#this is vaguely set in the us but since i've never been i just went off vibes and made shit up tbh don't question just roll

[palavapeite]

The doubts that have surrounded me (~7.1k words)

Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: F/F Relationship: Israel Hands/"Calico" Jack Rackham Additional tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Rule 63, lesbian Izzy Hands, Jack Rackham's grand and messy bisexual awakening, ignorant use of queerphobic language, references to past Ed/Jack, wine tastings, hues of gentrification, mentions of heterosexual sex acts, Fingering, Frottage, Internalised Homophobia, Internalised Misogyny, jack is a horny earnest mess

BRINGING YOU HOT MESSY HORNY BISEXUAL LADY MECHANIC JACK RACKHAM because I am painfully, painfully weak in the knees for her, ok? Ok.

This is another one of those "gripped me by the throat out of nowhere and wouldn't let go until it was exorcised" fics that I wrote in a 3-day-frenzy. Bon app the teeth!

[myemuisemo]

In approaching the first chapter of The Hound of the Baskervilles in this week's Letters from Watson, I initially felt that I was sort of cheating as I know I've read this more recently than middle childhood. Then I read the first chapter and realized my memory of the story consists of a vague impression that it has a moor and a dog. Oh well.

Mortimer's staff being referred to as a "Penang lawyer" reminds us that when you live in a colonialist society, the mindset is everywhere. The staff is presumably made from Licuala acutifida, a sort of cane native to China, southeast Asia, and Pacific Islands. By 1889, when the novel is set (five years after the date on the walking stick), British Malaya had been under direct crown rule for a couple decades. The Brits had owned Penang since at least the secret Burney Treaty of 1826.

Dr. Watson's initial wrong guesses provide a window into his world and preconceptions. My first reaction was "how did he think hunt rather than hospital when he himself has medical training?"

Growing up in the genteel countryside would explain "hunt." But Charing Cross Hospital, then located just off the Strand, would have been only about two miles from Baker Street. How do you miss a large hospital?

There might be a titch of snobbery in play, as Watson did his residency at much, much older Barts (St. Bartholomew's). Barts dates from the 12th century, while Charing Cross Hospital was an early 19th century upstart. Watson also went for additional training at the military hospital at Netley.

Watson really puts up with a lot, though.

James Mortimers' publications focus on the idea that illness stems from throwbacks to a more primitive state, an idea also applied to criminology of the day. Through 2024 eyes, this is unlikely to be a good thing, but let's see where Doyle goes with it. I have faith in Holmes due to his love of that book that attributes much of human civilization to non-white world cultures. (Coveting Holmes' skull reeks of phrenology, but I can't believe this was meant as an appealing trait.)

After being informed that Sholto was based on Oscar Wilde, I'm wondering which of Doyle's acquaintances was the pattern for James Mortimer (who is not addressed as "doctor" because he's a surgeon; it's a British thing).

While Holmes describes Mortimer as "amiable" before meeting him, he does not find being described as "the second highest expert in Europe" all that simpatico. There's some impatience in Holmes' chapter-ending request that Mortimer explain why he's there.

At this early stage, I dislike James Mortimer. It's partly the nature of his publications, but also the false humility of calling himself a "dabbler in science" when he in fact has publications, an award, and a degree. It's dabbling to collect bones or bugs or whatever and be perpetually working on a treatise that never gets finished or published. It's not dabbling when you have official recognition within your chosen career for your research.

So what is Mortimer here about?

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

I just want to say that BOTW/TOTK's Zelda is the first version of the character I've ever loved, and I've been a LoZ fan since OoT. It just frustrates me the way some fans lambast her for being angry at Link in BOTW and also claim she was wasted/fridged/sidelined/reduced to "pure sacrificial maiden" and had her adorable nerd personality stripped away in TOTK (also claiming her sacrifice in TOTK is an attempt to validate Rhoam's treatment of her in BOTW). I thought her arc in TOTK was a wonderful continuation of the one she had in BOTW and showed how much stronger she had grown. Poor gal can't catch a break. What are your thoughts?

….I do not know how long of an answer you expected, but I have so many thoughts. So. Many. Thoughts. And boy do I go on tangents when I should be sleeping. Anyway. Here you go :)

For the most part, I hold a lot of the Zelda’s near and dear to my heart! Though, admittedly, it comes from the fandom’s exploration of these characters rather than just purely canonical content.

But Botw/Totk Zelda…. I don’t need any ‘additional’ content or exploration beyond what we see in the games to make me absolutely love and adore her. She is the most developed Zelda and she has an amazing arc— her complex feelings regarding her own magic, the complicated relationship she had with her father, the realistic exploration of her feelings regarding Link and how they went from jealousy and dislike to acceptance and adoration.

I always find that many complex and well developed characters are nearly always wasted on those who cannot look past mistakes (especially ones that set up future developments and start plot lines). Sometimes, people fixate on the moments writers use to cement that yes, this character is in a very low point of their life and the way they cope is not the ‘good’ way to.

The first memory in botw tells us that Zelda is none too thrilled to have Link as her knight attendant and the Hylian Champion. That she’s using him to project her own frustrations regarding her own failures. Which is the very introduction used to draw us in, make us curious about her history and how Link is tied into any of it.

So many just… can’t see past the reason we are shown this memory, nor why her frustrations led her to yell at Link. Because she was absolutely powerless and unlike Link who has had the Master Sword since he was 12, she had nothing to show. And her character is constantly forced to listen to her father, to heed the teachings she was vaguely given through one-off comments her mother and grandmother said. She was forbidden to pursue her hobbies and give it all up for the sake of the prophecy.

And then, to find out that Zelda awakened her powers through love, love for Link who she initially misjudged and mistreated, is so so powerful. Because she had grown to resent the spirits and herself. But Link. She grew to not only care for Link but to fall in love with him. And that instinct, that belief, that faith, that love. That is what sparked the power within her.

Zelda finally heard the spirit in the sword. She understood her part in this fight. For so long she had struggled to find her power, and she awakened it just in time to save Link, but at the cost of everyone else she held dear.

Something I don’t think a lot of people who criticize and hate Zelda understand is that Zelda’s pure and unwavering faith in Link is her drive to make these sacrifices. She knows it will be worth it. Because she believes in Link. And she supports him in whatever way she can. The reason they don’t understand this is because they can’t see past Zelda’s initial emotions regarding Link. They can’t see how she never believed in herself but she always had unflinching faith in him once she got to know him.

Then to see her accept that her magic has been sapped from its constant, draining use for the last 100 years at the end of botw…. It is a powerful moment. She fought so long to have those powers, ones her father berated her for not having access to, but she can finally accept that she can’t hear the spirit in the sword anymore. That’s development.

And for those who think Zelda’s cute adorable nerdiness was wiped from totk obviously don’t have the greatest history of understanding context clues. Zelda legitimately geeks out in the very first opening sequence of totk.

*totk Spoilers ahead*

She goes on and on about the Imprisoning War and the Zonai, taking pictures and obviously ecstatic about the discovery. She finds the Master Sword’s ability to heal itself fascinating. She founded research teams and build a school to further education in Hyrule. She wasn’t just a nerd. She was the Princess of Nerds.

Her sacrifice in ToTK is at surface level the action of a sacrificial maiden. Those who can’t read beyond that won’t understand it any other way. They won’t see how important it is that Fi sought Zelda thousands of years into the past, when in the beginning of botw she couldn’t even hear the spirits. They won’t understand how Zelda’s unflinching faith in Link parallels Link’s unflinching loyalty to Zelda. ToTK is a zelink centered game. Yep. I said it. We all know it’s true.

The entire plot revolves around, get this, Finding Princess Zelda.

Link’s entire motivation behind this game is to find Zelda. That is quite literally all he truly wants to do. He wants to find her. He isn’t there for duty. He just simply wants to find her.

And she is in the past, ensuring Link has every possible thing to help him secure a future for Hyrule. She went from detesting her place in the prophecy, from being forced to comply to her father’s choices, to embracing her role as the Princess of Hyrule and choosing her own way of aiding Link.

Totk gave Zelda the supportive father figure and guiding mother figure she sorely lack in botw. It showed us and Zelda that despite having the things she didn’t have, they still failed. Sonia was killed. Rauru had to sacrifice himself.

Zelda had to sacrifice herself. She was known for being stubborn, perceptive, analytical, and independent. Now she is known for her kindness, her intelligence, her empathy, and her compassion. And she sacrificed it all just to give Link the Master Sword. Because she had unwavering faith he could defeat Ganondorf.

Zelda is a RIDICULOUSLY complex character who has been through so much. But complexity is lost on those who only look for the simple, easy to understand things. So she is bound to have haters.

But for those who can understand and admire that development, we see Zelda for who she is. And if it’s any consolation, so does Link. While this game didn’t officially make zelink canon, they did make it canon that Link stayed by Zelda’s side after the Calamity. Once she was gone, they again made it canon that he would not stop until she was back with him. His Zelda. The one that rambles and excitedly tells Link that so much has happened.

Botw/totk Zelda is so so complex. And for that reason alone, she will have haters. But they don’t know or understand her. Not in any way that truly matters. Because those who do understand her and love her, well, it’s pretty clear that’s the way to go if Link’s main purpose and the entirety of totk tells us.

[katyspersonal]

So, Ymir was full of shit or rather, lost his marbles! I've made some more SOTE progress!

1) So, first I was exploring the various corners I've missed (again, Val's advice since I was despairing to do anything but 'important' points gvghgb) Went in order!

