'brother' by gerard way start playing on shuffle while i was rereading this bit... i don't NEED this right now!!!!!

NOT THE IMAGE OF THEM AS KIDS

I'M EATING ROOOOOCCKKKKSSSS!!!!!!!

people have already pointed out knives covering his eyes (and vash covering his own with his sunglasses), it was a fucking punch to the gut the first time i read this chapter and it still is and i am fucking EATING!!!! ROCKS!!!!!!

is that REALLY the reason why you don't want to see your brother's corpse, knives?? is it really???

people have already talked about vash's little gunman speech so i won't say too much about it, except that it's fitting that we started this story with vash being just that - a gunman - we didn't even know about him being a plant - and now vash is determined to end this story as a gunman. well, "end," sort of. there's still 2 volumes left.

also, we're recycling chapter titles again for some reason... we already had a chapter titled "the gunslinger" in volume 6...

chapter 5:

should i call these their "teenage years"? ...i'm writing that in my notes.

i wish i could express my emotions about the plant twins beyond incomprehensible screaming and eating various things (rocks, glass, drywall...) because then i might have more substantial things to say LOL...

the virgin "did you really just shoot me?!" 98 knives vs the chad "if you're going to shoot me, improve your aim" manga knives

y'know, up until now, i never really bought the claim that "tristamp made knives more morally grey," because i was thinking along the lines of "the morality of his actions didn't change, orange just took a magnifying glass to his emotions, so he's easier to sympathize with," but... they COMPLETELY changed the context of knives cutting off vash's arm, huh?! i guess they DID make him more morally grey...

he's ready to go down with knives. if you'll excuse me, i'll be crunching on some more rocks.

chapter 6:

can't help but remember baby knives saying "we can work through a few little differences if we just talk to each other" :')

trying to talk to the plants... yeah... good idea! it's too little too late for knives because EVERYTHING is for him, but... it's a good idea!

okay, so the story of the village. they got kicked out of the city for being "contaminated," so they built their own village and had to resort to stealing from travelers to survive. right... chaining vash up is pretty extreme but i suppose it's indicative of their level of desperation. (especially since vash still looks like a teenager, like, as far as the villagers knew, the person they attacked was just a normal human kid...)

obviously this story doesn't move knives in the slightest, but even with the explanation for the villagers' actions, the bit about "the contaminated humans being kicked out of the city" is a different example of human cruelty that knives could've spat back at vash, lol. like, they were kicked out, and just left out there to die i guess? with no resources or plan to supply them with anything? except for the lone girl who seemed to be bringing canned goods back, but 1. this wasn't a regular thing for her since she hadn't been back in three years, 2. she was literally the only person trying to help, and 3. it was just luck that she wasn't contaminated to begin with - if it weren't for that there would be NO ONE trying to help. not trying to justify knives's worldview or anything but i just think this is interesting because even though now we know and understand the villagers' situation, there's still an undercurrent of human cruelty in this story, and that's something that can't be erased and something that knives invariably clings to to justify his actions.

and his worldview gets even further reinforced in this moment because the military starts shooting at the ark lmao. but then it's vash's friends to the rescue...! the takeaway from all this and the entire ethos of this story as a whole is "humans are complicated," they're not all bad and not all good, vash acknowledges that and tries to see it, and knives does not, blahblahblah it's been said a hundred times...

microorganisms :)

someone in the tag pointed this out already, but the way the earth fleet talks about independent plants is weird. "salvage," "persona," "repair"... that's weird, right? in my last post i said they were giving like, advanced-AI-robot vibes, and this is doing nothing to change that impression. but they're made of flesh and blood...

chapter 7:

knives is wrong about human nature but there sure are a lot of humans in this story who piss me off. fuck you, military guy!!

we all knew that vash was going in to this fight prepared to die, that his plan is to bring knives down with him, but actually seeing him bleeding so much... hurts.

LIVIOOOOO!!! I LOVE YOUUUUU!!!

he's so cute, what the fuck!!!! "i'm mr livio"?!?! oh my god. i'm sobbing. he's so cute.

gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. manipulate, mansplain, malewife.

this image of a single man facing down an entire military...!!! he's so cool!!!!!! also he's kinda caked up too

and he just bowls through them like it's nothing!!! i LOVE watching him fight, livio is one of the coolest fighters in this entire story, i'm so glad we get to watch him kick some ass!!!

chapter 8:

they said it's just a projection, but this is what i was imagining the "consciousness" of the merged plants to look like...

no concept of the self except for independents, i suppose. so do all plants think the same? last volume, vash said something about billions of thoughts being "exchanged," so there is SOME mental distinction between individuals, i think...

i wonder what information chronica is gathering from this, exactly. just the essentials, since time is limited? or all of it, every single detail?? knives's past and trauma included??

he's talking as if this is a mercy. i wonder if that's really how he's justifying this to himself.

