#this is very half baked and the only person i've mentioned it to is my brother so 4 members of the nnk fandom please add opinions

[saintsenara]

would you want to elaborate more on your thoughts on Alan Rickman as Snape? I'd love to hear more of your take on it. I dislike him in the role so much and it's insanely difficult to actually have a conversation about it sometimes because of how much some people like movie!Snape in large parts of the fandom

I have so many gripes with what happened to Snape, from how movie!Alan!Snape is a completely separate character to book!Snape (and how less flawed movie Snape overshadows the much more interesting and gray book version), how much I dislike his acting choices in certain moments to how much I dislike how he sees and describes the character in interviews

I've never heard of the diaries you mentioned, what did he say in them? I'm honestly also just curious if he even read any of the books because some of the things I've heard him say really make me doubt it 😭

there are dozens of us!

and i have no issue with being a #hater on the public timeline. for fun and profit.

but i'm actually going to start with two bits of rickman defending [it's giving diplomat].

the fact that the adult cast of the films was massively aged up in comparison to their book versions makes perfect sense. each individual film not only needed to be accessible for people who’d never read the books, but for people who'd never seen another film in the sequence - and so having a visual distinction between harry and james’ generations is completely necessary. we - as people who are undeniably more invested in the series than the average person - know that the great tragedy of the later books is that james and lily died so young that harry looks virtually indistinguishable from his father as he walks into the forest. but that doesn’t always work on screen…

it also doesn't bother me unduly that rickman doesn't physically resemble the canon snape. plenty of actors don't look anything like the characters they give brilliant performances of [and not only fictional characters, but real people], and it doesn't matter in the slightest - being an exact physical match for a character says nothing about an actor's ability to portray what they're like.

which is where my beef with film!snape starts...

the thing that never hits for me is that rickman plays snape - regardless of the situation he finds himself in - as emotionally repressed, cold, and controlled.

[even down to the costume - he was behind the decision to have snape be, literally, buttoned up].

i simply don't know how anyone could read the books and come away with this impression of snape without having fundamentally misunderstood the character. snape is incredibly emotionally demonstrative! he’s the male character other than harry - the literal narrative perspective - whose emotional state is described the most frequently! and his emotional state is always described in terms which make clear that he’s someone who feels very deeply and who registers his emotions clearly on his face!

rickman's version of snape bears no resemblance to this - and it means that his portrayal of two key aspects of snape's canon character always feels flat to me.

the first is snape's main negative trait - his cruelty. something is really lost in the fact that film!snape's cruelty is reduced to something arch and precise - and that it doesn't have the petty, childish, vindictive tone that it does in the books.

and the second is - of course - the experience which defines snape's canon arc - his grief. this is so inextricably bound up in the state of arrested development - still living at school! still beefing with people he knew when he was fifteen! - that the absence of snape's childish side in rickman's performance means that the way he portrays snape's grief is always going to feel half-baked.

and - specifically - rickman's emphasis on emotional repression in every aspect of snape's character undermines the fact that - in canon - snape's mingled love, grief, and guilt for lily is the only emotion he goes out of his way to repress, which allows the revelation of his feelings for lily in deathly hallows to actually feel like a mystery being solved.

snape is an interesting character precisely because he's so... feral - and rickman’s buttoned-up, suave, nowhere-near-as-gratuitously-mean-as-he-should-be take on him is the cause of many of the least complex and least compelling fanon!snapes [in particular, the snape prominent in pairings with female partners in which he’s kind, sophisticated, romantic, and definitely not really ugly].

the snapewives phenomenon was incredible, though. fair play to him for inspiring that.

when it comes to the diaries... what's complicated is reconciling two particular truths.

on the one hand, a diary is inherently a space for a person to record their private thoughts [they were published with the consent of his family, but they weren't originally written with the intention that they'd be published] - and, therefore, to record impolite, unpleasant, or unadmirable thoughts which they wouldn't express in person. rickman's diaries are incredibly whiny - and often quite unkind - but it's clear that this isn't because he was particularly whiny or unkind in person. obviously, it's a good and healthy thing that, if someone was pissing him off at a dinner party, he was cordial to them in conversation and saved that he thought they were an idiot for his private diary!

but, on the other hand, there are several threads which run through these private thoughts which made it impossible for me not to feel considerably less fond of him.

[gabichanwrites]

I've seen an opinion about JJK that the story needs so much pointless death and unrealized potential because it is the point. That this is the world of JJK, cruel and killing off potential because of higher-ups indifference and carelessness with sorcerer's lives. That Gege did a brave thing by stepping out of the line of a typical shouen plot and made his characters suffer and die and pointed out the ridiculousness of adults making children fight for them.

And to all of that I say - I get it. But also I don't agree.

There is a significant difference between the potential in-universe and the potential of the characters. Sure, they overlap a lot, especially in series like JJK, but there is a difference. For example, both the characters and us have been thrilled with the unspoken potential of Megumi's "sacred treasure" and I'm pretty sure every single one of us went wild when he made his half-baked domain in S1. Also, he got Sukuna as his hypeman - it's hard to really top that in terms of potential. But when I say character potential, I don't mean only power scaling one - I mean what they could do in a story. And one of the best examples for me are The Twins. You know, the ones that try to bargain with Sukuna to kill off the Fake-Getou. And the quite pointless death of BOTH of them.

Their techniques personally interest me a lot but it's not even about that. Even if there is not that much space to explore with them cursed technique-wise, wouldn't it be so interesting if one of them got to live? Betrayed by every curse she turned for help to, alone in a raging Shibuya - forced to work with the School Gang? With their very differing opinions, with her wildly different perspective... Man, I'm not that good of a writer to figure it out on a fly. But there was potential there, a very interesting one, and wasting it isn't the nail on the coffin for Gege's story - but it does disappoint me, considering how hyped the story was for me beforehand. How much trust I put into Gege's writing.

And with the way things are going with Nanami, Nobara and, from what I've gathered from my partner's ashamed face when I mentioned my suspicions, Todou, this is no longer about power potential the characters had (although with Nobara it kinda still is). It's about how those deaths are hidden behind the smoke screen of theme and well, that's the cruelty of the world that tries to hide the balant shock-value of these deaths. Because back in season 1 Gojo already said it - that he knows killing higher-ups won't really solve anything. That it's about a new generation doing better, forcing a change others reject.

So why isn't this story about that? Why does it kill off THREE (?) characters for the sake of kicking Yuuji into dirt? Why does Mahito even require so many named deaths to establish... What exactly? That he's fucked up and immoral and direct opposite of Yuuji? That he can bring out the worst in him? I THINK I GOT THE POINT AFTER JUNPEI AND NANAMI, REALLY.

So, with the spoilers I have from the manga, I just feel like it's not quite right to call those deaths deserved because of the setting. Not when the story in S1 promised a change, a hopeful future set by the new generation.

And if that were never the main focus of the series, then I don't want to hear a single world about those deaths contributing to it because they are not.

Man, there is no one who wants to love JJK more than me and there is no one more heartbroken that I can't bring myself to do so anymore.

[sakebytheriver]

I have spoken so much about how Nathan Shelly's arc enrages me, but I've rarely ever talked about the sadness I get from Sam's

I absolutely weep for Sam Obisanya

From the beginning Sam's character was written as a plot device to aid in the development for the white characters, he literally only exists at first to give Jamie a foil to bounce off of, every moment it looks like Sam could have the beginning of his own character arc it is cut off at the knees instead to give a spotlight to Jamie Tartt's personal journey of growth, from Sam's good family and kind father only being mentioned to show the fact that Jamie can't relate to the experience of having a good dad to Sam deciding he was going to protest Dubai Air by putting the tape on his uniform becoming instead about Jamie showing he was willing to be a team player now, rather than the huge moment of courage and strength displayed by Sam it was supposed to be. When they showed the whole team with tape on their chests and zoomed in on Sam's face it felt so hollow, because instead of the protest being about Sam, which it should have been, it was actually about Jamie. And I was going to give them leeway for that moment, because I believed we were about to fall down a season long arc of Sam fighting against negative press, targetted propaganda, and harassment from government officials and giant corporate CEOs with his protest and subsequent interview, I was expecting to see so much more protests from Sam, so much more activism and altruism becoming an integral part of his character going forward, but instead it's tossed to the side with a singular text message flashed on the screen to show the government just instantly cow towed to the opinion of some random football player?????? Make it make sense.

