#this was a bit rambley lol

[hewmitcwaft]

HEY! HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! TELL ME ABOUT PIXANDRIA!! DO U HAVE ANY BRAIN THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ANTHILL?!

OH BOY DO I !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[purpleshadow-star]

Here's the actual analysis as to why El is just as bad of a romantic partner to Mike as Mike is to her (and why they just don’t work romantically in general).

(this is going to include both reasons why El is not a good romantic partner and just general observations as to why Mike and El don’t work romantically)

Relationships work two ways. Mike and El don't work not only because Mike can't love El the way she wants to be loved but also because El hasn't ever proved that Mike can confide in her and be vulnerable with her, which is important for a relationship. We have literally never seen El comfort Mike about anything, or even ask if he’s okay or how he’s doing. We've seen Mike try to comfort El in S4, but we've never seen it the other way, not even in the slightest.

Let's start at the beginning.

This lack of mutual trust and this weariness to be vulnerable with each other stems from the fact that Mike and El never established a proper friendship before getting together. Friendship is where people get to know each other and learn to trust each other. Friendship is the foundation to any good romantic relationship.

Mike has proved that he can be there for El from the beginning. He took her in when they found her, he gave her a place to stay, and he protected her, despite the fact that it was dangerous for him to do any of this.

Mike and El met, knew each other for a week, and then were separated. During that week, Mike did his part to establish the beginning of a friendship. El didn't even know what it was to have friends, so obviously, she was slower in reciprocating the friendship completely.

El was able to establish the beginnings of a true friendship with everyone in the party, so they all considered her their friend, and she considered them her friends, but they never really got to know each other. Mike and El in particular were torn apart before they could get to know each other well enough to develop true romantic feelings, and it didn't help that people such as Lucas and Nancy gave Mike the idea that he should be interested in El romantically. The fact that Mike kissed El was a major setback for their platonic relationship.

Because they were never able to establish a good, strong, platonic relationship first, and since they never really go to know each other, this set up a very shaky foundation for any other relationship they tried to build.

During their year apart, El watched a lot of romance shows and movies, to the point where she could quote the TV. She gained this idea of love that isn't realistic, but since she and Mike kissed, and the people in love on the TV kissed, and she cared for Mike, she probably rationalized that her positive feelings for him must be romantic, just like the people on TV.

Because of this, when they reunited in season 2, El already had it in her mind that their relationship should be romantic. She wasn’t trying to be his friend anymore, not like with the rest of the party. She thought that they should be romantic. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Like the people on TV. This is shown when she tried to kiss him before she left with Hopper to go to the lab in season 2. El made that move, not Mike. Mike didn’t even lean forward. And then the Snowball happened, and Mike kissed El once again, and (presumably) that night, they established their romantic relationship.

(It is important to note that Max and Lucas also got together at the Snowball, and they had the same amount of time to get to know each other (About a week and the one month time skip at the end of season 2). The only difference is that we saw Lucas and Max actually talking about themselves and getting to know each other. We didn’t see that with Mike and El in season 1)

We really start to see the result of that shaky foundation in season 3. In the beginning, we saw Mike and El make out and seemingly have a good time together. Mike left, and then we saw that their make-out session caused Mike to be late to meet up with the rest of the party.

As the season went on, we saw how Mike and El’s relationship affected everyone else. We learn that they’d been ditching their friends (causing Will and Dustin to be noticeably upset), and they’re being disrespectful to Hopper.

We also saw that El didn’t really like Mike’s idea of fun. He tried to be silly and have fun in the first make-out scene, and she stopped him and pulled him back into making out. We learned through Will that they hadn't played DnD in a while, and he implied that they hadn’t really been doing anything fun lately. Mike had essentially given up the things he liked to do in order to hang out with El.

As far as we saw, Mike and El spend most of their time making out and not actually doing anything else that the two of them enjoy together, such as listening to music (to enjoy it, not just as background noise while making out), playing games (like El and Max do later), reading comics (also like El and Max do later), watching TV together, or even just talking. It’s almost like making out is the only thing they both know the other likes to do.

(Also note that a lot of this has to do with their age. For the most part, dating is the stage to get to know someone before making it official, but because Mike and El are so young, they don’t know this. They have a set idea of what dating and relationships means in their minds, and they don’t have the life experience to know that dating means getting to know one another, not just spending all your time together making out (especially El, who was in a lab for almost her whole life and mostly learned about other people and the world through romance TV). Usually, you go on dates, then, if you like each other, you enter a relationship. Dating people who you didn’t know before is basically the “being friends” stage. They seem to skip the dating part entirely, and they go straight into a relationship. For anyone, but especially kids that young, a good relationship needs to be built on a good friendship)

When Mike lied to El, she broke up with him, which was completely fair since he kept on lying. Then, she went on with Max and didn’t think about him too much after that. We saw that the breakup didn’t really affect her. 

During the rest of the season, we saw Mike in danger multiple times. We saw Mike get concerned for El, but we never once saw El ask Mike how he was doing. We never saw El check up on Mike. Not like how Jonathan checked up on Nancy after she was attacked by the Mind Flayer, despite him having been injured to the point that he almost passed out only a few minutes prior. Not like how Joyce was concerned about and took care of Hopper after he was beat up by the Russian soldier.