2) I killed the second big red horned bear in this game! And before that, killed two Rune Bears with some success..? Still got hit hard, but I am finally learning to dodge roll properly! Most of it is rolling in, not away x)

It dropped an incantation that is like those dragon head ones.. but like, bear head one gfhhhg And there was another variant of Brave Set nearby (the clothes of bear-hunters)

3) Coincidentally, the very next guy was using this same incantation! It was sending a series of roars that knock the person off! AND he was in the last Mausoleum that I did want to find very much!

AND he also was a Redmane!! They have so many distinct friends of Radahn in this DLC xD

4) The next one was a forge and I was done with running across them orange woods. This is when I finally realized that the big rocky guys needed to be hit while back turned, in the weak spot on their backs, whereas I've been hitting them in the front this whole time... :^)

5) This guy would later become important:

So, they just freeze eventually? It kind of seems like eventual fate of all rock creatures I guess, since they can't age. There are Ancient Dragons in Farum Azula who are just walls now for one

I instantly had a feeling that this would be a good summon seeing how much damage and defence those guys had, and hoooo boy was I right!!

6) OKAY SO I finally did it! @fareehaandspaniards REJOYCE!!! Basically Metyr and Fingers predate Elden Ring/Beast, because it also was a shooting star and Metyr was the first:

I struggled with this boss as you remember, and wasn't even trying to go without summons but just couldn't find the right ones xd THIS guy though staggered her like two times letting me do critical, and lasted ungodly amount of time (until magic attack blasted him since rocks are wear to magic in this game)! But he was SO helpful?

So it was this guy causing ungodly stagger and me stabbing bleed with Mohg's spear jfghyj I also finally realized to NOT, no matter what, get myself caught on the side of her body 🙄 That attack with rapidly moving fingers from her side is NOT survivable nghgf If anyone here makes the same mistake: don't, just always face her.. face, lol

7) Also my idea confirmed! When I first saw this location, all watery and the giant "tubes" going from here to "above", I saw it like the giant fingers so it is some hammerspace version of womb water! Turned out the grace of this place marks location as Finger Birthing Grounds, so yeah!

8) My instant reflex was to go back to Manus Metyr! ...and I got attacked when I had hands full of runes because I forgot to spend them after the boss 🤡 I didn't die, but NEVER forget to level up lol

Jolan first attacked me as an invader, saying we've hurt Ymir so much that he now wished our death, and then Ymir was there as a boss (thankfully a weak one). ?? I was just sitting here like "wait a second, the whole operation was your idea?" because Ymir gave me the map here?

9) So, I started to think about it and recalling what happened before. His last map was captioned "May you join the glimmering stars above" which was sinister, but so was he so I didn't give it an extra thought back then! Now it does seem like he intended for us to not survive that encounter, like same sacrifice thing as with "meeting" Rykard, but there was more

Back when Anna attacked us, I assumed she was sort of enemy. I did tell Jolan about it, but her dialogue was vague:

I interpreted it as Anna getting on the way and Jolan implying that she will or will not kick her ass depending on what Ymir says. But oh boy, seems like I was wrong.. When you kill Anna, the text 'RECUSANT VANQUISHED' appears; the term reserved for Tarnished that hunt other Tarnished! So, knowing that Anna habitually kills people (her own?), and knowing that I was not supposed to kill Metyr despite being sent directly to her, Jolan's reaction to us telling about Anna can be seen as: 'Damn, I started to really like you, but turns out that Ymir wants to sacrifice you (?) and I can't speak against him so pretend that my ally did not try to kill you, okay? :/' but I wasn't aware just HOW right I was!

10) Turned out that Jolan also had the decision split between Iris of Grace (gives Spirit Ashes) and Iris of Occultation (gives her weapon)! Like it was with Queelign! Damn, they made SURE that people either replay this DLC or talk with other players for full lore x) Respect!

11) ALSO turned out that this whole time, there was a secret way to drop atop of the upper section of Rabbath Rise from Shaman Village, where you find a person in the same set sitting in the same fashion as inactive puppets of Seluvis! And it was ANNA, that we could combine with Ashes of Jolan!

frail and WHAT? AND WHAT gdghhgh The text didn't fit, oh my god!!

I asked Val about it, the missing word was 'and pliant'.

12) I also asked him about the 'doll' part, because by all means it should have been 'puppet'! He confirmed that it IS the same term in original because he was confused too and checked earlier: 'doll' here is 傀儡, and is the same used for Puppets in the main game. So, obviously, they were trying to save the letters space! And still failed... XD

13) So, yes, a totally normal thing for Carians to do! Granted, Nox were the ones who started the Puppet dids, but Carians are basically infamous for making Puppets, which Ymir is!

That makes it apparent that Anna attacked us due to him wanting it :^) I assume we were supposed to be food for Metyr, because since he lost his shit over her death he needed her for something. The power to bring Yuri back to life, I suppose.

This made me wonder whether Jolan herself was a puppet? We don't know whether they can still talk and think from the base game, maybe they can! What we do know is that puppets will attach spiritually attach to the master and unquestionably do their bidding (which Jolan does), that they are crafted through blue star shards thus uniting their fates since blue stars control fates of humans (and Ymir and Jolan do affectionately call each other their stars), and that a puppet can be given to someone else despite who made it (since Seluvis can gift his and we now can use Anna).

Jolan is not referred to as a puppet, so maybe her devotion and dependence bordering insanity happened to be her true feelings and not some magic (yet it wasn't the case for Anna, apparently...).. But interesting thing to consider. (LOL I can SEE Ymir simps jumping at me and asking how the heck Jolan's behavior is supposedly magic and not normal reaction gfggnfhhg)

14) Turned out that Ymir's clothes can be altered into... this:

15) I also checked at the Roundtable Hold, for more Metyr lore:

I already read that Greater Will stopped communicating with her, but interesting information! Besides.. the staff to cast sorceries AND incantations sounds SUPER useful! No more switching between seals and staffs xD

The second weapon is simply Metyr's head that mentions there is an eye at the center of it. Yes, I could tell from getting blasted with lasers hfhhjj

16) Also I don't have pictures space left, but if you collect everything like I do, don't forget to check Yuri's grave for a sorcery after Ymir is defeated!

[yrrtyrrtwhenihrrthrrt]

Post movie request: Ballister puts together a surprise birthday party for Nimona after finding out she’s never celebrated her birthday before.

Finally working on these again lol. Just something cute and silly, enjoy!

Ballister's twenty-seventh birthday went well. Nimona was back, and she and Ambrosius threw him a small party with food from his favorite restaurant, his favorite games and movies. After watching a movie on the couch, with a smile, Ballister turned to Nimona.

“You know, I know you don't like me asking too much about your backstory, but what day were you born? Or at least, what day do you usually celebrate?”

The shapeshifter shrugged. “I don't really think I was like, born from anything, so I've never had any reason to celebrate. Most of my life I barely paid mind to the passage of time at all.”

Ambrosius looked over from where he sat with his arm around Ballister's shoulder, gawking. “But it's a party! You've never wanted to throw a party?”

Nimona looked vaguely confused at him, and just shrugged again. Ballister resolved then and there that his sidekick was not going to go another year without a proper celebration.

He decided the best would be the anniversary of the day she came back, June 1st.

Planning a party without Nimona finding out about it was difficult, they ordinarily spent a lot of time together. But, with enough dedication, he and Ambrosius managed to put it together. They managed to keep her out of the lair long enough to set up an axe throwing lane, several of her favorite horror video games and movies, and whipped together a whole spread of tacos and a huge chocolate and strawberry cake.

It was just the three of them– Nimona wasn't especially trusting of others yet. When she came through the door, she must have flitted between ten different forms in her surprise before springing into the air as a rabbit and flying around excitedly as a bird. “Woah, are you guys serious!? Is this all for me!?”

Ballister chuckled. “Of course it is. We didn't know how old you are, so we just used a firecracker candle. Hope that's okay.”

“That's even better!” She started to help herself to tacos, and the three played games and threw axes, at least until Nimona destroyed the target.

At the end of the evening, Ballister presented her with her gift. She tore away the paper and looked up at him with wide salmon eyes. “What is this?”

Ballister smiled warmly. “It's an album of all the fun times we've had in the year since you've been back. I imagine a year doesn't feel like much to you, so I thought having a snapshot to remember it by might be nice.”

Nimona blinked mist from her eyes and sniffed. “Wow, that's so sappy, boss.” She hugged it to her chest. “Like, seriously, super emo–” her voice broke and Ballister hugged her, stroking back her soft pink spikes. “I know, kid. I know.” He smirked. “And if you don't like that, Ambrosius got you a mace.”

She snapped away and grinned, still holding the book tightly. “For real!?”

“For real.”

[twstthing]

Explanation of [A quick change of clothes(kin).] and various things about Yuurmom

Minecraft Single Player! Yuu AU

I don't really have a way of introducing this information in a story format with how little I've written, so I'll explain it out here.

The appearance and gender of Yuurmom has been very vague, and I honestly had not planned on detailing upon it up until recently.

Naturally, Yuurmom does not have a gender. There is no debate upon this one, so why were they described with the appearance of Minecraft Steve? Because Steve is the default skin of all players. Minecraft Steve and Yuurmom are not the same entity in this AU.

Yuurmom has the option to go to worlds where there is multiplayer and has done it before, however has a preference for simply staying solo. They greatly enjoyed the sandbox aspects of Minecraft which include terraforming, farming, building, and various sadistic things that come along with being alone for years and bearing resemblance to being the master of their world.

So needless to say: Yuurmom absolutely does not enjoy abiding by the rules or being told what to do.

Of course, that doesn't mean they're completely heartless and devoid of making connections with people. They're just really bad at it because they've never had a social life.