oh, just this panel by itself is a fun dynamic. i don't actually expect elendira to live to the end (sadly...) but i AM looking forward to seeing these two fight again. interestingly, she doesn't seem surprised that livio is still alive...

this last bit of the chapter feels like all the dominoes falling at once, lol. elendira and livio, chronica and knives... and then BOOM! LEGATO JUMPSCARE!! ...from. seemingly nowhere. where did he come from. also i still don't know what to make of his... iron maiden... giant matryoshka... i don't know what or who this is!! it's driving me nuts!! is it going to be explained?!?!

chapter 9:

it's SO funny that vash says this because I WAS ALSO WONDERING THE SAME THING!!! the previous volume put so much emphasis on the coins that i assumed vash would fight legato FIRST and THEN move on to knives. but he never wanted to fight legato to begin with, so it makes sense that he'd skip right to knives LOL.

knives GRINNING when the earth ship appears and then staring straight down the barrel of their cannon... he's not afraid at all. dare i say this scene is pretty cool. knives and chronica are now on even ground in terms of knowledge about each other, and knives probably knows this, but he's still so confident. and then the cannon fires and he BLOCKS it. i shouldn't be complimenting him so much in this post. but i must give cool credit where cool credit is due. this scene is COOL!!!!

oh, so this IS how his powers worked all along, okay... i was confused. i guess this means his power in tristamp is different... because it's clearly NOT strings... it's just straightforward telekenisis i think... hmmm...

... i'd previously heard about what legato's backstory entails, but actually seeing it...

...

knives isn't even visible in this spread. legato hasn't even seen knives yet. but the framing of legato looking at the vast sky, the light, is evocative enough.

legato being able to even control knives with his strings... well, he was able to (somewhat) control vash, so it makes sense that he could, but i've never really thought about the implications until now. under different circumstances he could've been a massive obstacle to knives, if not outright stopped him.

new hair, new outlook, right?

and okay, sure, it's likely that knives's train of thought was "i could use this power for myself, so i won't kill him," but i want to believe there was something else... legato was used and abused by humans, and knives isn't stupid, he can see that just from looking at the state legato's body is in. so maybe knives recognized there's a kinship between them, even if he'd never admit it... i dunno, it's just, his expression here... it's hard for me to describe, but it's something...

oh, this is making me feel something. this is implying knives gave legato his name, right? that's... oh man. i want to say that it was kind. i don't know if i can call it a bond, but their relationship, whatever it is, is deeper than i imagined.

"...but in that moment, i was reborn." new name, new life, new purpose...

on a lighter note, now i'm thinking about where legato's name actually comes from, and i'm remembering this comment from nightow:

i want to believe knives thought the same thing... LOL. as for "bluesummers," "blue" obviously came from his hair, but "summers"... i want to say maybe it was summer at the time of this flashback, but i'm not actually sure if this planet has seasons...? do they ever say if it does??

oh, legato... my legatito... i should've known he'd be one of my favorite characters the instant he showed up in tristamp voiced by kouki uchiyama LOL. i've laughed at him a lot and made fun of him a lot but i really do genuinely love him.

i fully do not expect him to live to the end... but i'm looking forward to seeing whatever else he does before he goes...

[halo-lll-odst]

can you tell us abt your ocs :]? any one of them maybe even multiple of them !! if you want

