#this is one of the most fun stories i've ever worked on it's so !!!!! augh !!!!!!

[ruvviks]

'Look- Ghouls,' Layla quietly said, leaning over Mac as she pointed at a few rapidly moving dots in the distance. Mac gently nudged Gabriella's camera aside, the knot in his stomach tightening when he moved a little closer to the backseat window to be able see it as well. A small horde, charging with incredible speed at the opened hangar of the wall. They moved unpredictable; changed direction to the approaching vehicles, a view similar to a flock of birds going for a sudden dive. Several little flashes of light came from the cars, and the ghouls dropped one by one- the gunshots were too far away to be heard. || [x] + [x]

[classpectpokerap]

How do you feel about the portrayal of plurality in Homestuck? Because it’s not good.

Cherubs are “supposed” to predominate over their other personality. With Calliope being portrayed as naive for trying to co exist.

Horuss is mocked for being a system. But I’d say it was a king fun of people who pretend to be mentally Ill on social media for clicks.

Then their are the sprites

okay so

i guess we're doing this

HOMESTUCK AND PLURALITY: A PRIMER

BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST THERES SO MUCH

SO SO SO MUCH

okay. so

homestuck is one of the best pieces of media of all time for plurality and i fuckin mean it. no shot do not pass go i have NEVER seen anything that is more built from the ground up to Support plural reads. like, to the point where it feels impossible to read homestuck without it.

as a work dealing with two huge primary themes of a) finding yourself/identity/growing up, and b) ideas coming to life, plurality is pretty much the Perfect intersection between the two of them. like.

take rose for example.

rose is plural and it's great.

when the doomed timeline evaporates, future dream rose does not actually "cease to exist." she ceases to exist as her own person -- her memories, experiences, personality, thoughts (or, as shorthand, her selfstuff) all flows back into rose prime. and that experience is just something rose has to roll with. one becomes two -- that other rose is still in her mind.

jade's plural and it's great.

when her dream self awakens as jadesprite, jade has a horrific argument with her. if you're plural i'm sure you understand. fighting with an age-regressed version of you, stuck in a traumatic past, who WONT FUCKING LISTEN -- we've all . been there.

she has involuntary barks, she can't stop seeing images of fire, she wants to go back to nonexistence but she doesnt want to die and it's torture,

and then in cascade, jade fuses with her.

dream jade is still in there. that part of her she has to grapple with is still real. her dog who she loves is in there, too -- but, yknow. woof

then grimbark gets forcefully introjected into her. i've seen a few fics play with the idea that the grimbark personality is still residually there (read ygtpoasu), but it's not a huge thing that's explored in the text. more backgrounded. but still! her crisis of identity is in there.

wanna know what's NOT backgrounded

tavros's plurality is like, a pretty big factor in his character!!!! it's one of the bigger points vriska uses to bully him with (because she's projecting because she's projecting because she's projecting, because she's also plural and kins mindfang), it's like. a big thing that he has to cope with and figure out.

kanaya suggested tavros treat his self-confidence as his own brain guy, like, completely sincerely. she genuinely thought it would help, and it sorta did!!!!!

and like

it is FAR from the only positive example of plurality in the comic.

like. look at sollux and aradia defending "alternate reality copies" of characters -- which can be pretty easily extrapolated to them talking about fictives

like. !!!!

i dunno, man. i think that homestuck is a DEEPLY plural story. you should read mtm and kgtac for more exploration of these themes. read detective pony too while you're at it. like.

i havent even TOUCHED on horuss or dirk or karkat here because there is just so much. there's so much! like ultselves. oh my god i completely neglected to talk about ultselves or cherubs or --

augh

but anyway here's The Screenshots from mtm

homestuck is, like, the single most fictive compatible fictional work i've ever read.