So let's get into the translation of how they went from mature-looking guy Minecraft Steve to what was described as a more youthful appearance.

As previously established, Minecraft Steve is simply the default skin. Upon initially entering Twisted Wonderland, the code that aids in translating Minecraft -> TWST makes a direct conversion from blocks to a body that resembles a human. With no prior bases to build off of for the conversion, the code used Yuurmom's Minecraft Steve skin as a base for how they will physically appear in TWST.

Of course, there are limitations to how much translating the code can do. I intentionally avoided describing Yuurmom as "adult" because in this AU, they are not an adult. However, since they aren't human, their maturation greatly differs from that of a human. You can think of their aging process similar to that of Malleus’s, the primary difference being that Yuurmom was not born from anything but simply spawned into existence. It’s not currently defined exactly how old Yuurmom is, but when translated into human age, they’re similar to that of a 16-17 year old.

When receiving the NRC uniform, Yuurmom's code translates it into a skin. But wait! This is only clothing, the parts such as shoes, hair, skin (the actual thing), and eyes are not included in this. So the moment where Yuurmom turns into static is where the code begins to align itself with that of Twisted Wonderland's "code" aka set of logic.

With the fact that the uniform is directly derived from Twisted Wonderland and not Minecraft means that the skin created from the uniform will bear more resemblance to "NRC student from Twisted Wonderland" rather than "player from Minecraft".

Having this base allows the code to translate Yuurmom into what they would be as a human as opposed to “Minecraft Steve skin in TWST”.

EDIT: no more art here because i will spend a lot of time mulling over yuurmom's appearance

[lessapander]

Back on my shit. ♥

This shelf is the Magical Girls With Swords shelf in the centre column of my set-up, which is all Magical Girls. Largely Sailor Moon, but some Cardcaptor Sakura and these four as well. I tried to fit my shelf of Pretty Cure figures in as well, but the spacing just doesn't play nicely due to having a FigFix Sakura. I might have to reconsider her placement and just store her box elsewhere, frankly. It's too big to display behind her like I've been doing with these.

The other shelves aren't even vaguely ready because as I was sorting through parts from when all my figures used to be displayed elsewhere (stands and accessories got sorted into tackle box compartments by character to save time), I discovered that Super Sailor Moon's hand is snapped off at the peg. It was rattling around in her box and I definitely didn't put it into storage in that state, so I'm a little bit baffled about how that happened. Heat fatigue? I have no idea. As a result, rather than putting everyone together, I've been going through parts and figures to make sure none of the others are damaged.

So far, only Sailor Saturn and Black Lady show any issues, and both are defects that were present since arrival, so I'm not fussed. By the time I got to the bottom of the shelves and these girls, I realised I had never opened Fuu or Utena, so I went ahead and got these girls out and on display. I was already conscious of the quality difference between the Sailor Moon S.H.Figuarts and other figures in the same line, but the difference compared to Figma's offerings is even more glaring. Any wonder I haven't bought anything from the S.H.Figuarts lines in so long, I suppose.

[ruvviks]

// oc in 15.

tagged by; @devilbrakers, thank you so much!! tagging; @reaperkiller, @vvanessaives, @hibernationsuit, @katsigian, @adelaidedrubman, @dickytwister, @rindemption, @noirapocalypto and YOU!

rules: share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an oc, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the oc. bonus points for just using dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

decided to do this for vincent since he is the main character of my cyberpunk universe and it's been a hot sec since i talked about him! these bits are all from various fics including the broker which is a long fic that i'll never shut up about. sorry. i've included more than just the dialogue since a lot of vincent's manner of speech is also in his body language and internal monologue :^) his voice claim is basically masc v from in-game but with very distinct southern flair

from chapter 7 of the broker:

‘Here we are,’ Vincent repeated, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket and flinching lightly when he heard an explosion in the distance. ‘Just another fuckin’ day in Night City.’

from an unreleased fic i still need to finish and post:

‘The Deckhead?' Vincent asked. 'Fried to a crisp. Found ‘im hooked up to the Net high off his tits- he had an intruder alarm set up but it caused him to panic, ‘n he disconnected himself too soon. Lights went out before I could do anything.’

paraphrased from this fic, showing that vincent can and will talk to johnny out loud whenever he wants:

‘What the fuck,’ Vincent blurted out, voice shaky as he took another step back. […] Johnny raised a hand and gestured vaguely at Vincent, and himself, and the space between them. ‘You don’t have to speak out loud when you- I feel like I’ve said this before.’

from an unreleased fic:

‘Maelstrom wasn’t too happy I was running off with their toys,’ Vincent answered, eyes lingering on the bruise on Vitali’s face. ‘Had to flatline half of ‘em before I could get out.’

from chapter 11 of the broker:

‘Peachy,’ Vincent said and gave him a thumbs up. His mantis blade was still deployed and he nearly cut himself with it.

from chapter 16 of the broker:

‘Right.’ He stepped back, visibly biting the inside of his cheek as his eyes wandered off into the rest of the living room and he did a mocking salute in Vitali’s direction. ‘Yessir.’

from chapter 2 of the broker:

‘Pleased to make your acquaintance?’ Vincent said, the sentence more a question than a statement, and he frowned slightly as he watched Dupoint walk around the desk and sit down opposite of him while unbuttoning the jacket of his slightly too big suit.

from an unreleased fic:

‘Yep, that was me,’ Vincent said in response, his voice suddenly a couple of octaves higher. Smooth talkin’, you fucking airhead. You sound like a damn high schooler.

from this fic, talking to johnny out loud again:

‘Right, ‘cuz apologizing means everything is instantly forgiven and forgotten,’ Vincent snapped, accidentally startling an old lady he passed by; he quickly raised his hand to her as an apology and fastened his pace.

from an unreleased fic:

‘Born ‘n raised in the Glen, yeah,’ Vincent answered, flinching when he noticed the edge of someone’s umbrella get dangerously close to his face. ‘Won’t find the nicest people there but at least they generally know they’re not the only gonk on the fucking road.’

from this fic:

‘Headache that comes and goes-’ Vincent paused and glared at Johnny. ‘- but yeah, peachy. And you’re right. Worrying doesn’t help anyone.’

from chapter 2 of the broker:

‘V has had a lot of things on his mind, as of late,’ Vincent dryly said. ‘Please do enlighten me.’

from this fic, talking to johnny out loud again:

‘Alright, speaking rights fucking revoked,’ Vincent cut him off, visibly startling Vitali who had just slightly leaned in to Vincent’s touch. ‘Piss off, Johnny. Jesus.’

from chapter 15 of the broker:

Grant Armitage. Some seemingly random Arasaka exec with “his greasy little fingers stuck right up Yorinobu’s golden ass”, as Vincent had described him a few days prior.

from chapter 2 of the broker:

‘A fully opened center.’ Dupoint paused, raised an eyebrow, and glanced back at Vincent. ‘Do you know what that move is called, V?’ Vincent shrugged, and swallowed his laughter. ‘Dunno. The American Nutcracker?’

[peachjagiya]

https://x.com/sofini123/status/1822021683663761414?s=46&t=Xwy3F-OqT2vgT3Xa7r868g

i’m finding different peoples’ takes on the vibe of the show rlly interesting. i personally didn’t sense an awkward vibe and i didn’t think they had nothing to talk about/no convo of substance. cuz tbh what else would they discuss other than lighthearted things and just joking around? it’s a show for the fans to see so i doubt they’d be immediately jumping into some deep conversation about their views on society and the world LOL. ig also to me, when im w a very close friend who ive known for years and i already know what’s going on in their life, theres not that many “new” things to talk about ? like it’s more so quick catching up and then you just resort to random conversations and being playful. idk maybe that’s just me. ofc deep conversations come up w close friends too but i’d never expect that from this type of documentary series which is clearly just meant to be fun and following them on their random outings/adventures.

but i have seen a few other ppl say they felt a super awkward and off vibe though so maybe im just missing something ? whatever it may be i still think the interactions are cute and very entertaining. im super excited (also a bit nervous/anxious) to see tae in the next episode. i think it’ll be a lot of fun w the three of them and im sure it’ll settle into something comfortable for the three of them within the first few interactions of all being together. i do wonder how they’ll frame the dynamic though. id we’ll see something vaguely equal or if it’ll be framed as jimin being the middle man as it has in the past. to me that would so obviously be convoluted since we know jungkook and tae have been hanging and much closer than vmin or jikook (who clearly hadn’t seen eo at all lol). but ik it’s not like they’ll rlly show just how close tkk are anyways so who knows. sorry this got so long, i went on a tangent 😭😭

Don't apologise!

I did sense awkwardness in ep1. I feel like "matched energy" has stopped being words that mean anything because I've used them so much over the last 24 hours but it's a good way to explain.

It's not about what they had to talk about. It's about the mismatch of mood and energy. But many things can influence that! Long flights, nervousness at doing a reality show without the other members, a foreign country, illness, not having seen each other for a while. Mismatched energy can be temporary or permanent. In their case, I felt it was temporary.

However, to my mind, what sets Taekook aside is that their energy is rarely mismatched and if it ever is, they're super adaptable to each other's mood and able to come out of it very fast. See Inkigayo. JK in a grump, Tae arrives smiley. Mismatch. But it's resolved in moments, seconds even, with soft words and Tae drawing on a thing JK loves. That unconscious immediate reconfiguring to find balance is COUPLE 101 to me.

By his own admission, Jimin enjoys winding JK up, amping up the awkward, like a big brother with his little brother. Redressing the balance is not at the forefront of his mind and to me, and this is very much just my thoughts, that's what felt awkward in ep1.