Then after completely abandoning the possible activism plotline Sam could have gone down they throw him into a relationship with Rebecca, which I don't necessarily mind, but then Sam stopped being a character and just became a hot love interest for the white woman going through a journey of self-discovery to have a fun short sexual fling with before discarding him for her own growth, once again Sam was a plot device in a white character's story. And it happened right after I thought Sam was going to be bumped up in the main character roster with his own well written arc, which just twists the knife even more

And then after all of that bullshit they throw Sam this random restaurant plotline, which once again, I'm fine with, even if it is a little pardon my pun half-baked, but like you need to pick a character arc for Sam to go down and stick with it. This restaurant idea just comes from nowhere in my opinion. It's lovely and a nice thought, but since when has Sam ever shown an interest in food? When did he ever make any kind of reference to wanting to have a restaurant before they decided he'd get one? Why abandon the activism plotline to give him a very similar kind of plotline just with a restaurant instead? Did you realize you weren't nearly skilled or informed enough to write a plot about a black African man protesting the giant white corporate conglomerate that utilizes the colonization of his home country by the country he currently resides in to bribe the corrupt government of his home to further subjugate the people that still live there including his own family and so you backed off like cowards and gave him a cutesy romance and a restaurant plot instead?

Anyways, Sam Obisanya deserved writers that actually knew how to write for him, and I will forever cry about who he could have been if he'd had those writers instead

[1moreff-creator]

Happy Birthday Ace Markey!

And happy Halloween! Seems like the character most afraid of everything that moves got the spooky holiday as a birthday! What a silly guy.

Anyways, even though my DRDT’s a bit rusty, I’ll still give a half-baked analysis, fun facts and songs!

(Do keep in mind character analysis is subjective, though!)

-Ace is very unhappy with his life. That much is obvious, as he’s deeply afraid of horses, yet he’s still forced to become the Ultimate Jockey for reasons not yet completely clear.

-He’s claimed his fear diminishes when the time comes for a race, because the thought of losing is scarier than horses to him. That still means he doesn’t practice horse-riding at all, though.

-The constant stress he’s under has even caused his hair to start greying (stated in a QnA), although he dyes it maroon.

-This same stress is likely the reason he always seems to be in fight-or-flight mode. He keeps pretending like he wants to fight people, trying to intimidate them in some way to make himself appear tougher than he is, but always cowers when someone actually tries to take him up on the offer.

-This only gets worse after Levi, the only person Ace had begun to really trust in the killing game, threatens to kill him in the first trial. Ace makes the decision not to trust anyone in the game from that point, which causes him to become even more hostile to compensate for and hide his growing distress.

-Specifically, he begins severely bullying Nico, probably in part because he got Nico's secret and thought he could use that to have power over them. See, if there's one thing Ace really wants, it's control over his situation, seeing as most of his life he's been doing things he doesn't actually want to do. He sees bullying Nico and pushing everyone away as a way of achieving this.

-This ends up exploding when Nico tries to kill him in the gym. Because regardless of what exactly you believe happened there, Nico did admit to trying to take Ace's life. However, Ace's reaction is very different from what we would have expected from him in chapter 1. While before he would have been terrified of Nico and stayed away from them, like he originally did with Xander, now he went out of his way to try and attack Nico even while bleeding pretty profusely. Presumably he's still scared as all hell, but the idea is that by this point he doesn't want his fear to control his actions. He pushes through the fear, like he does while racing, to do what he actually wants to do.

-This is also presumably also why he keeps insulting Nico the day after, and why he returns to the gym (depending on the theory) the night after. He's done being controlled by fear, so he covers it up with as much aggression and petty defiance as he can.

CW Eating disorders

-His motive secret is "Your body is falling apart, but you still refuse to eat." As Veronika mentions, this is possibly because there are strict weight requirements for jockeys. It's also possible this is why his profile states he likes mint, since that can disguise the smell caused by the vomiting associated with certain eating disorders, such as bulimia.

CW Over

-I've implied it before, but his birthday possibly lands on Halloween because fear is a major part of his character.

-The roman numeral associated with him in the LGI MV is V (5), with the phrase "right now, why do you go insane?"

Presumably because he can act kinda crazy at times.

There are also two pieces of bg text.

A cat has 9 additional lives

Presumably because he almost died in the gym, so he has "multiple lives."

I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is  southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw.

This is a quote from Hamlet (big surprise, I know), where Hamlet claims he's only "mad north-northwest", or rather, only mad on ocassion. Hamlet claims to still have control of his faculties, being able to tell apart a hawk from a hand saw (another bird), a friend from an enemy. For Ace, that means that while he appears crazy at times, he still considers himself in control of hs faculties, still able to see that everyone around him is an enemy (<- he's wrong but he considers himself right).

For some more fun facts:

-The scar on his face comes from jockeying.

-Canonically gay. Unsurprisingly /j

-He likes mint, which is presumably why he smells of menthol... as well as sweat.

-He likes healthy food, and he likes wearing sporty clothes.

-His favorite colors are dark blue and purple, but he refuses to say why. His least favorite color is titian, which is the color of his hair, because he doesn't like himself.

-When asked for his favorite ice cream flavor, he says it's frozen bananas. Not ice cream, actual frozen bananas.

-Like most of the cast, he's right-handed and American.

-He has nine siblings and once had a friend named Taylor.

-He wears heels, as he wishes he was taller most of the time. However, when it comes to jockeying, he'd actually rather be shorter. My guy can't win.

Finally songs that remind me of him:

+Appetite of a People-Pleaser by Ghost & Pals (CW for eating disorders. This song almost feels like it was written for him actually)

+Yesman by NILFRUITS (I think this is his character playlist song, but who knows)

+Reform by QueenPB

+Copycat by CircusP

+God-ish by PinnochioP

+Exorcism by CreepP (CW Abuse, this works with Ace when abstracted a bit)

+Lost One's Weeping by Neru.

+The Things I Deserve by Ghost & Pals (CW suicide)

+Self-Proclaimed Angel by VocaloKAT (this one's on vibes alone)

And Happy Birthday! Happy Halloween also! Take care!

[interstellairs]

Hi! I first wanted to state, that my name is also Polaris, which I find cool, it’s always great to meet other North Stars! Hehe.

I’m a big fan of magical girls and a practitioner of chaos magick and I’ve never actually thought about combining the two, so I definitely wanted to thank you for making your blog about this.

Anyway, I wanted to ask, what ways do you do practice being a magical girl? Is there certain things you do that you associate with your magical girl destiny or is it more like making your ordinary life more magical by being a magical girl?

⭐ )　messages from the stars　ᵎᵎ

hello! it's a bit silly to think about it but it's nice to see another person who's named after the northern star, i cant blame anyone though since it's a pretty name. i'm hoping that you'll find some useful information from my blog. this answer i have will be a really long read, it cant be helped that i'm passionate about being a magical girl so i ended up typing a lot 😭

as for how i practice being a magical girl, it's complicated to say but i'll be very happy to explain. i practice being a magical girl in both mindset and literal magic, but what i associate the most with being a magical girl is being capable of taking independent control over your own life (even little by little) and using a sense of hopefulness to guide you into a certain future that you want no matter how dire things may get which is REALLY cheesy and corny but hopefully you get the idea.

i think it's a very empowering thing to become a magical girl, because it is actually possible unlike what other people have told us so. it's like embodying what a magical girl is shown to be while doing what you can to be yourself. what i meant by empowering is that since something that's deemed as childish like being a magical girl is actually realistic, what other supposedly impossible things exist out there that are possible or can be turned possible?

as for the literal magic aspect, i do work with a magical familiar, like a type of entity work but for magical girl familiars rather than typical spirits, and my familiar does undeniably look like an actual. magical girl mascot. my familiar helps me embody the way i think a magical girl is like, they help me train, keep me company, give me advice, and overall be a magical girl mentor. i also work with my familiar for regular occult things but i wont dive deeply into that topic.

this other part can be related to energy work, but because of being a magical girl, some of my witchcraft practitioners friends who don't know about irl magical girls have mentioned that my energy has taken a more positive but permanent change to it? and i do consider that my own energy has become magical, and i do train myself to use literal magical girl magic more efficiently.

i use chaos magic and manifesting altogether to become a magical girl by literal definition, as in one who can transform and fight. so far, i've only been able to transform in the astral but i'm planning to take it to the physical level, i've been getting plenty of phantom shifts into my magical girl outfit.

lastly for the fighting part, i've done some physical training and magical training, also honing my skill to sense the negative forms of energies that manifest into harmful entities that i'll be fighting, which would occur both in the astral plane and physical plane. and recently, i did sense one of those entities but since i'm currently a half-baked and under training magical girl, i had no choice but simply keep track of it and the entity's "signature" so i'll be able to fight them in the future.

i rambled a lot, but i'm hoping i managed to provide different perspectives on how someone can be a magical girl!

( june 18, 2024 | tuesday )

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hiiiiiii!!!!!

I hope that you are doing mighty well! 😊

Stopping by to ask for any lonnnnggg.... Slow burns. You know, where it's chapter 10 or 15 and they are barely holding hands or brushing hair outta ones face.