SCREAMS SOFUCKING LOUD OH MY GOD THANK YOU LOOKSS AT YOU WITH MY BIG AUTISTIC EYES ok well i have a handful, but the one i've been posting about most is spring/her universe!!! i should probably post about her more but thats a different subject lol spring is a character i made in 2019 i think? tbh, she used to be a throwaway character. sorta character you made when you were younger simply because you wanted to, but with me getting into ultrakill in recent months and rediscovering my love for robotic characters i decided to revamp her and rewrite aspects of her story basically, she was human at one point. she went through a procedure called a "transfer", because she was terminally ill. what a transfer entails is basically just turning a person into a computer. converting biological workings to those of a computer's. this grants the patient virtual immortality, but of course with limited technology, loss of many senses physically. the biggest problem is that spring did not give full consent to have this procedure done on her. in fact, she didn't even know it existed. the only reason it was done is because her widowed mother was a scientist working on researching and refining the technology, working at a facility a ways outside of the town they lived in to advance this. also before i go forwards i should say that the story takes place in the past actually. only by about 20 years, so early 2000's, i'm thinking 2001 specifically. though, when spring's transfer happens, it's 1988. since spring was terminally ill, she was in and out of the hospital a lot, getting check-ups, physical therapy, or otherwise. when her condition dipped, long hospital stays weren't out of the ordinary. in 1988, this same thing happened. she went into the hospital, expecting to be out in just a few days, maybe up to a week. this wasn't anything new to her. she had danced with death before and had basically accepted it. (btw in 1988 she's 19) but her condition quickly begins to decline, and she falls unconscious, having to be put on life support. her mother, in a panic and frankly having planned and prepared for this since she expected the worst, packs her up in the middle of the night, and heads to the facility in an ambulance, just with her and her daughter. there, the procedure is done. she couldn't bear to lose her daughter, what else could she have done besides just letting her slip away? i'm still working out the logistics of this story (despite how illogical it all is) so this part i'm still torn on? but for whatever reason, spring goes dormant. she won't respond to anyone or anything in this new state she finds herself in, and her mother panics. she thinks she killed her daughter. she failed, everything she worked for just reduced to nothing in an instant. a year or two goes by, and spring's mother, overcome with guilt and sadness, moves away from the state that she lived in with her daughter after her supposed death and subsequent funeral, and throws herself into her work harder than ever. she never wants anything like this to happen to anyone ever again, and wants to make sure others can live happily with their relatives for as long as they want to. she wants to be able to save those lives that are so kind, so pure. those who went before their time. needless to say, spring's mother is. fucked up later, in 2001, spring is still being housed in the facility she was originally transferred in. however, she is just being held as more of a case file than anything in a storage wing of the facility, or so everyone thinks. OK I'M GONNA NEED TO POST THIS IN PIECES BECAUSE TUMBLR IS BROKEN AND WON'T LET ME POST IT OTHERWISE LMFAO. ALSO I HIT THE TEXT LIMIT. ALSO SORRY FOR TAKING ALMOST A WEEK TO ANSWER

[elizabethshaw]

thoughts on "echoes"!! under the cut bc of spoilers:

this boxset absolutely came out at one of the worst possible times for me (my busiest day of the week, at a time when i have 6 different exams, a presentation and also assessments for my home uni to prepare for), and i fear it may have regnited my 8das fixation somewhat which is. not something i have time for rn lmao. we'll see how it goes i guess! anyway personal stuff over now-

i definitely enjoyed it overall! i'm still not entirely sure where i'd rank it in comparison with the other post-stranded boxsets but it was a lot of fun, and it was (as expected) a joy to hear this tardis team together again :)

i will say however that i did have one major qualm with it, which is that i felt a bit let down with how little it followed through with the emotional plotlines set up in the preceding two sets. i got the feeling when listening to "what lies inside?" and "connections" that they were very much going somewhere with this team's (particularly helen's) emotional arc, and while i won't deny there were some nice scenes with them in this set, the fact that these threads were otherwise left to one side most of the time was a disappointment. there was potential to do some really interesting character work in continuation from the events of those previous episodes and it just. didn't happen. i don't want to sound too down about it because i did still really enjoy these stories, but i think this side of things was missing a little bit for me. hm.

anyway, episode-by-episode thoughts:

birdsong

i think this was my favourite of the set. i really love audio drama that leans into more horror-adjacent aspects (even though i'm not a massive horror fan otherwise tbh), and also love it when audio drama just gets kinda fucked up with it. this story hit on both counts for me :)

love that this continued the running trend from the previous boxsets of the episode starting with eight, liv and helen just getting to be silly for a bit before the Horrors inevitably happen :D

lowkey actually love the concept of barcodes as a written language! part of me wants to try and work out how that could work now

scots pine trees... it never rains... bracken... sand... they're literally in breckland lmao

saying that it does also have the Suffocating Quietness going on so i think i'm onto something here...

when the vortex previews for this set mentioned a family member of helen's first mentioned in doom coalition being relevant to this story, i wasn't expecting it to be the grandmother she mentioned in "ship in a bottle". however it was actually really nice to have helen's relationship with her developed further, and it was woven into the story well i thought

being Normal about the scene between liv and helen at the fireside. i am being so normal about it

"i'm not sure i could do this with anyone else, you know? everything from exploring strange new worlds... to talking about my family." i'm fine. i'm fine!!!

[putting on my clown shoes] this is how liv/helen can still be canon in some form before helen inevitably dies! :))

i love how vivid this story felt to me. i always end up getting visuals in my head as i listen with any audio drama but some stories end up, for storytelling or sound design reasons, or both, creating really clear and vivid pictures in my mind and this was definitely one of those

i hope to god that when i visit home over the summer and listen to these with my mum (who loves these audios but refuses to listen to them without me, which is kind of sweet of her), my dad is not in the same room. i love him but he absolutely would be asking me to pause it every few minutes so he could identify the bird calls and then also getting really frustrated when i inevitably end up being unable to guess any of them correctly myself lol. the pains of being related to an ornithologist

big fan of the way things got increasingly more disturbing towards the end. i do think the eight-liv-helen era has been lacking in terms of properly creepy stories (this is just my personal taste tbf), so it was cool having them properly lean into that for once. i have to say though the mental image of the scout's body with all the roots forcing their way into her eyes is not going to be leaving me for a long time