Thanks anon! 💜

[dandyshucks]

realizing i wanted to ask - how did u first fall in love w/ guzma (irl) ? :o (@dmclr)

ougghh (/happy) Clara you always ask such good questions omg 🫶

umm... okay so. i should give a general "abuse CW" label i guess fjfkdl but I'll keep it vague and to a minimum of mention! also putting it below the cut because I RAMBLED SO MUCH, SORRY IN ADVANCE

tumblr kind of went crazy for the guy when the anime finally introduced him in 2019 (it took SO long to get to him, over 100 episodes in the su/mo arc 😭) and at first i didnt think much of him rly, but then somehow eventually (a few months later) i found out through osmosis that he's got trauma going on and my ears kind of perked up a bit LOL

(underwater just to set it apart from the rest of the post so it doesnt blend in and get confusing fndkdl) screenshot of the post i rbed where i first mentioned liking him fdsjkl

around the same time, i was having some realizations about my own experiences with childhood and family etc, and there was some other stuff going on in my life (also. the plague started so uh. that too.) that was just kind of culminating in like. A Lot of stress and fear and stuff. so seeing this character who has experienced somewhat similar things was ... comforting in a way? shared experience or something, idk. plus I've always been a sucker for misfit archetype characters, especially if they make a little family out of other misfits :')

another big part of the intrigue (because my crushes always start with a sort of 👀 phase fdsjkl, I have to think somebody is interesting in some way and want to find out More about them, and then feelings develop from there) for me was just the fact that he was Angry. like... the way I've personally learned to deal w abuse has been to always be meek and fawn. so seeing someone who went in the opposite direction, to become angry and strong and defiant instead, was SO fascinating to me and I was very curious to learn more about him.

so I looked into him more, loved what i found, related to him a bit, accidentally by some random occurrence stumbled upon some bf audios of him somehow??, wished he were real so we could hang out, thought about how I'd act around him and started to feel a little flustered about it ... it's all downhill from there once u reach that point smh 😔😔 (/silly)

for a long time i didn't really fully step into s.elfship territory w him - i dabbled a little but he wasnt The Focus™ in my brain yet. also we (as a system) have had a host change since then, so there was a previous juno that was not Me (even though we kept the same main name between us two parts), and they didn't like the guy as much as Current Me does djfkdl - theres also some ... relatively significant personality differences between the two versions of Juno, so I think Juno2.0 (me) meshes with him a lot better now than Juno1.0 did in 2020/2021

and then last year, i found and joined the s.elfship community and um. I absolutely did not mean for him to become The Main Guy and never would've guessed he would be, but... well,, we dont always plan things i suppose, feelings just happen 😭

anyways. it maybe seems kind of messed up but his ~tragic backstory~ is what drew me in initially bc it helped me feel less alone and scared when i was Going Through some pretty major shit lol. and then after that, i just kind of took the character base that pkmn had in place and ran with it to build on it and sort of make my own version of him that I could be friends with and eventually fell in love with ^^;;

TL;DR it was a mix of timing, similar history of abuse, intrigue bc of our opposite reactions to the abuse, and um... the way he is like,, strong and builds a safe place for other young ppl who feel unsafe or not accepted in general society fdsjkl

i get embarrassed talking abt it bc ppl seem to really hate it when abuse victims are weak in any way and need help, but ... i do really like that he is strong in some ways and would be able to give me a sort of safe place to let my guard down and receive help and care (as shown by the way he provides a safe place for the grunts, all the misfits and outcasts of Alola) ^^;;;; honestly kind of a Big part of it for me (and for pretty much all my s.elfship dynamics) is that he is able to protect me and care for me, because I have not like. experienced that ever. at least not properly. when your parents are the ones being abusive, you not only do not experience protection and care but you're also being actively hurt in some way by the people who are supposed to keep you safe. so to be freely given care and safety is kind of crazyyyy to me LOL, that is something i like a lot about him :')

OKAY RAMBLE OVER. i really tried to keep this as short as i could but,, brevity is not a strength of mine (esp when it comes to him) LOL. THANK YOU for the question !!! its fun to look back at how it all happened tbh :]

[callme-whatyoulike]

All I Need to Hear

this picture isn't entirely relevant to the story. but it's how i imagined him looking in this one. also, here's some songs that i imagine would be playing during this. one of my favorite "genres" of music is slow love songs to dance in the kitchen to. all i need to hear is one of those songs. it should be played at a wedding. anyway. just a little fluff piece. i like it very much. enjoy ♡♡

"I'm home!"

I look at the clock. 9:37. Another late evening at the studio. I'd grown used to this, of course, but late evenings weren't particularly enjoyable when I felt like utter crap. I woke up this morning with a headache and a sore throat, but the symptoms have since escalated. It's taken everything I've had not to just go to bed. But we're busy tomorrow, and things need done around the house.

It would have all just been a bit easier with Matty here. But I didn't tell him that. He would have come straight home, and even though he tells me that I'm never a bother, I didn't want to inconvenience him.

But he's here now. I'm just starting the dishes as I hear him walk through the door. He finds his way to the kitchen, setting his things onto the counter.

"I'm so sorry, darling," he says, pressing a quick kiss onto the top of my head. "I didn't expect to stay that long."

"S'alright," I reply.

"Will you ever forgive me?"

"I'll consider it." He smirks at me.

"Need help?" he asks, glancing at the soapy water and unclean pots and plates.

"No, that's okay. You go shower, I'll get these finished in no time."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

He hesitates. Kisses me on the temple. Heads to the bathroom. It's just dishes. I can rest afterward. Although there are boxes to unpack in the office, still. I should get that done at some point. Perhaps that's where all of our spoons have gone.

As I ponder the whereabouts of our silverware, hum along to whatever songs are shuffling on my playlist, and scrub pans that have sat on the counter since yesterday's lunch, Matty quickly showers, dresses, and makes his way back to the kitchen, just as I'm draining the sink.

"Do you know where that gray shirt went?" he asks me, peeking into the entryway to see if there might be unopened boxes hiding away there.

"That's rather vague, dear." I do, somehow, know which one he's talking about, though. "But no, I've not seen it."

"Damn. Probably in whatever box the spoons are in." I hum in agreement. I turn and finally get a good look at him for the first time since this morning. He's dressed into his pajamas, his hair is a damp mess. No shirt, as our previous conversation just revealed. He looks tired.

I must look just as exhausted because his expression changes. It softens a bit once I finally look up at him. We don't have to tell each other it was a long day. We just know.

A good song is playing. Slow. One of our favorites. Good for dancing in a kitchen.

He opens his arms, and I fall right into them, wrapping mine around him. We sway ever so slightly, resting our heads on the other's shoulder. I have to stand on my toes a bit to do that. Matty very quietly hums to the song. And we stay like this for a while, even as the next song begins to play.

I answered the question that I knew Matty would eventually ask me: why didn't you tell me you were having a bad day?

"I didn't want to inconvenience you."

"Have you forgotten everything we've discussed?" he laughs.

"I know," I sigh. "But you were working. I know you would drop everything to be here if I said anything."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

I giggle. "Yes, Matthew. As much as we would both love it, we can't put everything else on hold just because we want to stay in bed together all day."

"Oh, I don't know." He kisses my cheek quickly, sways a little harder. "I don't think anyone would mind." He pulls his head back, looking down at me now. His lips crinkle into a smile. "I mean, look at you. I'm sure they'd understand."

"I look like hell, Matty." And I do. I haven't done anything with my hair since I showered this morning. My face is entirely makeup free. I've got sweatpants, a sports bra, and my favorite oversized cardigan and socks on. I'm not exactly a sight for sore eyes.

"You do not." Another kiss, this time on the forehead. "Never, darling."

"You have to say that."

"Maybe. But that doesn't make it any less true."

I roll my eyes at him and resort to resting my head against his chest now. Another song is playing now. Something about fooling around and falling in love. Seems fitting.

"I know I say it a lot," Matty starts, "but you can tell me about your bad days, okay?" His hand runs up and down my back. "I want you to bother me. I want to make room for you in my day, in my life, yeah?" He holds me a bit tighter. "Please, just bother me."

I nod. "Okay." I mean it. At least right now.

"D'you want to go to bed?"

"There's still boxes to unpack in the office."

"It can wait."

"Then absolutely."

"Good. Me, too."

[koskela-knights]

Night Springs DLC ramblings

Spoilers under the cut. And since this is a Koskela/Huotari main blog, my focus will be mainly related to these boys in relation to the DLC content.

Alright, my friends already confirmed it and I just watched all NS DLC chapters on YouTube becos I didn't wanna miss out lol, but yeah there's just no mention or appearances from the Koskelas and who was I to think they'd touch upon the Huotaris if even Ilmari is already forgotten and left out in most media surrounding AW2 😔

But yanno, it just irks me how erased the Koskelas seem to be.

Like yes, Night Springs gives us a look into alternate realities/universes/versions and you're telling me we only looked into worlds where the Koskelas (and in extension the Huotaris) just never existed. At all????

So in this post I'll look at what I've seen and how I might've made the boys a bit more relevant/have them make a lil cameo.

Rose's Chapter

In Rose's chapter, Scratch is wearing a biker jacket but it lacks the Kalevala Knights text on the back so I guess the KK didn't exist here..

I love that Rose wasn't interested in Scratch's biker look or the werewolf thing at all lmao. She's more vanilla than I thought xD

Funny how they went with the 'they're twin brothers' but now it's for Scratch and Alan lol. Even the twin thing the Koskelas had going for them, now attributed to other characters instead.