"oh im being sent to another universe as a brain ghost? that happened to my buddy dirk"

"oh im one of many incarnations of myself, and perhaps not even the most 'canon compliant' one? haha dream bubbles moment"

"ive been isekai'd into another world? lol sburb"

it. yeah. god. i could literally talk about this all day. but instead im gonna direct you to my ao3.

check out no metaphors and then scroll through the "multiplicity/plurality" tag on my page

and if youve got more specific stuff, send in another ask!

[notasapleasure]

I had this draft for the 8 shows to get to know me meme that no one tagged me in, but then @batri-jopa tagged me for this other meme, so I'm doiing them as a mash-up.

10 comfort shows -

- that tell you more than you wanted to know about me. reasons below the cut, but the tl;dr is:

The Terror

Garrow's Law

Ripper Street

The X Files

Utopia

Interview with the Vampire

(BBC) Ghosts

Futurama

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Detectorists

Honourable mentions: Andor (will probably make the list once season 2 is out, but my trust of Disney Star Wars is *so* thin, I can't commit until then, no matter how excellent season 1 is); The Great (it's so good. The script is still one of the most astonishing works of art I have ever encountered. But comfort TV? hell no.); see also, Bojack Horseman (objectively great. Not comfort TV); Grease Monkeys (I've got to get hold of season 2, but I'm really fond of its coarseness, wish-fulfilment and sureallism).

Tagging 10 people if they wanna join in, but others feel free to say I tagged you! @stripedroseandsketchpads, @notfromcold, @notabuddhist, @donnaimmaculata, @erinaceina, @boogerwookiesugarcookie, @elwenyere, @kheldara, @bellaroles, @jimtheviking

List 10 comfort shows and then tag 10 people

The Terror: Like Ripper Street below, I feel this show deep in my bones and think I must be actually insane when I try to explain to people what I like about it (watching it literally made my husband's depression worse so I'm not allowed to talk about it. Jk. Sort of. About the last bit anyway). The sheer ridiculousness of that era of exploration has been a firm fave for years and I love how the show weaves horror and hubris together, how it's not a straightforward 'natives get vengeance on colonisers' story, but the colonisers ruin it for everyone, poison life for Silna, too (all without any threat of sexual violence towards her CAN YOU BELIEVE IT). I love all the attempts to impose 'civilisation' on the life the men try to live as they come to realise how doomed they are, how key the trappings of their life become - objects as tethers and talismans. I love how utterly futile it all is. How much they all care, and the audience cares despite that. Self-destruction and salvation all jumbled up together. Two full crews go into the ice and die. The end. They do everything they can not to die and it happens anyway, it's the ultimate 'the love was there and it didn't change anything'. And no one learns anything. Perfect TV.

Garrow's Law: Sometimes I do want my historical drama to be wish fulfillment actually, and this is the actual og fave. No, most of the cases weren't actually Garrow's, yes, it's a fluffy liberal take on things that played out in a more complex way, but the cast is so good, and Garrow is such a likeable guy, but then you see his flaws emerge in such a gentle way through the four series, and it really does case-of-the-week with characterisation so well, and it's got that amazing British TV character actor cast where there's always someone in the background you know, and the building romance between Garrow and Sarah, and the real repercussions of it for her are handled so sensitively, augh the culmination of the series with their own personal legal cases is so good.

Ripper Street: in my head this show was so much more than the sum of its parts. Season 1 was on the surface a fun BBC historical romp. Season 2 I had to watch through gritted teeth because Susan's situation quicked me out too much, among other reasons. Season 3 leaned into the more sinister side of the protagonist and came through as something weirder and darker, a vein which ran through Seasons 4 and 5, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I live for my alternative reading of the migration stories and nightmarish flipsides of people that we get running through the background of seasons [3/]4/5, but uh. the show's tumblr fandom is not a place for me. Reid is actually monstrous, and I like him despite/because of that. Oh man, I have so many feelings about this show, and I'd love to do a rewatch and blog about all my crazy theories but I'd probably have to go into witness protection afterwards. But rest assured, it isn't a show about the Ripper, and it's all the better for that. It does class and trauma so well, it also captures all the optimistic curiosity and the utter hypocrisy and hubris of the Victorian era so well.