also thought the sound design was really well done on this one!! you could really feel the discomfort of the silence i think

got slightly choked up at helen and liv singing to bex as she died. i might have just been in a weird mood while i was listening to it but. yeah. it did something to me

anyway had a lot of fun with this episode! it had a lot of elements that appealed to me personally, and the character work it did was nice. i look forward to listening to it again one day :)

lost hearts

m.r. james episode!! i've only ever read two of his stories (both of which are products of me knowing this episode was coming haha), but was quite excited for this one regardless because a) ghost stories! and b) he's actually got connections to a village in the area i grew up in, and as i've never actually seen/heard any stories set where i come from in my life, it was neat to have a story in my favourite show, featuring some of my favourite characters, star someone more or less from where i'm from :')

have to say though i am disappointed to have lost the unofficial "will they namedrop great livermere" bet i had going on with my mum and brother. it's such a middle-of-nowhere village (it's not on the way to anywhere, has 3 streets (one of which is named "the street" and another of which is actually a dirt track), and you invariably see more chickens there than actual people), it would have been deeply amusing to me for it to have canonically existed in the dwu

loved all the direct (and indirect) callbacks to "the red lady" in this story! it felt fitting seeing as on some levels they do share certain elements in terms of plot/setting, and was also just fun for me as that is one of my favourite stories :)

was also a big fan of how active the story felt (not sure if that's quite the right word?) - each of the characters had a clear role to play and all the main cast got something to do, it never felt hugely like any of them were being sidelined, which does happen on occasion with 3+ person tardis teams

if helen had punched someone at some point in this story i honestly wouldn't have blamed her

"he's like the museum of cairo, stuffed inside a... well, a-" "a rude, ungracious little twerp?" oh my god askdfjdsfjkds

(let her swear!!!)

i like how the story was riffing off some of the plot/vibes of m.r. james' actual short story "lost hearts" (helpfully one of the two i've read)! it gave it that nice kind of connection, without feeling overly derivative and like it was straight-out copying it

my only main issue with this episode was that robert felt kinda underdeveloped. they started off well in his opening scene with liv, but i don't think we got enough of a chance to get to know him as a person after that point and i think the story suffered for it a little. i don't think it helped either that he's not a family member helen had ever mentioned prior to this episode, so they were essentially having to start from scratch and with everything else going on in the narrative, didn't quite find the time to give him sufficient detail

loved the emotional moments that were brought out when helen got erased... "helen, she's my- she's everything i have left" ough

and the salzburg parallels?? liv attempting to fly the tardis in a desperate attempt to rescue her friends, much like helen did? this is so... it's a lot

i won't lie, it did feel a bit odd to me that they would go to such lengths to avoid actually naming the uni in this episode as cambridge. i suppose it may have been to avoid spoiling the "it's m.r. james!!!" reveal at the end, but given that i think anyone who would have guessed it was him from the setting being cambridge probably would have guessed it anyway beforehand either from the episode blurb or the fact that the episode literally starts with him reciting one of his most famous short stories, it feels a little pointless. i mean i clocked it as an m.r. james episode when the set was announced and i had never read any of his work at that point lmao. not a glaring issue or anything, but felt like a weird choice

anyway loved helen getting to geek out a bit at the end... i love her :')

i think i'm going to have to relisten to this at some point so i can fully get my head around it but i did enjoy it!

slow beasts

this was a solid ep. not my favourite story this tardis team has ever had, but i did absolutely enjoy listening to it, and thought there were a lot of really good ideas in it!

the colonialism plotline especially worked really well for me, it felt pertinent in just the right sort of way. it's not necessarily something new for dr who, but i think it was definitely a good example of how to do it well.

i think "simple, but effective" is the way i'd sum this one up tbh. not exceptional, but it knew what it was setting out to do, did it, and did it well, and i think that worked. it did admittedly feel a bit strange after two more complex/experimental sort of stories, but i don't think that's any reflection on its actual quality

"here is the psychic paper. be confident. it only works if you're confident." "but... i- i'm not confident?" me if i got asked to use the psychic paper tbh

enjoyed the use of the translation circuit in this one :) i have a lot of thoughts on it as a general thing so i always like seeing the ways it gets utilized in different stories

so! had fun with these! a couple of things that maybe could have gone better, but overall a set of three stories i had good fun with and i suspect will enjoy listening to again. fingers crossed the december boxset is with these guys again and they do a bit more with helen's emotional plotlines next time :)

[humanmorph]

pal30 AND pal31. a package deal. i actually just forgot this post in my drafts last week & there's a lot of related stuff here anyways

30

A lot of people have talked about it and Number of the Beast is very scary to me. I've already seen people do math about the probability but even without that just listening I was like.... isn't that way too likely??! The wording of it too is so. Like it's cool flavor but it's also really awful... "If you ever roll 3 sixes you are killed in a spectacular fashion and are claimed by whatever terrible power most interested in your soul [...]" Hm. I'm frankly not sure how I feel about it. I guess, like always, it would depend on the framing it's given but just on paper it feels bad to think about Clem getting them after they finally managed to break free. I'm not even a Figure-head like some of my mutuals but I really really want to see them continue on this path (pal31 note: I love the new "Using this new lease on life on violence would be a waste" hook. It reminds me of Valence.) ... Also. Well. Still thinking about Austin being like wow finally I have someone onscreen for Perennial to communicate to (that isn't Clem). I want that too...