Preferably one where John is the assertive one and Sherlock is the shy one. It would be toast if you have anything where Sherlock tries hard to fit in and to be loved but is so awkward no one likes him. To John though, he is perfect and loveable. So then John tries hard to treat him right and show him what it's like to have someone truly love him. 😊

Thanks a million!!!! You truly are a gem! 🌻 Take care and be well always. 💚

Hi Lovely!!!

AHHHHHHH Let me direct you to my Slow Burn Fics Masterlist, but I've a few new SUPER slow burn fics to make a list for you. Check these out! Feel free to add your own, friends!

BURN SO SLOW IT HURTS Pt. 2

See also: Burn So Slow it Hurts

How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.

The Hollow Woman by ScopesMonkey (M, 51,335 w., 22 Ch. || Post-TRF, Major Character Death, Mystery, Romance, Friendship, Family, Angst, Crime, Reunion, First Kiss / Time, Nightmares, Doctor John, Jealous Sherlock, Jealous John, BAMF John, Angry John, Dub-Con, Rough Sex, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Villain Mary, Open Ending) – Forced to return to London sooner than expected, Sherlock falls into a case too close to home. Part 1 of the Hollowverse series

Swallow the Night by ArwaMachine (E, 87,873 w., 15 Ch. || TSo3/Stag Night Fix It, TAB/S4 Divergence, Toplock, Mutual Pining, PWP, Drunk / Public Sex, Anal Fingering/Sex, Alcohol-Induced Amnesia, Everyone Knows Except Them, Emotional Love Confession, Demisexual Sherlock, Internalized Homophobia [John], Parentlock with Rosie, First Kiss, Drug Relapse, Infidelity, Texting, Masturbation, Oblivious John, Emotional Love Making, Angst with Happy Ending, Dreams and Nightmares) – “Do you know how long,” John panted, his cheek scraping against the wall, looking back at Sherlock through half-closed eyes, “I’ve wanted this?” Sherlock pressed himself against John’s back, biting at John’s ear. “Not nearly as long as I have,” he whispered.

Bakers with Benefits by Raina_at (E, 88,130 w., 14 Ch. || Great British Bake Off AU || Strangers to Lovers, Switchlock, Friends with Benefits, Mentions of Alcoholism / Past Drug Use, Banter, Flirting, Fluff, Light Angst, Semi-Public Sex, Past Sherlock/Victor, Mutual Pining, POV Sherlock, Obsessive Sherlock, John’s Bum) – Sherlock Holmes has a successful YouTube baking channel, but what he really wants is his own bakery. When an old friend sends him a call for the very first Great British Bake Off, he seizes the opportunity to finally win a sponsor for his bakery. Here's the plan: Win Bake Off, get the bakery, don't fall in love with the handsome Army doctor at the neighbouring station. Easy.

Drawn to Stars by Silvergirl (E, 109,272 w., 60 Ch. || S4 Compliant to TLD / TFP Doesn’t Exist, Sherlock’s Italian Adventure, Sherlock/OC and Johnlock, Jealous John, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, First Kiss/Time, Idiots in Love, 3 Part Story, Slow Burn, Inexperienced Sherlock, Bottom Sherlock, Introspection, Alternating First and Third Person POV, Separation and Reconciliation, Emotional Love Making, Love Confessions via Letters, Angst with Happy Ending) – After the Culverton Smith case Sherlock is clean, working, and looking for a romantic partner—since John has told him that’s what he needs. Shame John didn’t mention he was interested in that role himself, before Sherlock went off to Rome with a gorgeous Italian copper to try to fall in love and become a complete human being.  Part 1 of the Drawn to Stars series

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns. 

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

I've seen you mention on some posts that Ninjago had an affect on your relationship with being Asian, and I was wondering if you had any thoughts you wanted to share on the subject of Asian representation in Ninjago.

Feel free to disregard if the subject is too personal.

This is absolutely fine! In fact I’ve been itching for an excuse to talk about it for a while, because this show deeply influenced my writing growing up, and honestly I'm sick of most of the people getting noticed for discussing it being white.

So, I think Ninjago’s Asian representation is garbage. It’s not unique: there was a common trend in 2010’s kids’ media to make everything cooler by including Ninjas or, more generally, Asians Doing Martial Arts. I remember it being in media as distant as Club Penguin and many Flash games back in the day, as well as worse cartoons I don’t bother to remember the name of. I’m fairly sure adult-geared Kung Fu movies also had a hand in this, but I didn’t watch those as a kid.

But Ninjago’s particularly bad in that they’ve kept doing this for over 10 years, and it’s baked into their story.

Everything from them not checking up how ‘ninjutsu’ was spelled, to them not actually making the characters have Asian skintones in that one anime segment, to that one time they based Nya’s outfit off a clearly named Cheongsam from Pinterest and called it a Kimono? It all just reeks of people who wanted to make a quick buck of an entire continent’s ‘aesthetic’ and the mysticism around it, rather than portray them as actual people.

There’s a really great website by someone (who I can’t remember the username of) detailing all the Orientalism of the show up until about season 10. It dives very deeply into how the design language of Ninjago always seems to be based in making the actually ‘Asian’ parts of the show evoke more of a feeling of East Asia than actually being accurate to any one culture, and a lot of inaccuracies and why they arose.

A poignant point it raises is that any time we get a cool character or place, they’re always portrayed as more western-coded and ‘civilised.’ Jamanakai Village is poor and the villagers are rude. Ninjago City is civilised and clearly closer to what white people are used to living in. Lloyd is this world’s destined saviour, and he is blonde. There was *one* Asian voice actor on the VA team. And 2/3 of the Ninja team is white-coded by name.

Some my own observations over the years also include:

Jay’s ‘yin to my yang saying’ being completely made up.

That intro to… season 7, I think? Where the Ninja fight off some slave-drivers whipping people working a rice farm. Which never gets brought up again.

Nadakhan’s entire design is the only bit of South-Asian rep we get for the first few years, and his mythology is inaccurate to how actual Djinn work, and he’s acknowledged by the creators to have a sexy voice and be an absolute creep.

Having enjoyed Monkie Kid, I think Ninjago’s Asian rep is fundamentally unfixable. It was built to appeal to a western audience that simply thought the concept of ninja were cool, and thought of Asia only as a conglomerate where people had powers and did cool fight sequences or were otherwise savages. And also where the entirety of South Asia doesn't exist.

Like, I've tried to make an AU where I overhauled things completely to be better rep, and you just can't do it without breaking the show in half. Half of a character's name comes from Japan, and the other half from China. You're going to be losing something whatever you choose (shout out to Koko from the movie), and it gets uncomfortable to think about real quick, especially when the show's strongest suit is its characters.

As a kid who was part of a diaspora, Ninjago definitely didn't help my fucked up viewpoint of being cool only if I passed as white enough and viewed my parents' country as a magical but ancient land rather than part of reality.

[moxpunk]

So, I mentioned I'd write up a trip-report/retrospective of my experience of getting absolutely buried under pies on Saturday, so here it is! Be warned, it's fucking long.

To start off, my friend Dee was very professional about the whole matter: reassured me that I'd be taken care of, helped lighten the mood a bit, and didn't have any massive expectations for someone they just met for the first time in-person who's never done something like this at such a scale. Our styles and how we carried ourselves couldn't be different though, which was extremely funny to me. Them in this very stylish coat and scarf number, while I'm bumming around in my ripped-up Fender shirt and fishnet-tights - extremely visual-metaphor, I know.

Snagging the supplies was a wild experience. I'm just sorta following along while Dee had a total game-plan in their head, bee-lining it towards the baking section and immediately shoving about 12 boxes of cake batter into the cart. I was surprised to see how little frosting they snagged, but that'll be something for next time. The other supply that dominated our cart was store-brand whipped topping for the pies. I figure we had like about a dozen tubs of that as well by the end. During the grocery-run, I told Dee that whenever someone would make a comment when I'd buy stuff for solo-experiences, I just tell them that I'm running a bake-sale or something. People will take it at face-value, and I don't have to explain that "Yes, I'm buying so much dessert-product because it's a kink of mine". But Dee, this asshole (affectionate), gets asked the question while we're checking out and puts on this bright face saying they're "Moxie's happy helper, she's got so much work to be done on her head" and I'm trying not to corpse right then and there while I'm bagging our supplies. I think my face was crimson when we bounced back to my place.

Speaking of my place, I do not live in a large apartment and my bathroom is even smaller with my shower being a one-person standing-job. Thankfully, this also means that laying down tarp to catch the massive amount of spillage was super easy, and Dee had tons of tarp and tape ready to go. Looked like that one scene in American Psycho with a singular chair in the middle surrounded by clear tarp to catch the mess. Absolutely unhinged shit if you saw it out of context.