The X Files: I mean, it's a formative influence, innit. Seasons 1 and 3 are the best, a lot of the 'classic' favourites are episodes I actually really disliked, even though the early seasons are the best a lot of my favourite episodes are from later...the beauty of TXF is that there's so much of it you can hold contradictory opinions about what makes it good, though, and my theory is that it's at its best when it's early and still being allowed to take its course, where even the mytharc hasn't tied itself in knots yet so every episode is of a higher standard, and then later, when the actors have wrested control of their characters from CC enough to play them like they want, but the good episodes are really just MotW ones because the mytharc has vanished up it's own fundament and I've lost track of whose turn it is to have a near-death season arc. Not technically the TV series, but still, Fight the Future is just so much of its time, watching it is like having a warm bubble bath in childhood nostalgia. Even the later series have things to recommend them - I always enjoy Doggett much more than I'm expecting to, and it's about bloody time Scully got a decent female friend in the form of Reyes...I haven't watched seasons 10 onwards though, I don't feel I'm missing much. Five fave episodes: 1.13 Beyond the Sea, 3.4 Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, 5.4 Detour, 7.17 all things, 6.19 The Unnatural.

Utopia: Tragically incomplete at 2 seasons, but what a pair of seasons they are. Brutal and uncompromising, horrible and compelling, but also frequently hilarious and full of the warmest, most fascinating characters who are all on a journey to Getting Much Worse. It's not something I've been able to watch since the pandemic *weak laugh* but I know when I do go back to it it will remain painfully prescient and uncomfortable. The longing for a 'balancing' and a righting of a historic wrong that drives it, and the desperate failures between people who are really just searching for love and don't know how to give/receive it...ugh so good.

Interview with the Vampire: Just rewatched season 1 and I'm just. No notes, five stars. The way Louis think he's a narrator in control, the way Daniel knows such a thing isn't possible, the way Louis does let himself get drawn on things, the way Armand sees the danger in this but it's not in his control any longer. Memory is a monster. The Odyssey of recollection. Fucking won my heart with those lines alone.

(BBC) Ghosts: Ok, I will say that I think the last season was actually a bit weak. They were in a hurry to finish, and they got away with wringing the feels from the important bits (The Captain's death was perfect and I will say this over and over again), but it felt like it was in a rush to come up with scenarios that would force admissions like The Captain's, whereas the show is at its best meandering around in a buffonish way that suddenly results in a Big Oof moment. Robin's arc in season 4 was a great example of this, as was Mary's. But basically it's still simply perfect comfort TV: silly but not malicious, unfair but kind to its characters. I'm going to miss them all so much, but I'm also going to rewatch so much.

Futurama: bit basic maybe, but I have watched it so often and I can watch any episode (ok, except for Jurassic Bark) again and again and again. I don't think I've binged any TV show so often with so many different people. Not sure how I feel about the immanent revival, but this has always been my favourite Matt Groening product, so fingers crossed.

Avatar: the Last Airbender: without getting into like...fandom discourse, man, this is a really perfect show. No need to say 'ooh it gets good after--!', it's just good from the beginning. A really well fleshed-out world, great characters who grow through the series, enough self awareness that the 'clip-show' episode Ember Island Players actually builds on the characterisation and addresses ambiguities in its own plots. A show that sticks to its principles and doesn't fudge the ending and also consistently looks gorgeous.

Detectorists: I had to put it on because no other show has literally made me fall off my chair laughing. Are the main characters useless? Yes. Is it often perplexing that the women in their lives spend any time with them? Yes. But that's forgiveable, because it's ultimately so kind to its beleagured characters and things work out despite their stupid decisions. Also it just captures rural English eccentricity so well. They're all such freaks (affectionate).