I'm not 100% on Armour Astir rules still but does the Investigator as a support playbook not have a mech? They don't, right? (I do HAVE the book, but I haven't closely read it, mostly skimmed over moves.) Of course a class like this has different advantages and I'm loving the Investigator so far but I WILL just miss Keith mech combat. He's so good at making really effective characters, but I guess Phrygian was kind of a high point for that (one-shot kills, baby!!!!! god. Phrygian ruled).

Speaking of Keith characters. The bit to get in the bathroom felt so much like being stuck in a point & click adventure game and you look around and talk to the person there & try like 3 things that don't work & then you go oh RIGHT I have this tool I forgot about because I never used it before! So that was fun to me. God I just enjoy Eclectic so so much.

And I really loved Keith losing it at the fact that the first thing he did was stalk a guy & follow him into a bath room. On a whim. It's sooooooooo funny I love you Eclectic it makes perfect sense to me Leap would be like yeah I trust this guy to handle this & send him. It just paints a picture that I like looking at. A lot (pal31 note: And he IS competent he does his job he's just also a weirdo. Just like Leap...)

I'm a bit. Hm. Connadine? I guess I should wait to see how that develops but it's kind of like... I guess don't want Jack's cool guy to be no-sold (?). I don't even think that's something I need to worry about, because Austin just wouldn't do that, but it was a thought/feeling I had and I want to catalogue it at the very least.

Other than that. Oh what great scene. I was cackling. "Bro's out here cruising" "Look, a clue's a clue"

EDIT: I don't think I took any notes on this but godddd the intro!!!! Who does it like Friends at the Table!!! Incredible work. I imagine it might've worked even better for ppl who hear that voice reguarly (I don't have tiktok & only watch ones on my dash basically). I also am... just kinda interested in the production/making of that tbh. I don't know how the tiktok thing works, but I know that with other voices like that it matters a lot how you type text because it can change intonation. And if it was put in as one text vs singular sentences, and if that changes anything? I mean it was edited for timing obviously, but I just wonder how much vs the initial input. Interesting to me.

31

Let's start with the Connadine business since that's what I ended on. It was good. I looooved the conversation on the rooftop. Eclectic's cracked face. Connadine's risk of "curious", Austin saying something like "it would be easier for him to not be curious about this person interrogating him". Likeeeee. OK. There was an energy. To me. There was. Which is just funny because it's never ever coming from Keith but his weirdguys are just so compelling to people around them aren't they... A SHORT ASIDE: read this good fanfic recently. grey to black by tenworms. And I already thought about ways synthetic beings can show intimacy or perform pleasure(...strange way to phrase it but it's what I've got rn) recently because I had Leap/Figure A on the brain for 4 days straight, just stuck up there (and it's a bit different there again because Leap is Equiaxed, right. And also I've developed specific opinions on their relationship or how they express it but anyways). All that to say idk what's up in that regard with Delegates, it may similar, it may even be a little weirder again because they're part Divine and maybe sometimes a little magic, but you know. At the very least. He COULD have fingered that old man ASIDE FINISHED Nevermind all that I read @/swallowtaileds post saying Eclectic should start a Gravity Clock with him and I would really love that! Great idea. He's got free spots anyways. Hopefully ensuring Connadine to show up again? Then again, he did sound like he thought it'd be best to get off-planet... Which doesn't necessarily mean /he/ plans to, but I would guess that was the case. I wouldn't want to see my replacement come in, but yknow. Hm!!!! Jack!!!!! (This is the second time in the past week a FatT episode has made me go "Jack!!!" in an incredulous tone. The first time was the introduction of the hole in Grandpa's Farm. Which is so concerning to me.)

It does feel kind of weird that the Paint Shop is just felled this uncerimonsoul unceremoniously (edit: I cant believe I forgot to fix that. This word has entirely too many vowels). Eclectic just did that... On his first mission out... and it wasn't even the mission he was on (!). And like, it makes sense for it to be that easy because it was literally planned and aided By the head of the Paint Shop. And I think this is something that will have the most interesting repercussions for the next faction game, and I have no doubt something really sick will come about with it. So while I don't really care for it now (funny factor aside. Love this for u Eclectic.) I'm taking it as a "wait and see" thing. Also like. What is Eclectic doing now. Like in this sortie? I guess he could keep investigating but he did already get some info.? And I don't know, but it doesn't extremely seem like the other side is gonna wrap up super quickly. I did just remember he still has like, all of his B-Plot points or whatever, so he should probably use those to help the rest of the crew, but also. I don't know it's like whatever happens he Already Basically Felled A Pillar (and Jade Kill most likely will do the actual felling, but come on).