Then came making everything! Dee had brought a bunch of pudding-cups as filling for the pies as well as some xanthan gum to thicken things. That xanthan gum stuff is wild, they mixed it with water at first, and it had the texture of drool. Great if you're into that stuff and want a body-safe way to get drenched in it! I had baked half of the crusts earlier when we got back, but I totally spaced on poking holes in the crusts so they ended up kinda jank. Thankfully, the pies were just going to be thrown at me instead of eaten. Ha! This is when my back started getting angry at me, standing a whole bunch and moving around the kitchen. Had to take a number of breaks during this, but Dee told me they have infinite energy for this sort of thing and was fine that the fat girl needed a few breaks. Took maybe an hour in total to go from nothing to a dozen pies and three 3-gallon buckets of cake batter, which was wild. I put some makeup on, Dee got the camera and tripod set up, and it was time for us to start!

The anticipation I felt when I was sitting in that chair was wild. Like, I've absolutely pied myself before and even last year I got pied by another person for the first time from my ex. So, I sorta knew what to expect. But, these pies had that gum mixed in to hold their shape better, so I wasn't entirely certain how it was going to go. Dee told me to get ready and…

SPLAT! The first pie nearly knocked the fucking air out of my lungs. It was fucking cold thanks to the topping been in the fridge-section of the grocery store about only an hour ago! It covered my whole face and stuck to my hair that I had pushed to run down the side of my head, and I nearly called for a yellow light to slow down. For a little there, I felt like I couldn't catch my breath properly before two more pies got sandwiched over my head. Dee, for their part, did the expert thing of smearing and twisting the desserts over my head to just turn it into a mask of goop. This is absolutely the point where I could feel all the weight concentrate in my hair and start to weight my whole damn head down. Looking back at the video for reference, my hair is just this curtain of white goop and pie crust.

A few pies in for good measure, and Dee finally grabbed one of the buckets of batter. The dye we snagged wasn't all that potent, sadly. We wanted a bright pink sludge that mimicked the ancient-ass game-show What Would You Do's "Crowning Glory", but we know next time not to get the gel-dye (and also to buy a hand-mixer!). Because it's part of The Kink, of course I looked directly up into the bucket above just before it cascaded over me. In stark contrast to the other pies being cold as hell, Dee used warm water to mix with the batter, so it was heavenly to have that thick warmth poured over my body. It made all the future pies a lot easier to handle, honestly, by having that mucky barrier of off-pink coating me.

Around this time is when I realized "Oh, right, I have a bunch of hair soaking in all this stuff, might as well work it in!" because I'm a dork for my hair getting the slop-salon treatment. Another few pies splatted over my face while I worked my hair like I was in a shampoo commercial, Dee grabs my arm and smears a big blob of marshmallow fluff up my armpit because the bastard knows I'm a pit-fiend. So, you folks out there that enjoy the idea of lapping dessert out of my pit, please hold onto that mental image nice and tight. The banter between me and Dee started flowing at about this point. They were asking me questions while smearing the batter over my body, and ended up zeroing in on my nipple. I'm a sensitive lady, so when I'm trying to give an answer, it came out as "Oh yeah~!" like I'm some actress in a shitty porn because I was goddamn moaning through it. They didn't let me forget that, repeating it back to me whenever I would say "Yeah" to anything. Asshole (affectionate).

Syrup came next, just some cheap-ass brand and not actual maple syrup, and I smelled like breakfast. I smelled like breakfast for like two days afterwards, even through a thorough shower. I am not complaining at all, this is a benefit to this fetish. Honestly, the syrup was the one thing that I was not expecting to enjoy as much as I did. In my head, it's watery and just kinda boring? But, it being emptied out over mess-coated me and a pie that was stuffed into my face, I'm absolutely adding it to the roster of Quick and Easy Shit to Buy When I'm Horny.

Then came The Barrage. So, in this little obsession Dee and I share, the pie-barrage is usually seen as one of the climaxes of a scene. It's taking what, up to this point, is usually singular pies being added to someone in a sensual way that builds up the mess slowly piece-by-piece. A barrage of pies is the person throwing them going absolutely feral and just wanting to see the target inundated with layer upon layer of pie. That's exactly what happened to me! The first pie hit, totally blinding me, and before I had time to react properly, a second and then a third pie was added to the vaguely human-shaped blob of pie and moaning trans woman. Even managed to muffle anything I was trying to say, which was incredible to someone like me that types out muffled syllables in text roleplay. Honestly, Dee got the best photos of me immediately after the barrage, you… can hardly see who I am, let alone what I am. Absolute peak!

When your head is absolutely coated in thick pie-slop, the world fades away in a real way. You can't see past the layers of dessert, it settles over your head so you can't hear anything but your own breathing, and taste and smell have been absolutely tossed out the window to be replaced by sugarsmell. It's like sensory deprivation, because even your sense of touch fades out since you're rocking at least a layer or two of full-body coverage. It's an incredible experience! It's also only halfway through my session!

To speed things up a bit, more pies and more batter-slime was added to the mess. Since this kink began with Nickelodeon shows for the vast majority of the Millennials that have it, it's a bit of a "tradition" when green slime is involved (in our case, green batter because I'm a Dessert Bitch) to say "I don't know" like in You Can't Do That On Television. Say the trigger-phrase, get a bucket of green dumped over you. Dee even tried to put the bucket over my head, but the three-gallon ones are just a bit too small for that. It's a shame, because if we had the five-gallon buckets, I would have absolutely done a bit of head-dunking where I get on my hands and knees before plunging my whole head into that warm goop. Dee even had some chocolate cake batter as well, which reminded me that Valentine's was only a few days previous. Chocolate-covered goblin, anyone? The irony of my most-recent art piece mirroring what was going to happen to me is absolutely not lost on me.

Eventually, we had run out of supplies, and I got to sit there in the chair just enjoying the mess I was in. My hair was so heavy at that point, and the slop had just sorta congealed into a single texture. It made it incredibly easy to just work and play with, with Dee finally realizing that the reason I keep my hair so goddamn long is for moments like this where I get to wear what felt like ten pounds of sludge from the neck up. As is tradition in these shoots, just because we ran out of supplies doesn't mean the Moxie Messing was over, because Dee had put a bucket between my legs to catch as much excess slop as possible before dumping it all over my head in this thick mashed-up mixed-up wave.

After I had run out of steam having fun with myself, it was time to wrap and get me cleaned off. Wringing out my hair was an experience for the both of us. Neither of us had really realized just how much mass my hair could hold. When I went to pull the mess from my hair, it… just kept going. I filled a damned three-gallon bucket with just the stuff in my hair alone, and even then there was more. I soaked myself in the shower for the better part of a half-hour afterwards, to which my back got very upset at me for standing so long on a slippery surface. When I came out of the shower, Dee had completely cleaned the place. Wrapped up the pool of slop in the tarps and slammed it into a contractor bag for dumping. In my past experiences of being really bad at planning, it was never that easy, so I was thoroughly impressed at the foresight. I helped Dee toss it all into the dumpster near my place, and they bounced on off home in their car soon after!

So, to summarize… Holy shit, I wrote a lot, didn't I? Ha! But, yeah, this was an incredible experience and hands-down the best and most-encompassing slop-session I've ever had to this point. Dee said they absolutely want to do another session before they move again, so I'm excited to have more experiences like this! Hopefully this whole thing helps show people that have no idea why the hell I'm so obsessed with being hit by pies why I enjoy it, and shows people that do understand how incredible it was for me to have this. 2023 was a rough year for me, so kicking off 2024 with a session like this is hopefully the start to a far better year. With that, let's call it a wrap!

Love you all, stay messy. 💖

[oiblackestsheep]

Letters to MBTI: ISTJ

Dear ISTJs,

Unfairly pigeonholed as boring and uninspired because some statistics say that you make up a large proportion of the population is as ludicrous as it is unjust. I have two important points to make on this topic for food for thought, and I'll even put them in a list format, just for you ❤️

You just might be one of the most methodical, independent, and efficient types out there - and problem solving can be just as creative, if not moreso than traditional creative outlets like art. Afterall, problem solving is driven by the presence of limitations, and limitation breeds creativity because it becomes a necessity.

The next time someone tries to tear you down for being a "common" type, kindly remind them that perhaps the reason there are so many more ISTJs is because it is simply essential to have more ISTJs to keep our society up and running than whatever type they are. (Is that the healthiest/most productive way to go about it? Maybe not, so use at your own risk, but in my honest opinion, some people just might need a little humbling to grow.)

If I need someone that I can trust to provide responsible support for really any given task, I pick you, ISTJ. I know you will guarantee the exact results that I ask you for, as long as I provide you with clear direction and briefing beforehand; I appreciate your willingness to help, and also your collaborative nature that prompts you to ask questions and seek clarification when you need it.