[fuck-you-upmusicbracket]

Bye Bye Yesterday (Assasination Classroom)

We laughed and we fretted/Over silly things, nonsensical things/Once the final bell rings out/The fun times will be over, too

"AUGH. KOROSENSEI.this song fucks me up the most of any song in the world. every single time i listen to it i cry. the good times have to come to an end, all the fun memories will stay with us, tucked in our bags, but we have to say goodbye. it’s over."

Waving Through A Window (Dear Evan Hansen)

On the outside, always looking in/Will I ever be more than I've always been?/'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass/I'm waving through a window/I try to speak, but nobody can hear/So I wait around for an answer to appear/While I'm watch, watch, watching people pass/I'm waving through a window, oh

"OUGH. THE ENTIRE SONG JUST MAKES ME M E L T. I KNOW EVERY WORD BECAUSE OF HOW BEAUTIFUL BUT SAD IT IS. poor evan just wants to be seen. he wants to be heard. he doesn’t want to be left alone in the dark anymore. but because of his anxiety he can’t reach out to people. AND REALLY SAD THING I DIDN’T NOTICE UNTIL IT WAS POINTED OUT WAS THAT CONNOR WAVED AT EVAN DURING THE SONG BUT EVAN DIDN’T NOTICE SO HE RAN OFF IN FRUSTRATION OUGH WHY??? and the KEY CHANGE. FUCKS ME UP SO BAD. because before it it’s singing “If you’re falling in a forest and there’s nobody around, do you ever really crash or even make a sound?” which is one: sad because it’s about feeling unseen in need and two (spoiler): IT’S HOW EVAN TRIED TO KILL HIMSELF. he let go after climbing a tall tree in the park he worked at, but he broke his arm instead of dying. and then just before the key change evan asks “Did I ever make a sound?” and it’s silent for a moment before the key change. OUGH. BEAUTIFUL. MAKES ME WANT TO CRY. YOU CANNOT REPLACE BEN PLATT’S BEAUTIFUL VOCALS, WITH THE AMAZING INSTRUMENTAL AND THE CHOIR SINGING IN THE BACKGROUND. SO BEAUTIFUL, SO CATHARTIC, MAKES ME WANT TO BAWL MY EYES OUT EVERY TIME."

Poll Runner: This musical RUINS my mental state every time I listen to it, and this is the song that really digs into Evan's character and what the story is actually about. Feeling invisible, unable to help yourself climb out if the dark mental hole you've dug. Just the lyrics alone... never mind there's those gorgeous harmonies in the chorus repeat that feels like life is spiralling around you... it's fine.

[cassyapper]

oooh how about these? ✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites? 🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic? 🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

ask game

OHHH THESE ARE REALLY GOOD QUESTIONS...THANK U SO MUCH FOR SENDING THESE IN I APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH DUDE <333

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

AUGH THIS ONE IS REALLY FUCKING HARD ACTUALLY cause literally every single comment i've ever gotten means so fucking much to me. just shit man like. time and energy are the most valuable resources a human has. so the fact someone used time and energy to read my fic in the first place, and then used even MORE of that time and energy to discuss with me about it? for my own fic? like. that's jsut. it's so insanely validating and just. it truly means so fucking much to me. so because of this every comment i've ever gotten like, has always stuck in my head i cant really let any of them go. and it's very hard to pick a favorite

however, particularly the ones that are like... "i have chronic pain issues and i see myself in ur kakyoin" def mean a lot to me as jsut, a whole "genre" of comment. because like, his portrayal there is frankly FOR them to see themselves in so im glad im like, doing it well enough so far. i hope to continue to do this. also as an extension of this it means a lot when comments mention liking how i write kakyoin cuase like, i really do, uh, worry about how he's coming across 😭 i know my 4yoin is a LOT sharper than many others and i know it can be kinda alienating tbh so like. im really glad people like, give it a chance. and then even like it on top of that. AND JSUT. last one but comments that like, dissect how i've set up jotaro and kakyoin. and like how they've both made mistakes here but they're still able to fix it if they jsut try. i really like those hehe like YES....YES.... U GET IT U GET WHAT IM PUTTING DOWN it's jsut so fun. UM BUT YEAH

🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic?