Quick Gur mention: I cheered YES! out loud when Dre failed that roll (sorryyy) and then went Noooo..!!! a few minutes later when they rerolled and succeeded. Very funny for Gur to just pop in going "You can't simply leap into holes!!!" I love him soooo much. I'm back to hoping for Figure to fail rolls, and honestly it's bad for them to roll too well anyways, so really. Who's to say if that's bad or good.

And just bc of my recent Integrity post I have got to mention this: a scepter huh!!! A scepter! Just after losing(?) Dahlia, a ruler twice-over. Something to be held, or wielded. Something no longer in connection with its pilot! This Integrity does not demand intimacy. Or it won't have it, not from these people (reading @/madetolooklikeus' posts earlier)... I still have my thoughts on what I think is interesting to happen to/with Integrity but they have shifted substantially. I am sitting and stapling my fingers like that one guy and having thoughts...! HM!

EDIT: OH RIGHT actual plot stuff on the other side: Nideo huh. Well I'm suspecting STEREOMA I guess? Bad to hear about what Nideo has been up to on the moon though. Horrible in fact. Oh I really don't want that second clock to take something that isn't theirs to finish... Chimeric Cadent.... : (

New hooks and gravity clocks are over both these episodes so I'll just put it here. I already mentioned Figure's new hook above, and I really like it. And not to just repeat myself, but it DOES remind me of Valence. This would be an outlook they had. They could've said something like that. It is also just a direction many Dre characters go to, I think, but of course Valence stands out with the direct connection to this season via the last, and also of course to Brnine. (I know people always go on about character haunting a narrative and sometimes it's like nah that guy just died but Valence Truly For Real IS.) Speaking of Brnine. "I'm living on borrowed time, keep up their fight." is crazyyyyyy Brnineeeeee with the survivors guilt!!! Oh it's yummy. To me. It was a bit funny to me when they were like oh is that a plural they? and had a little hehe about it because I straight-up had not thought that it wasn't. ...It's of course very fun and tragic and sexy for it to be about just Valence but I WOULD like it to be about Phrygian and S.I. and other people they've had to leave behind too. I think that can both be true though too with the way Brnine avoids to even think of them(Valence). God. Living on borrowed time... I forget who said it, Dre or Ali, but it really does play nicely with Figures new hook. OH and then with the new Thisbe clock for Brnine!!!! Augh!!! "Brnine is capable but brittle. Their success and survival is the only way forward." Oh... and I wonder how Ali will word Brnines new clock for Thisbe on the other side. It's so interesting in the way she talked about it, how that relationship might differ now. I need it I want it to turn around in my head. God these two are truly just so. I will never ever forget about "Operant Broun lies to me because they believe I am a person." Janine is just so good at this.

[irisbleufic]

not enough musical beetlejuice writers are using justin collette as their baseline bj. omg, my glee when i found your new 70k and counting series! you’re portraying his mannerisms and speech patterns so accurately and lovingly with just enough appearance hints to evoke his adorkable face. do you picture the rest of the touring cast members when you’re writing the other characters or do you take influence from other sources and places?

It makes me incredibly happy to know you can tell that from the way I'm writing him, thank you! I haven't tagged my stories as such or anything (it didn't even occur to me to check for such a tag, TBH). I've also talked about seeing the current touring company on my blog, although maybe you haven't seen those particular posts. In any case, I'm happy to be filling a perceived gap in the fic landscape! I haven't surveyed enough to know if I see that gap, too, or not (early on in my writing ventures in any given fandom, I'm slow to start to read others' work because I never want to be too strongly influenced so I can set my own tone).

Justin Collette just. Ugh, I'm almost mad about how much I love what he's done with the role, because heaven knows I thought my gold standard would always be Stephen Ouimette's voice work on the animated series. I found a Collette interview on YouTube a couple weeks ago where he talks about having loved the cartoon growing up, and how it's informed his performance. I remember listening to the Broadway Cast recording a year and change ago, long before I saw the show, and I remembered loving the music, but finding the Beetlejuice and Lydia performers' voices just...so-so? Like, I'm not sure what it was, but I only listened to it once, and I didn't go back to it. Now, post-touring-company with Collette and Esler, I feel extremely spoiled. If there was a recording of the touring cast, I'd be listening to it every fucking day. I haven't loved an ensemble cast this much in a long time.