You don't show it much, but when you are in a healthy headspace, your forever-steady moral compass helps to guide and support your actions in the most honorable and respectable ways. You find ways to show how much you care and empathize with others through your highly logical and methodical actions (ie your acts of service that take practical care of others speak volumes to those around you).

Similarly, your Ne doesn't get much time in the spotlight, but when it does, I can't find any other way to describe it other than adorable. I personally think that every ISTJ has an untapped inner world of fun, half-baked ideas (in classic Ne fashion) that they will humor during their private alone time or in the presence of their most trusted friends and family. I get the feeling that they are just slightly shy about their "weird" ideas and that only makes me want to encourage you to explore them (perferably outloud and with me lmao) all that much more!

Maybe slightly selfishly of me, I have always enjoyed ISTJs, and your ISFJ cousins because I've always felt that you make a good audience for my own outlandish Ne ideas; not to mention how deeply connect my Ne and my desire to make others laugh are. You inferior Ne users always seem to find my high-Ne shenanigans entertaining, and that is such an incredibly rewarding experience for me because I love making other people happy! For how are you guys work, I think that you're some of the most worthy of a break and a laugh after all!

All around, you embody a very welcome blend of foreign traits that keep me on my toes and force me to think differently, and familiar traits that allow me to feel at ease and understood, all the same.

Never change, ISTJs, you hold more value than any of us really know.

[fushiglow]

Here's my Ao3 wrapped for 2023!

Although it's nowhere near as impressive as some people's, I'm really proud of my writing achievements this year, both on and off my Ao3 account. This is just for my own motivation, so I've collaged together a few different templates I've seen online. Feel free to use it for your own if you like!

Words written this year: 45,705 words published over six months! Now where was this motivation to write during my degrees...?

Works published this year: Five published works for Jujutsu Kaisen, four of which are complete.

Work I'm most proud of: Over the Threshold — for a million different reasons! I've never approached a work with this level of attention to themes and motifs before. I lose perspective sometimes, but it's very fulfilling to write, especially because the setting is personally important to me.

Work that readers enjoyed most: Rivers Crossed, Mountains Scaled — at least judging from kudos and bookmarks. That was a surprise to me considering it's only around a week old! However, the investment readers have shown in the comments on Over the Threshold means *everything* to me.

Fastest work to write: Dream a Little Dream — I wrote it over a few hours at work because of a prompt that captured my imagination. This is *wildly* fast for me!

Slowest work to write: I would say Over the Threshold because it's still a WIP, but let's go with Rivers Crossed, Mountains Scaled because it was in my drafts for six months before I did anything with it.

Number of WIPs I'm taking into 2024: Including Over the Threshold, I think 10 or 11? Most of them are part of a series about Megumi and Gojō's relationship that I've been working on for ages, and there are tons more half-baked ideas flying around that I hope I can flesh out eventually. I wish I was a faster writer!

Favourite character to write: Basic of me, but it's Gojō. No matter how much I write him or study his character, I still never know whether I'm getting it quite right. I find that really addictive!

Favourite line/passage I wrote this year: I feel spoilt for choice which is a pretty nice feeling to have about myself! I'm really proud of the celestial imagery in chapter five of Over the Threshold. It's woven throughout the whole chapter, but if I had to pick one passage, it would probably be this one:

It was simply the truth of the universe that some stars burned brighter than others, and Satoru’s was among the brightest. He shone so brilliantly that the rabble were forced to avert their eyes, bowing their heads in worship of his lonely light. Suguru didn’t want to be part of the rabble. [...] If it was the price he had to pay for really seeing Satoru, Suguru would rather let his retinas burn than look away.

Honourable mention to this description from Dream a Little Dream:

Her eyes instantly found his — wide pools of endless blue in motion peering at her from across the room. He was silhouetted against the window frame, shōji pulled open to reveal the clear and colourless dawn that was breaking beyond. It was still too early for the sun to paint the sky in daubs of orange and rouge, but the monochrome world outside cast the Six Eyes into even sharper relief.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my work this year, whether through leaving wonderful comments that light up my entire week or simply following along. I appreciate every single one of you!

Honestly, I'd love to talk more about my fics but it feels like a vain thing to do unless invited. So, if you ever have any questions or anything, ping them my way and I would *love* to chat with you!

Happy New Year, everyone!

[mintjamsblog]

I've been revisiting your stargazing posts on here and wanted to know if you'd give us some insight into something you posted in response to a previous ask about Tommy breaking the news to Alfie. You mentioned the "almighty showdown"--what did that look like? And likewise, the moment they both realize that Tommy's not actually going to do anything about it (despite saying otherwise)? <3

Thank you for this ask! Trigger warnings a plenty - it's Tommy/Alfie! (ABO, mpreg, unhealthy attitudes to pretty much everything, mentions of rough sex, violence and possible termination)

It was a Thursday afternoon in late May when Alfie decided to hell with this shit. He’d been uncomfortable all morning, like a knuckle was lodged against his ribs, and every time he sat back for a moment it dug a little bit deeper. (Had nothing to do with his breakfast neither, he won’t have a word said against the cafe on Greenland Street.) He summoned Ishamel with a loud yell, threw his pen across the slew of papers and demanded to be driven, immediately, back to my fuck ugly rural abode. His chair hit the floor with a crash as he stood to leave. He didn’t bother to pick it up, only glanced at the disarray on his desk and roared at Ollie to, “clean up that fucking mess.” 

Being at least 24 hours earlier than scheduled, he weren't surprised, upon his return, to find Tommy’s study empty. He was probably still in his Digbeth office. Or out at some overpriced dinner attempting to prize something valuable or useful from people who were, most likely, neither. Could be visiting Pol, that was another option. Though given the cryptic call she’d made to the bakery earlier, that didn’t seem terribly likely. 

It weren't that Polly’s questions had prompted Alfie’s early departure, they'd merely preceded it — a small but important distinction given he made it a point of principle not to pry into Shelby business. 

This meticulous lack of prying had given him the distinct impression there was trouble in paradise. Or Small Heath. Or wherever the fuck it was they all lived these days in their gaudy rural mansions. Alfie neither knew nor cared (except when they turned up on his doorstep to drink too much and yell at each other). Though both mercifully and suspiciously, they hadn't done so in weeks.

He looked out of the large windows at the final moments of dusk, the dark pink remnants of daylight hugging a horizon of green. He liked to catch the sun’s final blink, the bright flash before the day disappeared beneath the unbroken line of fields. Not that he ever admitted that to Tommy. To Tommy, his presence in Warwickshire was an inconvenient, and frequently lamented, personal sacrifice. 

He wandered back out to the hallway to drop his hat and coat on the stand, dismissing the maid who offered to assist him (as if he hadn't been perfectly capable of removing his own hat and coat, all by his very lonesome, since the age of three and a half). She must be new – most of 'em knew better. 

A warm glow from the parlour drew him across the hall. He was poised to call that new maid back and enquire as to why the fire was lit in an un-fucking-used room, when he stuck his head round the door and spotted a dark head resting on the back of the sofa. Took a moment to clock it was Tommy, and a moment longer to be sure he was sound asleep, tie tugged loose at his throat, shirt tails untucked from his trousers. 

As it happened the maid appeared again, hesitating when she spotted the boss. Bosses. S’pose Alfie counted as one of ‘em now. He waved her in and she crept about, closing the curtains and lighting more lamps before scurrying out like a scared mouse.

Tommy didn’t stir; his hands lay either side of him, palms towards the ceiling. Alfie might’ve been beguiled if this weren’t the third time he'd caught Tommy napping since Easter.  Or retreating to bed after dinner. And not with a glint in his eye neither, but with some weary half-baked excuse about tax inspections and early starts. Not that he didn’t look tired; the flame shadows dancing over his face, accentuated every hollow. Alfie stared at the clock on the mantle: nearly half past eight.

He'd had his suspicions for weeks — like midges hovering nearby, vaguely irritating but eminently ignorable if you swiped at 'em once or twice. Now he'd walked into a cloud of the bastards — too many to bat away. 

The smell in the room weren’t helping — that awful cologne Tommy'd taken to wearing. Claimed Ada had sent it from Boston, all the rage with the Yanks. Too sweet, Alfie’d told him. Same as their fucking gin. And yet Tommy’d continued to douse himself in it, day and fucking night.

There was some other stench besides, above the woodsmoke and the aftershave. Stale and sort of creamy... a lot like the pubs by the docks. He scanned the room, tensing when he spotted the barely touched pint of stout. 

He took his hands out of his pockets, rubbed them the length of his face, smeared a day’s worth of grime into his beard. The carriage clock on the mantle chimed the half-hour. 