IT'S ACTUALLY UH, NOT THAT FUN OF A STORY 😭 my mom was/maybe still is idk, a "fandom mom" type of person so she got me into fanfiction way too young and i started writing fic as a result to kinda, idk, bond with her cause she also wrote fic. it didnt really work because my mom was into smut and well, obviously i wasnt writing that as a 7 year old. it didn't help that in the fandom we were in together, i didn't like her main ship at all. but it did get me into writing! it's been something i've engaged with since then and i've always loved it even if yknow 😭😭😭 weird origins

🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

TO BE HONEST....A LOT LMAO but it's usually when im dozing off and jsut need something to occupy my mind enough so that my thoughts can slow down into unconsciousness. but i do also jsut, read my stuff sometimes cause it's for MEEE so. lol <3

THANK U SO MUCH FOR ASKING DUDE AHH <333

[justaduckarts]

oh i totally didn't realize i hit anon on autopilot but hi!!!!! YES PB AND NIGHTMARE CHICA.....springtrap and moon of course!!! i love them ur honor 🥺 kissa them on the foreheads!!!

avery 👏🏼 our 👏🏼 beloved 👏🏼 also the sibling shenanigans in GOU......the perfect blend of annoying but willing to murder for their younger sibling asdfghjk very valid of him

honestly working haunts is a lot of fun, i've been doing it since 2014!! i've only ever done one theme park style haunt though, cause i primarily work interactive theater haunts which give a lot more freedom with scares a lot of the time! i hope you get to work one at some point, half the fun is really just enjoying being scary and committing to the bit!!! i've genuinely met some of the kindest people working haunts (which is another thing you totally nail with moon and the other nighttime animatronics!! i've seen the same guys make grown men almost cry and then turn around and drop character to get someone who was having an anxiety attack out of the attraction to give them space to breathe; it's incredibly endearing!)

augh sorry for the long ramble asdfghjk but YEAH i've really been enjoying your fics!!!!! there's such a wonderful balance of tension and fluff and SPOOKS.......and again, all of the side characters are really fun and interesting!! i cant wait to see where DLNS goes next 👀👀👀

AAAAA HELLO!! You were the anon! Oh I like your username a lot! Oxymorons my beloved. PB! NC! Moon <3 <3 <3 SPRINGTRAP! (I love writing him as a gentle dad type. He does everything he can to show that he's nothing like the character he was modeled after :') ) They all deserve the forehead kisses, yes!! (Really wanna have Foxy and Monty more present in a story some day... Some day.)

AVERY! And aaaaaa The sibling shenanigans! I don't know if I've shared this before but a lot of Alex's relationship with you is based on my own relationship with my little brother (surprise, I'm the big sibling who annoys my younger sibling XD) Absolutely it'd be hands if my brother ever needed help (even though I'm a little fella)!

Oh, wow! That's like nine whole years of haunts! :0 That's amazing! They do seem like a lot of fun, I'm glad you enjoy them! And I'm glad that you've had so many positive experiences there! People interested in spooky stuff seem to be surprisingly wholesome most of the time, I love that.

No, please, ramble as much as you like! I love rambles! :) I'm so so glad you're enjoying them! Actually, before the DCA stuff, I used to mostly write horror. Wild that I mostly write fluff now XD The side characters! I try to make the world feel a little lived-in so you get better immersion. <3 I can't wait to share where DLNS is heading! Actually I'm working on the next chapter as we speak :)

[2n2n]

The anime kinda sucks but the op and the ending slap

I'm a fan of the anime! Though it doesn't really reflect the sheer beauty of Aida's art and color sense ... I do appreciate that it does try, and has very unique color for any anime, and is faithful to panels as best as it can be. I've seen much worse adaptations, much more generic flat anime (for shounens especially..) ... and it's sadly not as if Aida-sensei can personally do color keys for every episode ... it has better color than most anime. Jewel-toned, saturated, vibrant, I can tell they did all they could manage on their budget to follow the vibes of Aida-sensei's vivid covers.