There was also someone at the Diner in a biker jacket. But again, a different design.

How I'd add them back in:

The Koskelas could've been NPCs at the Diner at the beginning. Or the ones out on the street, just outside the Diner

The NPC in the biker jacket could've worn a Kalevala jacket

Additionally, I think it would've been fun to see the Valhalla residents as NPCs at the Diner.

If we had more named characters as NPCs, I think this chapter could've felt even more personal. Now I felt a bit of a disconnection/detachment from Rose vs the other characters outside of Scratch. Like, yes this was sort of her fanfic/dream world but wouldn't it feel more effective/real if the people cheering her on were like the Anderson brothers, the Valhalla residents. The people you've already met in the main game that had somewhat of a personality? Becos now you might as well have used the shadow people characters at the Diner.

Tim's Chapter

In Tim's chapter we don't see anything either. Don't get me wrong, I liked his chapter too. It was wild and I'm glad to see Door play a bigger role here. The comic section was well done, rly liked its aesthetics and I liked how they tried to mix up the game as a medium. I think this chapter didn't irk me as much, given the context of it.

How I'd add them back in:

There's a Seine poster in the Oceanview Hotel and the tiniest bit they could've done is add Ilmari Huotari again in the credits. you wouldn't even have to put his face on the poster T_T

Jesse's Chapter

My biggest hopes were for Jesse's chapter. It has literally Coffee World as its setting. But again... Literally nothing, no mention in text or as a 3D character.

@zephyrone01 pointed out to me that despite all the other changes, Coffee World remains mainly the same. Even the attractions still have the same names. BUT! The Huotari Well no longer exists as an attraction. There's a well. But well, it's just that lmao.

So what's the point of CW even existing here other than being a little call-back/connection to the main game's universe? Coffee World was clearly a project of the Koskelas but they're nowhere to be seen or mentioned. Instead, we have a vague, faceless shady government (perhaps the Board?) wanting to take over through coffee indoctrination.

Of all the DLC chapters, it would make the most sense to have the Koskelas be present or at least acknowledged/mentioned in Jesse's chapter. And like... if they couldn't get Peter back to voice/mocap them, it could've been a note, or they could've used a distorted voice to highlight how they got corrupted by the coffee or something. But instead, it's Tim who gets suddenly corrupted by the coffee? Was it mainly to tie Jesse's chapter into Tim's? Also, it seems Tim's animations when he tries to convince Jesse to drink the coffee, seem to be copy-pasted from Ilmo's Deer Fest animation that is bugged and not easily triggered at all in the vanilla game/average run 😭 Tim never has been that vivid or animated in the base game, but you know who was? Ilmo Koskela.

The 'Cult' stashes & the math puzzles no longer make narratively sense other than being mechanics/little obstacles to be solved. Again, Ilmo was the 'mastermind' behind those math puzzles and the stashes were there for Cult members. What purpose do they serve now other than functioning as conveniently placed ammo stock for the player?

I feel Jesse's chapter had some potential and maybe even 'easy' ways to keep the Koskelas related to, yanno their amusement park.

So how I'd add them back in and make this chapter feel more connected to the other universes and the main game:

The Koskelas could've been the ones to get corrupted first and through them, others would easily follow

As @zephyrone01 and @copiasmicalso discussed with me, it would've been more logical to meet a corrupted Ilmo instead of Tim. It was he and Jaakko who marketed that coffee brand and Coffee World to begin with. Why not tie them into this chapter?

The Koskelas could've done that orientation video as pawns of the shady government. Maybe even in a similar vein to the Book Review ad with a clearly influenced/partially corrupted Ilmo.

There could've been some kind of connection to Jesse looking for Dylan and Ilmo looking to bring Jaakko back or looking for his brother or something. It would given us more narrative parallels! A sibling looking for their other half that got corrupted/influenced by a shady government

Make a different amusement park (one tied to the fishery or lumber industry but I suppose that would've taken much more time to make ofc)

The utter lack of the Koskelas makes me revise/question what their purpose in the main game was for then? Were they really that insignificant and immemorable to serve no extra mention in the other universes to the point CW is seemingly owned by a government and the Huotari's also have no historical purpose or importance anymore.

Like, their Cult of the Tree killings are what led Saga to investigate BF & Watery in the first place.

I'd dare to argue that the erasure of the Koskela brothers' existence in the Jesse chapter made the stakes feel lower and possible connections and parallels to the main game less powerful and interesting than they could've been. Plus it would've make more sense to still have Coffee World exist at all becos imo without Koskelas, there would Not have been a Coffee World to begin with.

In general

I like the DLCs for what they are and that they tried to do things differently or highly different from the main game. Alternate realities/universes always give us the opportunity to go off the main path and come up with different interesting stories and theories.

I do think that using generic NPCs most of the time also made the stories blander than they could've been.

The way the Koskelas' existence was all ripped away and sorta re-assigned to other characters

the twin brother thing now being Alan & Scratch

We never got the Actual Bikers get an animation on/with their bikes, but Scratch now gets one 😔

the Kalevala Knights' existence erased too

Tim in Jesse's DLC having the same animations as Deer Fest Ilmo

Coffee World literally not being their thing anymore but somehow still existing (rly why would the shady government even make a Coffee-themed amusement park)

TLDR

Saddened and equally not surprised that the Koskelas (and Huotari's) are just erased from the narrative in the DLC. Like their characters aren't even an afterthought anymore or relevant enough. All these wild different universes and they're part of exactly zero somehow.

The CW thing somehow remains unaltered for a few parts but taking the Koskelas' og involvement in that park into account, it makes no real sense to the state it is in, in the DLC.

I think their erasure (and the non-usage of other more known characters from the main game) made some parts feel less vivid/real.

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 113 - Followers of the Red Angel

Star Trek: Discovery - Season 2 Episode 2 - New Eden

Sorry it's been a few days, haven't had time to watch because my Partner's been sick, and I've been looking after him. He's doing better now, so I'm back!

We open this episode with Michael showing Pike the audio recording that Spock left behind at the end of last episode. It's very clear that these signals are related to whatever visions Spock has been having. Apparently, Spock has also been booked into a psychiatric facility, through his own choice.

Discussion about Spock are interrupted however by another Signal appearing. It is extremely far away though, hundreds of year's at Discovery's Top Speed. Pike give's the order to reactivate the Spore Drive. Paul Stamets here is great, I love how the episode is cutting through his grief and his philosophy over life, death and how it relates to him seeing Hugh in the Spore network.

Meanwhile on the bridge, we meet a mystery: There are humans on this planet! Humans who have apparently been here since before the Earth Achieved Warp capabilities. Enterprise did a similar episode, and it was a fun excuse for a western, so that immediately got my hopes up to see if we were gonna Genre shift here too, which we didn't particularly, but this pre-industrial world was still a fun setting

Apparently, these humans arrival on this planet happened during Earth's WW3, which a bit about in Enterprise, but ENT never really went into detail about WW3, so I'm hoping this is a chance to explore that. Unfortunately that didn't pan out. I am still hoping information about WW3 is something we'll get eventually, it seems like a pretty big part of Star Trek Earth's history to leave entirely vague.

We get a little bit of debate between Pike and Michael's different perspectives on what the signals are, Michael taking a more hardline Scientific approach, where as Pike takes a more philosophical approach, assuming these Red Angel signals are some kind of really advanced species and modifies the Sufficiently Advance Technology adage to apply to deities. Kinda reminded me T'Pol's and Archer's "The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible" conversations in a way. I find Pike brining up the idea of a god interesting, Enterprise did briefly touch on Religion, but from experience would the first time anything like that has been brought up in relation to a crew member, and I'm curious to see how that's explored.

Over in the hanger bay, Sylvia is working on her Dark matter project, I love her enthusiasm, and just devotion to use it to make a new Spore navigation system so Paul can retire. She's perfect. Unfortunately, it goes wrong and she's knocked unconscious. I love Saru's little speech about how she needs to not overwork herself.

Discovery sends down a ground crew to the planet, and they explore it's church, which apparently has amalgamated a lot Earth's religions together. The worldbuilding of their society is actually really interesting. Apparently, these humans were taken here by Spock's Red Angel, Michael of course wants a more rational explanation, but isn't getting one. We do find out a Soldier's camera recorded this transfer. Our team ask to take shelter in the town's church, as a ruse to find this Camera, but meanwhile on the bridge, one of the planet's radioactive rings is about to collapse and cause the planet's extinction. Saru gives the order to start the rescue of the planet's populace.

Unaware of the impending disaster, we then a little debate between Pike and Michael about whether or not these humans should be reintegrated into Earth Society or if they should be left to develop on their own. They're discovered though, and they're tech is taken so that their captors can prove they're from earth. From here on out, the ground crew get to do some pretty clever low tech solutions to problems, which I loved.

In Medbay, Sylvia starts thinking through a plan to pull the debris away from the planet using the Dark Matter Meteor, and it works! Our ground crew get their tech back, and are extracted back to Enterprise while maintaining their cover. We're then left with a reveal that Sylvia has been seeing a ghost!

Pike returns to the planet to trade a power cell for the Soldier's helmet cam, to find out more info on the Red Angels, and after repairing it aboard discovery, we see that the angel is indeed real, however the feed cuts out shortly after it appears.