It’s not like Alfie was usually one for avoiding difficult topics. Preferred to attack with his horns — head down, plough on, look up when it’s done. Which begged the question, didn’t it, why he’d let this go on so long. Incredulity, mostly. Cowardice, perhaps. All washed down with a healthy slug of good old-fashioned fear. Couldn’t even say it in his head, could he? The word sat on his tongue like a pill he couldn’t swallow. Filled his mouth with bitterness. 

"When the fuck were you gonna tell me?" His voice came out a good deal louder than it had any need to be. He was only standing three feet away, between the sofa and the door.

Tommy opened his eyes. Didn't bother to lift his head off the back of the sofa.

"Evening Alfie."

"Thought you weren't back till tomorrow."

"Only just." Alfie glared at the clock again.

"I asked you a fucking question."

Tommy's eyebrows dipped, formed an expression that were meant, presumably, to convey confusion. As if Alfie were some fucking underling too green or too intimidated to read defiance into the accompanying pout.

"Nothing to bloody tell." 

Alfie spoke with deliberate slowness. Balled his fists at his sides. "How long do you plan on taking me for a complete fucking imbecile?"

"Not taking you for anything, Alfie." Tommy pulled his shoulders forwards, the movement just shy of a shrug.

"No?" Alfie cocked his head. He picked up a marble ashtray from the table beside the sofa. "Still off your smokes I see." He tipped the single stubbed-out cigarette onto the carpet, paltry quantity of ash and all.

Tommy sighed and rubbed his eyes, dug two fingers into each socket and left them there for several seconds, as if he were some hard-pressed housewife who was gonna have to clean that up.

Alfie reached for the glass. "Why the fuck're you drinking stout?" Alfie reached for the glass and held it aloft before pouring it onto the carpet in a long, slow stream that made a rather satisfying noise as it splattered Tommy's shoes.

Tommy looked up at him, eyebrows raised, muscles twitching in his jaw.

Alfie dropped the empty glass and let it bounce on the carpet. "How many fucking weeks?"

"You want me to drink and smoke more?" Tommy plucked his cigarette case from the coffee table and placed one between his lips. "Fourteen," he said, reaching into his pocket for a lighter. "Fifteen, maybe. Thereabouts."

The floor swayed beneath Alfie's feet. How'd it taken him so fucking long to put two and two together—

"Fifteen?" The maths simply didn't add up.

"It doesn't matter," Tommy said, staring at the table.

"Course not. Only a baby innit? Why would it fucking matter?"

Alfie looked over at the fireplace, at the paintings of horses and dogs, the pair of Tiffany lamps, and had the strangest sensation he'd been tipped into some weird dream. Except that in dreams you know where's where and who's who because dream-world rules apply. No-one needs to look familiar for you to be sure who they are; a house you’ve never seen before can stand in for your childhood home. Alfie looked at this room he knew and didn't recognise it. Looked at Tommy, elbows on knees, and couldn't accept him as the man he was bonded to. His dream-rules had been inverted. Nothing made fucking sense.

"February. You was closing that Caterham deal. Stress, you said. I remember.”

Tommy flicked the wheel of his lighter and stared at the little flame. "Stress can mess with me heat—"

"March. You was in Scotland. Edinburgh or Aberdeen—"

"It was business. I had no choice." 

“That’s bollocks and you fucking know it.”

Tommy snapped the lighter shut. "Male omegas aren't likely to carry. I thought it'd" —he made a flailing gesture with the unlit cigarette— "deal with its fucking self."

"Right." Alfie nodded. "How very adult of you. You know the fucking risks."

Tommy got to his feet, flames dancing in his eyes. "Yes, I know the risks. And I will fucking deal with it!"

Alfie’s chest felt tight — his heart a claustrophobic thing, banging to get out. "You're fifteen fucking weeks, Tommy, no one’s gonna touch you.” He almost wished that were true, even as his mind conjured unhelpful images of meat hooks and blood-spattered aprons. Not that the alternative looked much better… his mind couldnt conjure that. “What do we fucking do?" 

"We aren't fucking pregnant!" Tommy hissed the words, a wary glance towards the door where, no doubt, the maids were gathered.

Alfie's hands began to shake with the sort of rage that usually ended with blood up the fucking walls. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath — in through his nose, out through his mouth. Count to twenty-five. "You've made that very fucking clear."

"I’m going to bed." Tommy nodded towards the door. 

“Nah, I ain't finished.” Alfie widened his stance. “What the fuck happened three weeks ago?”

Tommy sighed, attempted a glare. “You’re in my way.”

"February. Stress, you said." Alfie held his thumb in the air. "March,” —he uncurled his forefinger— “you was in Aberdeen. You said." He added his middle finger, watching as Tommy paled. “So that leaves us with Apri. What the fucking fuck was April?”

A crimson tide crept up Tommy’s throat.

"You fucking faked a heat." 

A small part of Alfie was hoping for denial. Any less painful explanation, but Tommy went deathly still, thumb and forefinger paused over his eyes. Was he seeing the same things Alfie was? Replaying them in his mind? They’d been brutal with each other. And Tommy had begged for more.  

"My desire was real,” he said, when he finally dropped his hand. 

“You let me fucking choke you…” Alfie’s stomach contracted violently. To the left of the door was a dining chair propped against the wall; he slumped into it and hung his head in his hands. 

The things they’d done. Used. The marks he’d left on Tommy... 

“You weren’t even in heat.” Alfie’s legs were trembling. His nose dripped onto the floor.  

“I asked for all of it.” 

“Why?” Alfie looked up at him. “You had a baby inside you.”

He’d gone all taut, Tommy. Hands in his pockets, shoulders stiff. “Doesn’t change what I want.” 

Alfie shook his head. “D’you honestly think I’d have done any of that if I’d—”

“No! I don't fucking know—”

“Please, Alfie, harder, Alfie…” He hated the sound of his imitation, hated the spite in his voice. Yet he couldn’t stop himself. The images crashed into his field of vision — desperate, pornographic: Tommy’s mouth slack and bleeding, eyes rolled back in his head… taking and fucking taking it. “All them whores you’ve fucked. Guess you must’ve been taking notes. Make it look good for the punters, eh? Keep’em good and riled.” 

Tommy was breathing hard, chest rising and falling as if he’d run a lap of the grounds. His mouth twitched like he was about to defend himself, but Alfie didn’t want to hear it. He exploded out of his chair, finger poised in accusation.

“What were you fucking hoping? That I’d fuck it out of you?” 

He looked down at Tommy’s waist, tried to imagine a life in there, beneath all them bloody clothes. 

“Would it matter if you had?”

The words forced a pained sound out of Alfie, like he'd taken a kick to the guts. “Guess not,” he managed to say, before he turned and left the room.

[shytastemakerthing]

helloo!! can I get twisted wonderland match up? romance please

I've never done this so I'm just gonna be specific as possible and hope I did it right <3 also please no first years because of the age

I'm 5'7, 17 y/o almost 18, girl, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, pale, skinny, virgo (born in late august)

I love video games, especially games with combat. I also like reading books, especially fantasy books or horror, I like excercise and a very specific thing about me is that I love horses and ride them. I've been riding them ever since I was little. I love animals in general. I have 2 cats, a dog and a horse.

I am a very shy person (I need someone else to ask a thing for me at a restaurant otherwise I won't do it type of shy) but can defend myself in certain moments. I don't like loud/rude people or people who try to make a problem out of small things. but I love people who help me better myself or pick me up when needed even if it comes off as 'rude'

I don't like heavy pda only hand holding and a small kiss. however I love cuddling in private and kinda clingy but not annoyingly clingy.

I deadass love doing homework and orginazing things and cleaning. I like make up even tho I'm not good at it most of the time. cooking/baking is actually my favorite thing to do at home.

I love love love fashion but like more simple and elegant or cute.

I had to ask my gf for half of these things 😅 so I hope I did it right. thank you again!!! 💕🙏

A/N: Hello and thank you for your request! Happy Birthday if it has already passed and I hope that it was a wonderful day! Consider the match-up a little birthday gift (maybe late if it's past your birthday), and I do hope that you like it! Enjoy!

Tw: None

I match you with..........

Azul Ashengrotto

Much like yourself, he isn't the biggest when it comes to PDA, he does have an image to maintain after all while out with his peers. Not to mention, he has made a number of enemies with those contracts of his and the last thing that he would want is for something to happen to you. Though, if you both happen to share a class and are seated with one another, maybe the both of you will hold pinkies but that is about it.

Behind closed doors in the safety of either of your rooms? Congrats, you now have a clingy and cuddly octopus latched to your hip. Perhaps one of the very few things he likes about his merform is all the extra arms that he can use to hug you. Though, sometimes they have a mind of their own and will not unlatch from you when he needs them too........ (yes you still have those sucker mark imprints)

Azul absolutely loves the fact that you love organizing things. Look at him. He is one organized man. Between being a mafia boss business man, owner of a lounge, running Octavinelle dorm, and a number of other things, this man needs to stay organized. He would absolutely love it if you helped him out with that.