That's a neat question, re: what I picture when I see the other characters. I mean, I should preface this with saying that even if I'm thinking of a particular actor, my imagination always, always ends up making modifications. I adore Isabella Esler's Lydia, although the Lydia I see in my head looks different from her and even from young Winona Ryder. I can't really say that I transfer cartoon Lydia's likeness onto the real-life Lydia I picture, either. I'm not an artist, so it's not easy for me to describe what I see, except in the way I describe her on the page. The Charles and Delia I saw on tour actually do figure strongly, but not completely, into what I picture for them, as do Barbara and Adam (especially Adam; that actor is so incredibly distinctive and engaging, love him to death).

Anyway, thank you for your kind words about my stories and the question about character appearances. I enjoy it when new readers pop in to let me know they're lurking.

[gimmethatagustd]

Hi!! Okay so this is a bit of a weird ask (??) but I just went on a ~trip~ through your blog and thought you'd like to know. Maybe. Possibly.

So, I randomly remembered about TFM Yoongi, and super super got the itch to re-read it again. I knew it was on hiatus (literally a few days after I first read it 🥲), but I had it saved on my ✨secret bts fanfiction side-blog✨and on ao3. Couldn't find it. Panicked.

Quickly skimmed through your masterlist and wips - no signs of life. Maybe yoongles took it with him to the army for some late night reading? I considered sending you an ask, but then I was like - No, poor babygirl author probably gets a bunch of these, I'd much rather go through their posts, than to be yet another "WhEre iS tHe fiC" random stranger.

So I did. Did I find any additional info on it? Why is it gone? No. We love tumblr's search function 👍 It's fine, I'm emo anyways, grief is my companion (joking - you do do. It was fire though, I miss it dearly. Jimin was so sassy "Miss Thang" omg. Also poc rep ?? Yes).

HOWEVER. I did notice the delicious amount of DPR IAN discourse (my husband actually) AND that one post about Logic's Supermarket (i have yet to read it but the album is so slay. I actually like it better than some of his "official" stuff oop-). And I just kept thinking, damn, I love the vibes here, we're practically besties at this point.

So I guess here I am??? I don't even read that much BTS ff anymore BUT 👀 I'm all up for more Adorable Representative MCs For Youth content on my dash. We ball I suppose. I hope you have a nice day/week/ whatever 💜

HI I'M SORRY I'M FINALLY RESPONDING TO THIS !! i've been such a mess the past few days from work, so i wanted to make sure i gave myself time to actually respond to this ask properly since you were kind enough to send me such a lovely message!

you are correct, TFM is gone 😭 i deleted it from tumblr and AO3 because i was unhappy with my writing and where the story was going. i was excited for it, and then everything kinda fell apart. I'm sorry!! a lot of people got mad at me for that LMFAO, but i really grew to hate that series, and i figured it would be better to just delete it. i didn't delete the actual fic tho. like i have all my writing saved. i've considered rewriting it to be yoonmin instead of a reader-insert cuz i lowkey hate writing reader-inserts but i still do it for my tumblr followers hjsdfks but that is TBD

i'm glad you enjoyed it tho!! i think i got in my head over it idk. i love the idea and the characters (and FUCK YES diamond was my favorite character. we need queer poc representation in fics~ one thing about me is i'm gonna always give it if i can in a fic 😤) but yeah ! ANYWAY

DPR IAN. i'm gonna write a drabble for him, probably in February~ so i hope you enjoy it when i do!

AND OMG ok i need to read supermarket soon. we can do a book club lmfao. i will 1000% be your bestie, i mean, we're already there atp like you said. dm me whenever you want ok ok ok

i'm happy to be a bts ff dealer for you if you're ever in the mood for it 🙏🏽 I'm honestly on tumblr for the vibes and friends atp so nice people like you are why i stay 🥹 i hope you're doing well !!! you're so nice

ALSO yes i stalked your blog and 👀 sleep token 👀 tbh idk anything about them but i know some of their songs and i am very into it

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

for the 2023 in review ask game

1, 18, 23

Yay, thanks for the ask!! <3 (2023 in review ask game)

one. What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

I never thought I'd write about Garak dying in a fic because it makes me too sad to even consider, so that was a new thing for sure. As for how it turned out, the fic ended up amazing tbh (Julian goes full mad scientist and brings him back to life). <3 But I also don't plan to write that particular scenario again lmao. Anyway, the fic in question is save me from the dark (The Wire AU).

In terms of craft rather than content, in nothing to hide (holo!siskarak OMB AU) I used the format of switching back and forth between a series of flashbacks and a conversation about the events in those flashbacks to great effect. I managed to avoid writing all of the tedious descriptions of how characters got from point A to point B, as well as the rehashings of an episode everyone knows by heart, and ALSO skip over the gaps in the dialogue I didn't know how to bridge seamlessly. Felt like such a lifehack when I realized I could structure the fic that way. It won't work for everything, but I really am gonna try to apply what I learned from that experience to writing future fics.