I really liked this episode, and I'm loving the build up of the mystery around whatever the Red Angels are, and the various moral and philosophical debates here great. Sylvia Tilly as always was a highlight

[arowitharrows]

hello, i had some maybe broad-but-vague stuff i wanted to ask to someone who knows more about ace stuff since i've been seeing a surge of related content about that topic lately, and i wondered if you might be someone i could ask? i know it's alot, and please ignore this if it makes you uncomfortable. im not trying to be hateful or anything, i just feel sort of ignorant about it all. ace stuff, specifically. until now, i always ignored people saying they were ace before, because i didnt get it and i just figured that i didnt need to get it to just mind my own business, but it seems so much more prevalent online now than it used to be, id like to understand. i dont mean to be crude, but in my mind it's like- not fucking people is the baseline. thats just how people are. like, the template of a human isn't sexual. starting point of humanity or something like that, and everything else is just extra, though as i type that i actually can see that that might be too flawed and general of an outlook, but that's the best way i can think to phrase my thoughts. so to put focus on that baseline, as an entire identity, always seemed extraneous to me? im really not sure if theres more to it that im missing to put it in some different context. i did wonder if it was to do with just like, reacting to societal expectations that everyone, idk, be sexual? or just the assumption that everyone would (or should) end up like that at some point in their life? and that's pretty fucked up, but i always just thought that was really weird of the people expecting that sort of thing, not of the people they criticized, and that if it were just a reaction that it wouldn't be considered an identity. and the same really goes for the romance stuff, in my mind. it just seems like such a non-problem to me. and that sounds alot harsher than i mean it to be, but i dont get it. its just the regular way to be, and everything else is extra, so all of the controversy is for what? it always came off as making a big deal out of nothing to me. personally, i've never felt any sort of realistic romantic or sexual attraction to another person before in my life, but (other than here) i don't go around talking about that. if the people around me went around talking about how they DID feel that stuff, i would think they were oversharing rather inappropriately. so i don't get that the difference is. it just people searching for other people who feel how they feel using "ace" as a label, a way to do that? a community thing? then why rally around that minuscule aspect of a person's being? or maybe it doesn't feel minuscule? i dont want to come off as belittling, so if theres a better way to refer to all this, please let me know. sorry for the wall of text and like i said, feel free to ignore this. i'm not trying to be an asshole and its not on you to field this sort of question, but i just want to understand. thank you for your time!

Hey anon, It's great of you to reach out and try to learn, or unlearn, some things about asexuality and aromanticism. I'm going to try to break things down a bit (this is not in the order of what you wrote)

not fucking people is the baseline. thats just how people are. like, the template of a human isn't sexual. starting point of humanity or something like that, and everything else is just extra. [...] and the same really goes for the romance stuff, in my mind. [...] its just the regular way to be, and everything else is extra

I'm honestly not sure what you mean by this. I don't believe there is a baseline template for humanity, we are too complex for that. But even if there were a baseline I would set it to what the majority of humanity experiences and I think it's safe to say that a large majority of people experience sexual and romantic attraction to others (the number that usually gets thrown around is 1% of the human population is asexual, but I do not believe this number is still up to date.) If asexuality were the norm then the asexual community would not have this many struggles with medical doctors (here, read this great article that just came out for some context).

That being said - you can view humanity this way if you want, I'm not going to say it's wrong. Just be aware that most people do not see it this way, and that many reactions people have when first learning about asexuality and aromanticism shows how much they view it as something unnatural, abnormal and something to be fixed.

if the people around me went around talking about how they DID feel that stuff, i would think they were oversharing rather inappropriately.

Most people I know experience romantic and sexual attraction as a normal part of their life, and they talk about it a lot, which I don't necessarily consider to be oversharing. Relationships and crushes and heartbreak and sex are important topics for many people, to the point where I would claim that a considerable amount of time goes into writing songs and books and movies and other media about it. Most coming-of-age stories involve romance and sex as milestones, most "humanizing the monster" stories involve falling in love as a proof of humanity, most commercials use sex-appeal to make people buy shit. All of this is integrated into everyday life, so all of this can make aspec people feel alienated and othered, even before they find the aro/ace labels.

When I was a teenager people wouldn't stop talking about sex, it was a way to measure your worth, so I felt.. worth less than my peers. Now I'm an adult and the older I get the more being single and unmarried is seen as a personal failure.

All this is to say that in my experience sexual and romantic attraction are not quiet aspects of society. And, for the record, I don't talk about my orientation much with people outside of my close family, even when it makes things awfully awkward because my disinterests does not go unnoticed, and is very much seen as an oddity.

so to put focus on that baseline, as an entire identity, always seemed extraneous to me. [...] it just people searching for other people who feel how they feel using "ace" as a label, a way to do that? a community thing? then why rally around that minuscule aspect of a person's being?

Why do you think any identity label exists? They are there to help us understand ourselves, to help us explain ourselves to others and to help us find others with similar experiences so we can feel less isolated. We live in a heteronormative society where everyone is assumed to perform sex and romance in a very strict and narrowly defined manner. People that fall out of that norm tend to struggle on many different, complex levels. Asexual and aromantic people are not exempt from these struggles. For some being ace and aro does not have a large impact on their lives and that's fine, for others it does have a large impact - that's what the community is for, and that's what the labels are for. For me personally, being aroace impacts a lot of my life. It influences my politics, my living situation, how I approach friendships, my decisions for my future.. it is not something trivial.

i did wonder if it was to do with just like, reacting to societal expectations that everyone, idk, be sexual? or just the assumption that everyone would (or should) end up like that at some point in their life? and that's pretty fucked up, but i always just thought that was really weird of the people expecting that sort of thing, not of the people they criticized, and that if it were just a reaction that it wouldn't be considered an identity.

No, I do not believe that is the origin of the asexual and aromantic identity. It is certainly a source of aphobia and a much needed point of conversation, but asexuality and aromanticism would continue to exist in a society in which this were not a problem, the same way homosexuality will continue to exist when the world is no longer homophobic, and heterosexuality exists right now in a world that is not "heterophobic". I also want to gently add here that the belief that asexuality is a "reactionary" identity due to an oversexualized society is one I've almost exclusively seen in radical feminism circles, just something to keep in mind when following such train of thought.

Everyone is free to decide the degree to which experiencing little to no sexual/romantic attraction impacts their life and if they want to view it as something important or not. But to generalize and say that it doesn't matter on a societal scale rings false. I highly recommend just listening to more aromantic and asexual people's experiences in society to get a feeling of how it impacts our lives.

[isfjmel-phleg]

Constellation of Six [Revised]

The December Josiah turned seven, his brother Mikaiah was born, his mother died, and a new companion named Tamett came to live in the royal household. But let’s flash back to late summer before all that, when the family dynamic was rather different, when six-and-a-half-year-old Josiah had other concerns on his mind…

The intended point of this story was to offer insight into why Josiah is the way he is. This isn't his complete origin story, but a glimpse into what he has since lost. We see his relationship with his family (especially with his beloved mother), how Nyella and Odren parented him, the beginnings of traits that would become more ingrained as he gets older, the source of habits of behavior and thought still present later. The relationships among the rest of the family are also important and should explain the dynamics we see in Books 2 and 3.

I've made some modifications from the previous version. These include:

using "Josiah" instead of "Josia" for clarity and consistency (I didn't want to use Liennese spellings for every name--Ayra would be spelled "Era," for instance)

adjustments to wording

expanded passages of dialogue

clearer indications that Nyella is already pregnant with Mikaiah

additional passages of Josiah's inner monologue

So here's the revision! How does (or doesn't) it work for you? How can I make it better?

Josiah hazarded one foot out of bed, certain the very furniture could hear the floor as it creaked beneath him. By daylight, the chairs, cupboards, and tables of his nursery were a solid, comforting presence, but now, utter darkness had transformed them into vague shapes impossible to rely on. Josiah hated nighttime. Nothing stayed the same. Never had he been more betrayed by his world than tonight.

Which was why he needed to be his very bravest and venture out into the corridor. He wiped his face with his sleeve, set his jaw, and stumbled across the room, trying his best to tiptoe. The crunch of the carpet with each step made him shudder. At last he found the doorknob—or rather, it found his face—and slipped out.

He had never been in the corridor by himself in the dark before, and he expected further unknown terrors. But a few dimmed lights shone high on the walls, reminding him why he needed to continue. If anyone caught him, he might get sent back to bed—and he couldn’t sleep in that nursery without a light, he just couldn’t! 

So he ran—ran as he never had before, as if he had never been forbidden to run indoors, as if all the creatures of the night were at his back. Perhaps they were. He dared not look over his shoulder.

Nor did he slow down once he reached the stairs. He remembered to safely hold the rail, but he went bumping dangerously down each step until he burst out downstairs. 

He didn’t need to count the doors. Even in his sleep his feet would have remembered the exact one he needed. It was open a crack, as if he were expected, and he let himself in. The empty room at first sent the beginnings of a sob through him, until he saw the open door to the balcony.

There sat Mama, her eye to one of her long telescopes in its three-legged stand and her hand rapidly writing or sketching something. Josiah flung himself at her, buried his face in the soft white ruffles of her loose gown, and broke down immediately.

At once, her arms were around him. “Yozi? What’s wrong? What are you doing up?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” he choked out. “My nightlight isn’t lighted.”

“Did it go out?”

“Ayra didn’t light it!” he announced with smug dissatisfaction. “She left me alone in the dark.”

“And where is she now?”

“I don’t know. She and Ateva wouldn’t let me go with them.”

“So you came here all by yourself to find me? That’s my brave boy.” She kissed his forehead. One last sob shuddered out. “Oh, no need for that. You’re here now. I think you’ll live, don’t you?”

He sniffed and nodded solemnly.

“I’ll speak to Ayra later,” she added in a very different voice. “But there’s no point in being awake and not enjoying it. Come and look with me. Let’s see some stars. Up with you. I think you can still fit.”