When it comes to homework, please come over to the VIP lounge and he will work with you. If there is anything that you are struggling with, he will gladly help you, and for free! Maybe he'll even throw in a drink or some snacks. Anything for you (and yes, the tweels tease him relentlessly about this)

Speaking of the tweels, the moment you are official with Azul, you get scary..... eel rights. No one ever messes with you, lest one of the twins show up right at that very moment.

I feel like Azul knows at least knows a little bit about video games, and that is because of his club meetings with Idia. The Ignihyde housewarden has a habit of rambling on about his latest game obsession. Perhaps you would like to join them for club meetings some time?

Azul's mama owns a restaurant, he has been around amazing cooking from a young age. Tell me he can't cook. He will absolutely cook you something, anything that you want. Your smile makes it all worth it, especially if you love the meal he has prepared for you. Even better if it's something that the both of you get to work on together.

Overall, our beloved octopus is absolutely smitten with you, and can be just as cuddly and clingy. He loves that you love him for him, he loves who you even help keep himself organized when things are just too crazy. And he will always love you for who you are.

[free-chozo-hrt]

The Metroid game most badly in need of a remake:

Bear with me here. I've got some Ideas about this game.

Metroid Prime Hunters is, for sure, one of the black sheep of the Metroid series. Its premise and game structure are pretty different from every other game, since it puts a large focus on multiplayer in a series defined by isolated single player experiences. It's hard to get a hold of, and it's not as fondly remembered as the rest of the Prime games. But why?

Admittedly I haven't personally seen all that the game has to offer, so don't consider this a full review. However, I have a copy on DS, and I've played enough to develop some insights about the game:

Hunters must be driven primarily by its multiplayer gameplay. Though I never got to experience it, I've heard good things about the pvp combat from those who have.

The game does have a pretty significant singleplayer campaign, but it feels very half-baked. Maps are supposedly borrowed straight from multiplayer arenas, making the layout of some parts of the game a bit unintuitive and confusing to navigate. Upgrades are also borrowed from multiplayer, and come in the form of alternate arm cannon weapons... and not much else. The adventure on each planet you visit is pretty repetitive. It didn't offer enough original material to keep me engaged until the end of the game, so I never finished.

The game is severely held back by its original hardware. For a full 3D adventure game where it's important to recognize details in your environment, the low resolution of the DS screen makes that task difficult. The aiming system using the touch pad is creative, but holding your DS in that position can be hard on the hands for long play sessions.

The game has plenty of shortcomings, so what good do I see in it? Well, Metroid Prime Hunters attempted some really unique ideas, and I'm intrigued by what would happen if they were executed better.

For starters, like I mentioned, the game's competitive multiplayer is well remembered. This isn't the only time the Metroid series has attempted multiplayer experiences, either pvp or co-op, but none of them are particularly well received by fans. That's understandable given the nature of Metroid games, and what we come to expect from them. But I'm fascinated by the possibility of a full-featured Metroid competitive shooter with a lot of effort put into it.

That brings me to my next point: the characters. Any good competitive shooter needs a diverse cast of player characters to choose from. And oh boy, the characters introduced by Metroid Prime Hunters are probably my favorite part of the game. It's the first game to put forth the idea that Samus shares the galaxy with other bounty hunters like her, and it gives us a whole gallery of freaky aliens for the roles, all with unique backstories and abilities. And then they never get used for anything outside this game! Wasted potential! I want to know more about them!

Let me lay out my ideas for a dream reimagining of Metroid Prime Hunters:

It needs to have fantastic online pvp. I'm no expert on the genre myself, but something in the same team shooter vein as Splatoon, TF2, or Overwatch is what I'm envisioning. You need to be able to start matchmaking and get right into a fun, well-balanced match whenever you want.

The characters need a wide range of abilities with very different playstyles to suit everyone's tastes. In fact, it wouldn't hurt to give them some personality too: voice lines would be welcome. Samus, of course, would take her place among the playable cast.

Because I want to have my cake and eat it too, this game should have a great singleplayer campaign. It doesn't have to be too long or complicated, but it should at least be creative and dynamic the whole way. It would star Samus, of course, but imagine the story potential if the other hunters were allowed to be more than just boss encounters, and actually contribute to the narrative in their own way.

So, what do you think? Do you think the ideas behind Metroid Prime Hunters have a lot of potential? Do you want to see how they could be executed on modern hardware, with a bit more care and ambition? Do you think Metroid is the right choice for Nintendo to branch out into the more mature competitive shooter genre? (Can you tell this idea excites me?)

[one-way-dream]

BAS02 & Ashes

Rating: General

Words: 880+

Media: Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow The Hedgehog (2005)

Characters: Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria Robotnik (Mentioned), Rouge the Bat (Mentioned), Sonic the Hedgehog (Mentioned), Black Doom (Mentioned)

Tags: Character Introspection, Second-Person POV, Experimental <- doesn't know what they're doing, Dark-Dark Route (Shadow the Hedgehog 2005), Conflicting Feelings, Guilt, Guy who is too far gone and maybe regrets it

Warnings: Canon-typical violence

Chapter: 1/1

Link to the original work

AO3 Summary/Except:

"Had Maria’s wish ever mattered to you? Or have you already fulfilled it that day you became one with the stars?"

-

Very messy and very experimental. I've never written anything this short and unpolished in my life. ❤️

The cold, dry, air of the fortress blasts against your face, almost as if it was burning, until the air becomes still. It’s stale against the tip of your nose and you think that sensation should’ve pulled a familiar chord in your heart as it once would have.

It’s a feeling akin to nostalgia that strikes you, one that you shut down immediately, but for those fleeting moments they reek of a spacecraft so desolate it could be mistaken for a moon; one that the girl in your dreams might have charted, believing it to be a star during your nights side by side, warmth and gentle lavender-vanilla radiating off of her.

But you’ve never been able to reciprocate heat the way humans do, because you were merely a leech – you’ve never been a warm body yourself.

Factory lights flicker overhead, the click of machine guns reloading in the distance, and the desperation of human beings hangs thickly in the air.

It's such a familiar scene.

But…

The loneliness has already rotted you to your core, and those feelings don’t mean anything to you anymore. All that matters is seeing it through to the end.

After all, this is pure.

This is vengeance in its entirety.

Green catches your eye before you notice that it was a soldier’s gaze – murky fear and hostility blend together until they cannot be pulled apart. It’s almost an amusing sight, but the word pathetic comes easier. That look is so painfully human, and you once thought you knew what it meant to be human; but you'd thought wrong, because with each passing second the idea of humanity for an ultimate weapon slips away, pooling at your feet in the form of bullet shells and smoke that clings to your vision.

It’s too much trouble to get rid of him, so instead you rip your gaze away from the man first when it starts to burn; because it’s too much to take, because there’s no time to waste, and maybe because you’re almost reminded of the time someone had once tried to teach you to love humans despite their flaws. But a weapon shouldn't be capable of that to begin with. It’s a hindrance and a flaw in what is meant to be flawless; a bug in your programming – the only thing left for you to do is patch it. Destroy it.

A voice suddenly reaches your ear amidst all the chaos of battle, realizing that someone is yelling at you, scalding, desperate as you feel the wind from their wings.

(You think you know who she is, but you tune it out anyways.)

It's too late for second chances, too late for half-baked truths. Not when you're already so far gone beyond the point of return. You feel a laugh escaping over your dry tongue, wondering why Sonic and the others even bother trying anymore.

The bitterness coils in your gut like a venomous snake, wrapping around like a ribbon and squeezing until you’re a breath away from a pained groan. It’s not real, you remind yourself, deliriously half-laughing under your breath, until the serpent strikes, and you find yourself tripping on your own two left feet.

But there's no time to hesitate. Not when you're so close. Not when you're at the final frontier of humanity – a pathetic excuse for a shelter meant to give an inkling of hope to the last soldiers.

All it'll take is one shot to end it all. It has to be swift, though you're unsure if it should be painless. For whatever reason, bile nearly rises to your mouth with a choked hiccup at the thought of making those worthless humans suffer any longer than they already have.

As soon as that thought crosses your mind however, a heavy sigh leaves your lips as you skip to a stop in front of the last gun turret.

Yet another defect found in your system. What a pain.

(It can't be afforded.)

You have no goal but to be perfect, after all. Perfect carnage. Perfect destruction. Perfect revenge. That’s what you were made for, and you have a debt to repay with your life.

‘A life for a life’, as Black Doom had once said – but you still have yet to ask him what exactly he means.