My only like "augh" about the anime is just the kind of hyper-focus the fandom puts on only the anime's scenes, depictions. It's harder to find a good discussion about later arcs that isn't just reactionary!

I love the voice cast, I love that the twins are voiced by the same person, and Ogata-sensei is quite hype about her role as the Yugi, seems friendly with AidaIro-sensei... I like that she was directed to sound "more ghost-y" for Hanako, I love the delivery, and I love the difference in Tsukasa's higher, more perky tones. I'm sure given Ogata-sensei's prominence as a VA, that she was very specifically sought out by AidaIro-sensei.

Meanwhile Nene-chan's VA sings the ED, which I do adore ... it's very sweet that her VA can sing, and I wonder if AidaIro-sensei specifically wanted someone who could, given Nene-chan does like to whimsically sing little songs... Nene-chan's VA actually does like, singing in some sort of idol app game .. though she specifically sings like, lullabies.... ??? (its been a while since I looked though, so forgive me if details are off).... fascinating stuff. As a result, I look forward to future Nene-chan singing scenes being animated... and I wonder if other EDs would have her singing. I like the symbolic simplicity of the ED animation... very lovely.... very thoughtful.. it reminds me of how perfect some of the stage play's scenes are orchestrated, really thematic, really respecting the story's intentions...

I think about ED songs I like, vibes like this one....

OP tend to often be high octane so I rarely ever like them ... Brotherhood has the kind I like-- slow going into an emotional intensity-- focus on hands, gestures, love the shot of Riza in bed, would die for a vibe like that for JSHK... but even Brotherhood's later OPs are more action-oriented and don't work for meee.... ><;;; what I really like about Aida-sensei's art is how much she cares about gesture, expression, composition of a shot, specific lighting conditions ... I find the series so romantic, I wish the OP focused on that.

I don't actually like the OP of the anime LOL, and I feel like fkldsjsdkl; animating Aida-sensei's horny splash page image has genuinely poisoned the fandom into thinking about Tsukasa as some sexual predator WAY TOO MUCH (because they have to justify it as something other than a fun horny illustration, meant to draw in the proper audience.... ) ... again stuff BEING ANIMATED AT ALL means everyone, kind of, obsessively inflate the importance in their brains it feels lol .... I don't like the song really either, I prefer moody or somber OPs...! I would like something romantic and nostalgic.

I've been kinda hoping the announcement of new material is an OVA, because I would actually personally prefer less anime but a higher budget, getting to really explore a single arc, really get to see the faces rotating accurately (the anime never has as pretty of profiles as Aida-sensei draws;;; it kinda defaults.. the front-facing shots are accurate, but others are sortof 'whatever'....)

my favorite thing about Aida-sensei's art is the facial proportions... they look downright ah, weird, from many angles, bugeyed, tend to have an overbite, smooth muzzle.... extremely distinct

My Little Pony snouts.... gelfling..... cute upper lip....

I like Aida-sensei's art so much, that I doubt any anime would really have a high enough budget to do it justice ... but I don't dislike the anime we got, and just hearing scenes voiced is lovely. There are a lot of lines I am eager to hear aloud ... I think about getting to hear this aloud...

Ogata-sensei would crush it... mnnngh

[susiephone]

Hey, I just wanted to let you know I finished Most Ardently yesterday and it was an absolute delight, well done at both retelling one of my favorite stories while still giving me a couple of new twists. I never thought ANY version of Mr. Collins would ever have my sympathy and support, but here we are. Easily one of the most "AUGH WHY CAN'T YOU TWO JUST WORK THINGS OUT" version of Darcy and Lizzie I've ever come across, which is about half the fun, don't you think? :D

AAAAAAAAAAFGHJKHGFHJKJHGHJ THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I’m so glad you liked it! (And Colin was legit my favorite character to write for. He’s just... *clenches fist* so STUPID.)