Josiah nestled unsteadily onto her knees. There had been less and less room for him lately in her lap, and it wasn’t the most comfortable seat, but he had no intention of budging. The dark couldn’t get him when she was there. 

“See,” said Mama, “the dark’s really nothing to be afraid of. Not when there’s a sky full of stars. You’re never alone beneath them. They make the night beautiful.” 

He had never thought of it that way before, but she was right. The summer evening warmed him through till he couldn’t tremble if he had wanted to, and the friendly lights in the sky warded off the darkness. A final trickle—the last trace of his cry—dripped from his nose. He swept it away with the back of his hand.

“Now,” said Mama, “what would you like to look at first?”

“I want to see the brothers!” he said.

“Who? Oh, the twins! I don’t think they’re out this time of year. But there are other constellations out. Do you want to see a dragon instead?”

“Dragons aren’t real.”

“No, but this is one from a story. He’s right next to a warrior who’s going to fight him.”

That sounded like a very silly story. Josiah knew all about real battles from the books in Papa’s library, and they were nothing like that. “I want to see what you’re looking at.”

She put the telescope to his eye, and he squinted at the array of twinkling lights. They seemed to be sprinkled through the sky at random. Important stars that people gazed at made pictures. He tried to imagine the lines that might connect these stars into something sensible, but all he could see was clustered meaningless dots, like an ink splatter that earned one a scolding.

“I can’t see it! There’s nothing there!” he cried. “I’m looking at the wrong ones.”

“Do you see the stars? Then you’re in the right place. That’s exactly what I’m looking at. These don’t form any particular constellation. But they’re very bright, so I’m thinking about exactly what kinds of stars they are.”

And she told him about how not all stars were the same, how they came in many colors, how some were hotter and some colder and some farther away, and how there were ladies (“and some gentlemen too,” she added) at the university right now who were thinking up new ways to put the different stars in order.

“Like your books, Yozi. You like to line them up a certain way—by title, right? But someone else, like Ateva, might arrange books by color, or size.”

“The wrong way,” he said.

“Not wrong, but different. All the astronomers have different ideas about types of stars, so they talk about it and try to figure out the best way to do it.”

“Who’s winning?”

Mama laughed. “Everyone. They’ll probably use a little bit of all sorts of ideas.”

“I want to be the one to find the right way.”

“And perhaps you will someday. They can call it...the Yozi system.”

He glared at her reproachfully. “No, it’s the Prince Josiah system. Because it’s important.”

“Oh, of course, pardon me.”

“But,” he conceded, “the Prince Josiah and Mama system would be all right too.”

“After me? I’m honored.”

He returned to the eyepiece. “There are...six stars,” he announced, holding up fingers to reinforce the point. He might as well embark on his grand career at once, for Papa always said that one couldn’t begin achieving excellence too soon. 

“There are. And do you want to make up a constellation out of them?”

“Can we?”

“Of course! That’s how all constellations start.”

“But you can’t make them up. They come with the sky.”

“Perhaps this one hasn’t been discovered yet. And we’ll be the very first ones.” As he bounced with excitement, she shifted him forward a little, away from her front. “What are you going to call it?”

“Six People.”

“That sounds very...factual.”

“The dots are their heads. You can’t see the rest of them because they’re wearing black.”

“Why are they wearing black? Are they in mourning?”

“No. They just like it.”

“I see. And who are the people? Constellations need proper names.”

He counted them off. “Josiah, Mama, Papa, Ateva, Ayra, and my brother.”

She hesitated before saying brightly, “Your...imaginary brother?”

“No. The one I’m going to get.”

“Really?” She readjusted the folds of her gown. “What makes you think that?”

“I want one.” That was usually enough reason, wasn’t it?

“What if it were a sister?”

He wrinkled his nose. “No, we already have too many of those. I want someone to play with me.”

“I see. Well, let’s talk to Papa about it.”

“Talk to me about what?” The other door off the balcony opened, and Papa emerged from his private study in his shirtsleeves, wearing his spectacles and clutching a bundle of papers. His tie was missing. “Josiah,” he said, “what are you doing up? You need your rest, and you shouldn’t bother your mother.”

Josiah shrank back. “I didn’t mean to bother her.”

He started to slide off her knees, but Mama held him back. “He wanted to stargaze with me tonight. He’s like me, can’t sleep when the heavens are so beautiful.”

The conversation, once Papa bent to kiss her and murmur something in her ear, ceased to interest Josiah. Finally Papa patted his shoulder and said, “Don’t stay out too late then,” and Josiah knew he could stay as long as he liked.

“This young man,” said Mama, “would like a brother.” She paused, as if she had just made a joke. Josiah didn’t know why. There was nothing funny about his urgent need.

“Well, if our clever little plan works out…” said Papa, bending down to put a long arm around her waist and whisper in her ear again. Mama turned pink and smiled.

“I was thinking that we might try finding him a friend. Someone his age to keep him company. He’ll be starting with the new tutors soon, and there’ll be no one else in the schoolroom. Perhaps not for several years,” she added quickly, glancing down at the studiously listening Josiah.

“We can’t bring in just anyone, though. There are so few who would make a suitable companion for the Hope of Lienne. Did you have anyone in mind?”

“Not off the top of my head, but I hardly know anyone’s children here.”

“I do,” said Papa grimly. “And I envy you. We can’t afford to let in any bad influences, especially at this stage. I’m sorry, Josiah, but you do perfectly well on your own, don’t you? You don’t need anyone to do lessons with. No one would be able to keep up with you anyway.”

Josiah put out his lip. “I want a brother,” he said in a dangerously petulant tone, prepared to explain more emphatically if they still didn’t understand.

“Prince Josiah,” began Papa sternly, but instead of scolding, he checked his pocket watch and turned back toward his study, saying, “Nyella, would you talk sense to him?”

“Odren? Where are you going?” said Mama.

He held up his papers. “Business, darling. You’ll have to excuse me.”

“Oh, that can wait. You’ve been at it all night. You’ve earned a rest. Shall we ring for chocolate and make a regular gazing party of it? We can talk about this another day.” She laid a long-fingered, soothing hand on Josiah’s and squeezed it, as if wringing out his temper. He remembered to take a slow breath and blow the last of it away. There was no need to be angry. Mama understood, and she would see to it that he got what he wanted.

“Tempting, darling, but—” Papa hesitated. “Wait for me?”

“You have exactly...” She fished out her watch brooch from among the ruffles. “Forty-three minutes before the invitation expires.”

Papa’s eyes glinted at the challenge. “Thirty-five at least, see if I don’t.”

“Do it in thirty and I’ll…” She stopped herself. “Well...you’ll be glad you did.”

Once he had dashed away, Mama rang for the chocolate and some biscuits. “No sense in making you wait for it, Yozi,” she said. “I get cross when I haven’t had my chocolate either. Oh,” she said to her maid, “if you see the princesses, send them in please. I want to speak to them.”

Ayra came shuffling in shortly afterward, hands in her pockets, with Ateva in her wake, forehead furrowed, babbling a flow of garbled apologies. Mama nudged Josiah off her knees and pushed herself up slowly by the arms of her chair to look down at the girls from her full height. She was only a few inches shorter than Papa (who went on for miles), and next to her Josiah’s elder sisters looked as insignificant as they really were.

“I understand,” said Mama in her sweetest tones, “that you thought it was a fine idea to leave your little brother alone in a dark room. Would you care to tell me more about this, ladies?”

“I’m so sorry!” cried Ateva. “We didn’t mean to, only we were in such a hurry and your brothers were waiting and I really didn’t want to leave him like that but—”

“I have no doubt it wasn’t your idea, Ateva, but then,” said Mama, crossing her arms, “you were not the one asked to see that he was put to bed.” She turned to Ayra.

Ayra met her gaze sullenly. “I wasn’t the one engaged as his nursemaid either.”

“I’m sorry that one task was too much to ask on a night when his nurse is off and I had an important meeting.” 

“Must have been rather a short important meeting. If you have time for this.” Ayra raised her eyebrows at the telescope.

“What I do with my own leisure time is none of your business, young lady. And I was unaware that your timetable was so full.”

“It was, in fact. Full of entertaining your brothers. But I did put him to bed, no thanks to them, so I don’t see what the problem is.”

“You neglected his nightlight. And goodness knows what else.”

“I forgot. It was an honest mistake. And if he needs it so badly, he can light it himself.”

“I’m not allowed to play with fire,” said Josiah virtuously.

“You’re also not allowed to stay up past your bedtime fooling around with your uncles.”

He was almost certain Ayra had made up that rule. Only Mama and Papa could tell him what to do, so he needn’t listen to her.

“Your brother,” said Mama, “is six years old. You were the one given a responsibility. He needs your help, and you left him alone in the dark to cry. I hope that’s not how you plan to treat your own children someday.”

Ateva gave Ayra a pointed look, but Ayra said nothing. 

“Show her the watch,” said Ateva. “Show her.”

Ayra fished a reluctant hand out of her pocket and uncurled her scratched fingers to reveal a mound of pocket watch insides and shards of glass amid the wreckage of their former home.

Once when Josiah had been taken for a walk in the royal park, he had nearly stepped on a bird that some cat had left in the path, with all its feathers and bits strewn about. He couldn’t look at it without feeling sick, and the sensation returned at the sight of the once-beautiful watch. Its polished gold was engraved with delicate curling designs on both sides around an ornate O and an inscription inside that Josiah hadn’t been able to read since it was in Faysmondian. Besides, the watch hadn’t been in his hand long enough.