It’s unknown whether everything will go out with a bang or a whimper; should everything bleed into nothingness until everything is still and stale, like the air on the ARK, and it still won’t matter.

Had Maria’s wish ever mattered to you? Or have you already fulfilled it that day you became one with the stars?

Was pretending to misremember her words and her feelings the easy way out? Or was it just the most sensible?

Sometimes your mind, or whatever is left of it, wanders - the little doubt you have left festers in the back in your brain like poison as you wonder if any of these thoughts are even your own, or if perhaps, Black Doom dug his claws into your spines at some point, like the puppet you were always meant to be.

But you are and always were a tool; regardless of whether these thoughts were your own or not, you are a means to an end. A means to humanity's end. 

[cookinguptales]

The way you talk with certainty about "original scripts" and stuff is giving Pepe Silvia tbh. Cmon. The season we saw is the season the writers wanted us to see. 4x09 only doesn't make sense to folks who had cemented their expectations already and still refuse to integrate the episode we actually got, an ep which does make total sense in the order of events we saw and the season we all watched. Sure, some people would have liked to have seen a more satisfying conclusion to Marwa's arc. That's fair. But I'm failing to see how that warrants the mental gymnastics to explain why your expectations were not met.

One more thing...you mention that the narrative doesn't tell us that Nandor's actions toward Marwa are wrong, but I'd argue that 4x08's narrative DOES show us that Nandor is being a huge dick and what he's doing is wrong. That's kind of the whole point of his subplot in that episode. It's 4x09 that doesn't dwell on that, because hey, that's not the focus of the episode (and I get why it rubs people wrong. It just doesn't for me). It's ok to not have liked 4x09 and it's ok to not have liked where they went with Marwa's story (even if I personally think people are putting way too much emphasis on her as a side character and how that's a huge part of the disconnect people are having) but what it definitely doesn't do is support a theory that the writers haphazardly threw together the season without a care in the world for the story or its continuity. At minimum, let's put some respect on Wally Baram & Aasia LaShay Bullock's names, two women of colour writers on wwdits whose job it is to ensure continuity and edit the season's story.

Anon, I get that you may not agree with my ideas, but you're welcome to ignore them. I feel like I've made my case well and I believe in what I've said. There's an element of anger and personal attack in this that I don't think is warranted. I don't think I'm disrespecting any writer by talking about rewrites and writing decisions and by criticizing where I don't think things came together.

We literally know that they reimagined parts of this season partway through filming. They have told us that. I don't really understand why you're acting like I'm showing up at the writers' house with a knife for saying it, or for saying that I think the rewrites show.

I think the fact that 4.08 was starting to explore the idea that Nandor had made Bad Life Choices re: Marwa was exactly why 4.09 felt so jarring when that was all tossed aside and never fully elaborated on before they put her on a bus. There's a reason why people were so interested in that plotline in 4.08 and so disappointed in 4.09. It was a very ignominious end for a character who was finally starting to come into themselves -- who wasn't just a side character.

Besides which, WWDITS has always gone to great lengths to humanize their recurring side characters and give them interesting character arcs. I think discounting Marwa as a side character and saying that's why her poor writing is understandable actually is disrespectful to the world that the writers have built thus far. I am judging Marwa's writing against characters like Jenna and Gregor and the Guide and Sean and Charmaine and hell, even Simon the Devious. WWDITS has great recurring side characters, usually!

Like the reason why I had high expectations for this writing team is because they'd always met those expectations in the past. And this time they didn't. I'm upset because this was a conscious decision and the season they chose to show us. I'm upset because the writing feels rushed and at times half-baked, not something I'm accustomed to thinking about this show, and because I think the rewrites show.

I get that you seem to have a hard time with people criticizing the writing decisions in this show -- and make no mistake, I am criticizing decisions. But no, I'm not going to feel bad about this here, and I don't particularly appreciate the weird attempted guilt trip by naming story editors and telling me that I'm disrespecting them as WOC by criticizing the writing decisions in a tv show.

Like... you are very welcome to your own opinions, anon, and I'm glad you enjoyed the show you got. But no, tracking writing decisions and trying to piece together how the writing room came to those decisions (with, yes, the rewrites they have admitted to in mind) doesn't make me some weirdo indulging in mental gymnastics who's being disrespectful to the writers.

(Now some of my meta? That is mental gymnastics and joyfully so. Having fun on these monkey bars, tbh.)

[ryndicate]

꘏ Meet the Writer ꘏

I go by Soryn, or Ryn, whichever you prefer! Likes/asks/comments will come from my main @darlingsanzu only mooties may call my Rynnie ;3

Short summary of me

I'm in my mid 20s, I work full time, and I am one of the most infrequently social person you'll ever meet. Despite that I am a very excitable and soft person and I love chatting about anything, but especially anime :3 My ask box is wide open!<3 also it is physically painful for me to not use some kind of smiley face :) I love them :D I want people to know I'm smiling >:) (painfully addicted to emojis and the use of 'lol' cant help myself)

THings you absolutely must note:

If we chat enough for me to give you my discord, you'll find that very often it takes me several days upwards of weeks to respond. i sweAr im not ignoring you---my social battery is just sad and recharging.

IF YOU SEE ME active on discord ((especially for hours at a time) and I'm not responding to messages, I am definitely gaming with my man. We play games together as quality time, and we're never tired of each other.

Other stuff

Watching: TR s2, KnY (Swordsmith village arc)

Watched: I had to make a list it was too long

Reading: Blue Lock, TokRev, Jujutsu Kaisen, Jigokuraku

Read: was gonna make a list but it wasn't long enough for a link. Csm is the only one I'm caught up with, and AoT and Wotakoi are the only manga I've finished lol. I did read TR but i read it too fast and didnt really retain it.

Manhwa/Webtoon: Under the Oak Tree, Isnelda, Let's play, Lore Olympus, Fly Me to the Moon, Moonrise by the Cliff, Finding Camelia (god i cant wait for next season), The Tainted Half, Lady Devil, My Dear Maid & The Losing Streak and so so many more.

Playing: sons of the forest, stardew (again again but this time with mods), project zomboid (yes again)

My Calendar&lt;3

likes: Michael Kaiser, sugar and sweets!, vampires, purple, cats, old libraries, candles, Genma's senbon, writing, baking, pringles, binge reading/watching, thefatrat, 4am, Kakashi, obsessing with the same song for 3 days straight before looking for a new one—cycle repeat, comfort blankets, painting my nails 5 different colors, high fantasy and angst!

dislikes: Michael Kaiser, hot tea (i need my iceee), being in cars, making themes, loud storms & heavy wind, artificial banana, prunes, vanilla scents, yelling, spiders, jump scares, red/orange/yellow, cheese curds, pretzels, dresses, starwars (oop), sore throats, bright neons, repetitive noises

MY FANDOMS AND THEIR BABY GIRLS

Trigun

Vash, Knives, Wolfewood

Tokyo Revengers

Sanzu, Hanma, Chifuyu, Shinichiro, Imaushi, Mikey, Draken, Rindou, Mitsuya, Takemitchi

Soul Eater 

Stein, Akane, Soul Evans

Jujutsu Kaisen

Gojo, Megumi, Sukuna, Choso, Itadori, Yuuta, Inumaki, Nanami

Jigokuraku

Gabimaru, Tenza, Chobei, Shion

My Hero Academia 

Touya, Bakugou, Shinso, Izuku, Kirishima, Mirio, Natsuo, Enji,  Aizawa, Iida

Naruto 

Kakashi, Genma, Itachi, Shisui, Jiraiya, Obito, Yamato, Kisame, Hidan

Hunter x Hunter 

Hisoka, Illumi, Ging, Uvogin, Chrollo, Phinks, Neferpitou, Knuckle

Haikyuu

Iwaizumi, Oikawa, Hanamaki, Matsukawa, Kita, Suna, Aran, Atsumu, Osamu, Tendou

Chainsaw Man 

Kishibe, Aki, Angel Devil, Yoshida, Denji

Blue Lock 

Kaiser, Oliver, Lorenzo, Ness, Noa, Kunigami, Gagamaru, Reo, Nagi, Rin, Sae, Shidou

Bleach 

Daddy Kurosaki, Daddy Ishida, Gin, Ulquiorra, Renji, Kensei, Shunsui

Black Clover

Yami, Fuegoleon, Zara, Nozel

Attack on Titan 

Zeke, Eren, Reiner, Porco, Jean, Conny

Honorable Mentions

Akaza, Tengen, Hantengu Clones, Kogami, Captain Obi, Thorkell, Alucard, Hector, Nishio, Kaneki

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Since I will probably never going around changing the border colors on my oneshots I will leave this little homage here for colors come and gone

October - December 2022

December 2022 - February 2023

Current