18. What was the hardest fic to title?

home is wherever I’m with you (post-Second Skin garak exile angst + garashir first time). Pretty sure that I had that fic written and postable like weeks to a month before I had a title for it, like, that was the ONLY hold up. And I'm still not fully satisfied with that title tbh, but it's Fine.

23. Share the final version of a sentence or paragraph you struggled with. What about it was challenging? Are you happy with how it turned out?

Hmm. One kind and helpful thing that my brain does for me is that I immediately forget all the details of the parts that I struggled to write and/or was not happy with, once I've posted the fic. XD

(I just went back into a fic to try to quickly find a part I struggled with and ended up making minor wording tweaks and typo fixes throughout the whole fic, so at least I can definitively answer the "Are you happy with how it turned out?" part of this question with a resounding "ALMOST, but not entirely," which is basically applicable to every sentence I've ever written+posted lol!)

Anyway, here's some sentences from a section of the world will never take my heart (In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light whumpy hurt/comfort) that I def struggled with:

Julian presses his cheek hard against Garak’s shoulder and greasy tufts of his hair brush the side of Garak’s chin. Under the sharp smell of his blood, there’s an additional sourness that makes it clear that Julian hasn’t had a chance to wash up since his stint in solitary, but Garak doesn’t even consider pulling away.

This bit in the first draft was originally much more focused on Garak enjoying the feeling of having Julian in his arms but I changed that (upon your excellent and much appreciated suggestions, stuffedtiger! <3) in order to better fit the tone that I was going for. I do think it still reads romantic but at least now the romance is not the focus, the focus is more towards the horrible situation they're in.

[iricathel]

just how much are you willing to read about why ruki is the perfect match— i mean rukina is the ship ever and the more i read their interactions the more i find myself nodding along like yeah they’re meant for each other they should get married this instant. wait. they did dfgdfg so i’ll save you the trouble of talking endlessly about the reasons they just click together because i’m sure you know about those already (a future long ass ask maybe? 🙏)

shuu — i think this one would be fun because they strike me as partners in crime. at least a bit. i think shuu would enjoy irina’s attitude and strength and maybe irina might like digging into what shuu’s actual personality is, facade aside. don’t ask me why but i sense some strong magnetism here. hottest blondes in the area, people move aside to stare at them (i at least would)

reiji — i really am not being that original but. hear me out. people that can ruin your self esteem and bring you down to your knees however you wanna take that one. i think reiji can work really great with someone that is both capable and incredibly smart but isn’t afraid to speak their mind. irina’s balance between not letting people step on her while still managing to keep everything under control… a ship filled with political and romantic intrigue (?) also pls reiji would go insane with someone that is both fancy and playful and damn. irina could tease the heck out of him, i’m calling this a win on society

lina ily sorry for the spam <3

Omg Kuu ily so so so so much wtf this is so sweet 😭

— Talking about Rukina, ofc I have my own opinions about their ship since I made them interact not only here, but for YEARS with different people and different sites and it's wild for me how even if the "admin" changes, they still have that magnetism no matter what (and also there's a reason why it's my fav ship sjsjsjsjsj). But ofc I have mostly my view and Ruki's admin too, I'm always glad to read people's opinions about their ship and how they feel them work together since it can open our eyes¿? Like maybe there's something we don't see but it's so obvious for others— So my askbox is always open for all kind of rants everytime you want 😤

— I'll try to save my analysis for the match-making post sjsjsjsjsjsj

It's right that for both Irina and Shuu it will be intriguing to meet each other, since one will feed the other's curiosity — Not to say that also Shuu will enjoy fr teasing Irina. I can also tell as both are candidates for their own clan's throne it would be crazy af if they marry bc imagine all that power??

But I don't wanna break it too much, but even if they can start so well, I think there would be a divorce so fast too sjsjsjsjsjsj But I will talk deeply about this in another post since canonly Irina knows both Shuu and Reiji

— It's funny to me see some people seeing Reiji as a good partner and the arguments are so good tbh, but if you look at it separately.

Reiji with Irina is one of the most problematic ships she could ever have and that's bc the beginning of their relationship is so tense and polemic even they feel uncomfortable with each other's presence bc they snap their traumas. Like they just need to look superficially to each other and they travel again to their childhood to revive their traumas again and over again

+ I feel like Reiji would see Irina as a disgusting woman bc even if our girl is a fancy, elegant woman with some manners, she's clearly not the perfect woman in his eyes either. And that's a problem for both ngl

BUT(T) NOW I SAY AGAIN, I WILL TALK DEEPER ABOUT EVERY GOOD AND BAD POINT FOR EVERY MATCH IN ANOTHER POST probably in a week

Again thank you so much Kuu for writing this bc I also love to see how people pay so much attention to my ships/character that they can tell things I never talked about before here 😭😭