“Josiah broke it,” said Ateva. “He took it from Ayra when she told him to go to bed and then he dropped it on the floor. And I’m sure he probably didn’t mean to, but—it’s awfully important, it was Mama’s, and he didn’t even say he was sorry and it’s just not fair to Ayra. She wasn’t going to mention it but I thought you should know.”

Mama surveyed the damage. “Did you break it, Yozi?”

Technically, the floor had broken it. He had barely touched it. He had never expected a drop to the marble floor would so thoroughly destroy the watch. Although Mama would likely understand, Papa might not when he heard, and it might distract him from Ayra’s crimes, which were far worse and required swift justice.

So Josiah widened his eyes in shock and said, “No!”

Ateva gasped. 

Ayra clenched the ruined watch back into her fist. “Well, someone broke it, and I know I didn’t.”

“How could you?” said Ateva. “I saw it happen. Ayra’s telling the truth, Your Majesty. You have to believe her!”

Josiah pitied her. A twelve-year-old should be embarrassed to make such a dramatic spectacle of herself. He knew better, and he was only six and a half.

“Ateva,” said Mama, “I can’t blame you for trying to defend your sister. But honestly, Ayra, at your age this is ridiculous. A pity about your watch, and we can see about having it repaired, but must you blame Josiah? Surely you have more pressing concerns than making my little boy miserable?”

“You’re doing what?” thundered Papa’s voice. At the commotion, he had burst out of his study to investigate.

Ayra and Ateva, raising pleading eyes to him, both tried at once to present their side, but as Mama stepped in to explain that Ayra hadn’t been fulfilling her responsibilities, their faces fell in obvious guilt.

“Come to my study,” Papa said in a terrible voice. They trudged behind him through the door. Ateva’s hair ribbon draggled over her slumped shoulders, but Ayra’s narrow frame had stiffened to resemble a walking clothes rack. The study swallowed them up with a slam of the door.

Mama patted Josiah’s shoulder. “Your father will take care of them, don’t worry. I know you wouldn’t lie to me. Now, where were we?”

His face burned and his stomach knotted as he returned to her knees. He had lied to Mama. But if he admitted it, she wouldn’t think he was a good boy anymore. Josiah was good. He had to be. He had a perfectly good reason to lie.

And with his eye to the telescope again, the beauties of the heavens flooding his vision, and Mama’s voice surrounding him like an embrace as she told him stars’ names and how far away they lived, he soon forgot any discomfort. He nearly forgot his sisters, except when the muffled rumbles of voices drifted from the closed study. 

Once the chocolate and biscuits arrived, his attention was entirely diverted. The golden-brown biscuits were stacked double, cut in star shapes in the middle to reveal gobs of raspberry jam within. They crumbled in the mouth, smooth and buttery, answered by the tart, squashy sweetness of the berries. Through increasingly sticky fingers, he demolished three biscuits and washed them down with the chocolate. Despite the warm evening, the heat running down his throat with a stripe of cool cream refreshed him.

He paused mid-sip, surprised, when Papa brought out the girls and lined them up in front of Mama.

“What do you say?” he growled.

“I’m sorry, Mother,” recited the girls. Ateva ducked her head, but Josiah didn’t miss her red nose and eyes. Ayra’s face had gone blank, and her mouth buttoned shut as soon as the words were out.

And of course Mama graciously forgave them and favored them with a smile as she sent them back to their room without offering them any biscuits and chocolate. The girls exited as they were told, though Ateva glanced over her shoulder at the partially filled tray. Josiah consumed another biscuit with satisfaction, for, as a good child who didn’t need a scolding, he had earned it.

“Do you see what I mean, Odren?” said Mama.

“I’m sorry, love. If they ever give you any nonsense again, send them straight to me.”

“Oh, I would anyway, but I think a certain someone really could use some company his own age.”

Josiah surfaced from the chocolate glass to remind them. “What I want is a brother. Not a stranger.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” said Papa. “I’ll start investigating tomorrow. Doesn’t Böllingfurt have a son about the right age?”

“Three years older, I believe Erna said.”

Papa shook his head. “No more than a year older, if at all. I’ll ask around.” But his unfinished business demanded attention, leaving Josiah and Mama once more together at the telescope.

“Yozi,” she said, “if you were to have a brother, or a sister—if—I can’t promise anything, he or she would be a baby. It would be a long time before that baby would be old enough to play with. And by then— Well, you might be away at school. And he—or she—would be at home.”

“I don’t want to go away to school.”

“Your father wants you to, but not till you’re much older. You’ll want to go by then. And of course you and your brother would love each other and be good friends, but...it wouldn’t be quite like what you’re expecting.”

Josiah struggled to wrap his mind around this. As far as he could tell, the whole situation was the result of gross negligence. “I should have been a twin, Mama. Or we should have had a brother much sooner.” He took a long sip of his chocolate and eyed her over the rim of the glass.

“There wasn’t anything I could do about that, even at—oh, Yozi!” Her serious tone turned into laughter. “Look at you!”

“What did I do?” She shouldn’t laugh; he had raised a perfectly reasonable point.

“Cream on your nose! That’s not where it goes, silly!”

Josiah permitted himself a slight giggle while she wiped it off with her handkerchief.

“Trying to have a moustache like Papa too, I see,” she said. That got a real laugh out of him. “See? That’s something you could do with a friend that you couldn’t with a baby: sharing chocolate. And you could play together and do lessons and practice your music and have adventures together. You can’t do that with a stranger. But you can with a friend—more than that, a—a companion. Wouldn’t you like a companion?”

He nibbled another biscuit and thought it over. “I might.”

“I know it would be new, and new things often frighten you. They’re strange; you don’t know anything about them or what to do. But sometimes new things are much better than you expect. We gazed at stars tonight that are new to us, didn’t we? And our household is like that. We discover new members, and they make everything more beautiful. So you’re going to be brave and try it, won’t you? You’ll be kind to your companion and use your best manners and make him feel at home?”

He nodded hesitantly.

“That’s my good boy.” She kissed the top of his head and offered him the last biscuit.

“Perhaps,” he said, committing to a mouthful before he could admit to himself that he didn’t really want a sixth biscuit, “he would like to see the brothers constellation with us when it comes back later.”

“I promise you, Yozi,” said Mama, “we’ll do exactly that in December. It can be a birthday treat.”

“And you won’t forget?”

“I won’t if you won’t.”

“I won’t. Never ever ever.”

Once he filed away the promise and locked it in his brain for future reference, he couldn’t lose it. December was such a long time to wait, months and months, but he could count on the stars to plod their way through the heavens on time, and Mama to keep her promise, and perhaps even his new companion to stay by his side and listen reverently as Josiah related his astronomical discoveries.

Perhaps he didn’t really want a brother after all.

[rothmorin]

Got tagged by @roboticvenusian for a tag game! Thank you for the tag!

The game is to introduce yourself using one tv show, one movie, one album, and one game. I.. don't consume a lot of media regularly outside of video games so this is gonna be a little wonky, but I'm gonna give it a shot regardless. Will maybe throw in some extras or honorable mentions cause it is hard to narrow each category down to just one. Lessgo!

TV Show - Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

It's kinda a basic pick, but I can't help that the show is just good. There's also maybe just a touch of nostalgia talking. One of my first anime ever and I love returning to it to rewatch every few years. Super solid story and characters and the themes and philosophy of the show are so compelling. There's a reason almost everyone recommended this as a "starter" anime for such a long time. Honorable mentions to Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lost (yes I know it's ass leave me alone), and The Witcher.

Movie - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

I know this might be cheating a little but honestly you can't have one without the rest. If I absolutely had to pick one of the three, it'd be Two Towers. And maybe it's the nostalgia talking again, but it feels like they just don't make em like this anymore. Not flawless masterpieces by any means but just incredibly well constructed movies with a compelling plot and good characters. And the amount of artistry that went into the costume designs and the sets is so amazing. Marvel movies could never. It just helps make the trilogy timeless.

Album? - Uhhhh....

I used to listen to music more when I was younger but it was all like.. Christian rock. Then I stopped being religious and switched to almost exclusively listening to video game music. I am doing my best to get back into more contemporary and mainstream music, but I kinda consume it wrong lmao. I kinda just make playlists for my OCs and cherrypick individual songs I randomly find and don't really listen to songs in the context of a full album. As a result I don't really have a favorite album, so here's just two music recommendations I guess. First, the FTL soundtrack is just fantastically vibey and atmospheric and I return to it whenever I just need some ambient sound. And second, I've been getting into the band Good Kid. They have some solid covers and originals and I really like their stuff. It vaguely reminds me of some of the bands I listened to when I was younger but without all the religious stuff

Game - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

What can I say? It's peak. From the story, to the characters, to the dungeons, to the items, to the atmosphere, to the soundtrack. Absolute peak Zelda. OoT walked so MM could soar. The genius design of the three day cycle has yet to be recaptured by any game I have played since. The constant building pressure as you run out of time, the bountiful side quests, memorizing important item locations and everyone's routines to optimize your loop and subsequent playthroughs. Superb. It's just amazing that this game exists as it does, especially considering its troubled development. It really deserves more love and its a shame that the 3ds remake wasn't as faithful as it should've been. Honorable mentions to Guilty Gear: Strive for reigniting my current passion for fighting games and Pseudoregalia for being the best 3d platformer I have ever played oh my god please go play it.

Thanks for reading through! This was fun. Hopefully you know a bit more about me if you wanted to. And if you didn't want to... how'd you even make it this far?

I am tagging @wooferdill, @zelder-64, @pillcipher, and whomstever else sees this.