At the end of season 3, El told Mike that she loved him and it was heavily implied that she said this because she overheard Mike say it in the other room earlier in the season, but Mike didn’t say it back.

Mike never told El he loved her to her face. She was the first (and only) one to say it face-to-face.

Remember that.

In season 4, we learn from El’s letter that she was lying to Mike. She was completely lying, not just leaving out the bad parts of her life in California. When Mike arrived in California, we saw that El was a bit upset with Mike for writing “From Mike” on the flowers instead of “Love Mike,” but she brushed it off. Then, the roller rink happened, and El’s lies were exposed. Instead of coming clean, she even tried to convince Angela to play it off as a joke. Then, later that night, she retreated, and she isolated herself.

The next day, we saw Mike try to comfort El. He didn’t get upset about the fact that she had lied to him. He simply asked for an explanation. He tried to help her feel more comfortable telling the truth by reminding her that he’s been bullied his whole life. He told her he understood, and he opened up to her and reminded her about his own traumatic memories, only for her to tell him that he didn’t understand. She disregarded his experiences and said that he didn't understand, even though she literally watched him almost kill himself because of a bully.

And still, even after she dismissed his experiences with bullying, he didn’t get mad. He asked for her to explain. Then, she opened up about her own insecurities, and she said that she thought everyone, including him, looked at her like she’s a monster. When Mike tried to reassure her, when he told her he cared for her, El decided to move the conversation off of herself and onto Mike.

Mike is understandably taken off guard by this. El then proceeds to insist that, just because Mike didn’t write the word “love” in his letters, that meant he didn’t love her, despite his reassurances.

Now, obviously, Mike is also in the wrong in this conversation. He lied and said that he did say that he loved her when he didn’t, and he really didn’t handle the situation well after they moved onto the topic of him loving her (ex: saying she was being ridiculous, etc.), but that doesn’t change the fact that El continued pushing this topic that he clearly wasn’t comfortable with. She never considered that maybe he wasn’t ready to say it yet. Again, remember, Mike hadn’t actually said he loved her to her face yet, so really, there should not be any expectation that he should be saying it to her face, or even writing it, right now.

All in all, so far, we’ve seen El lie to Mike, not apologize for lying for months, invalidate his bullying experiences, and get upset with him for not saying something that really shouldn’t have been an expectation yet.

None of this got resolved.

El got arrested. Then, when they reunited, there was no time to really talk about the fight until they made it to Surfer Boy’s Pizza. That little talk they had before Argyle came with the pizza would have been the perfect time for El to apologize for lying and for what she said about his bullying during the fight, but that didn’t happen. So, El never apologized for lying, even after Mike apologized for not saying he loved her more.

None of this means that El is a bad person. El and Mike just don't work romantically because they aren't able to be vulnerable around each other. The one time they talk about how they feel with each other, they end up with a fight that never truly gets resolved. It wasn't resolved with the monologue, not only because Mike’s truthfulness in the monologue was questionable, but also because the argument started with the fact that El lied to Mike, not the issue of Mike not saying he loved her, and that never got resolved.

El hasn’t once shown Mike that he can confide in her, and that, along with many other factors, is why their relationship isn’t going to work out. They needed to establish that platonic bond first. They needed to establish a friendship to fall back on when things in the romantic aspect of their relationship got shaky. If they had established that friendship first, they would be more comfortable going to each other and opening up about their troubles.

With a more solid friendship, they would have been able to go to each other for comfort or reassurance, the same way Mike was able to go to Will, his best friend first and foremost, and talk to him when he was upset and feeling insecure. Also, the same way Max went to Dustin, her friend, when she was worried about the Eddie/Chrissy situation instead of trying to go to Lucas.

Max and Lucas had the same amount of friendship time as Mike and El, and even though they had a better pre-romance friendship, it ultimately wasn't enough to save their relationship. The difference is that Max and Lucas spent season 4 building their friendship back up and solidifying that foundation so that when they do get back together, they’ll be stronger than ever. Mike and El (well, mostly Mike) spent season 4 trying to save their romantic relationship, which is why it still isn’t very strong, even at the end of the season.

Again, this doesn’t make either of them awful people. This all just shows that they are not good for each other romantically, and they never really have been.

So, to conclude my long rambling, as much as Mike idolizes El and her powers, as much as Mike can’t tell El he loves her to her face or without being prompted, as much as Mike can’t show El that he loves her and make her feel loved, El also is completely uninterested in the things that make Mike happy, El never apologized for lying to Mike for months, El invalidated Mike’s traumatic experiences with bullying, and El has never shown Mike that he can go to her for comfort and reassurance.

[lildoodlecat]

At last, it is complete! Tales of Destiny Director's Cut Stahn's story is done :D

(I'll be playing Leon's story next)

I loved it a lot!!!!! As I suspected, the addition of skits really expanded my affection for the characters, but I also rather enjoyed the changes they made. I honestly can't remember what exactly comparatively was different all around, but the changes to the depiction of Leon's final moments got me really hard,,,, idk if it was more similar in the original jp since I played the official English release of Destiny (I hear there were skits in jp? that might've helped my understanding lol) but I really really liked the director's cut take on things.

See my posts crying about Leon for those exact reactions lmao (they can probably be summarized with ;w;)

I also actually liked that we didn't have to see him come back as like. a raised husk or whatever it was og Destiny did bc even tho his fate seemed definite, it's still ambiguous. I haven't played the sequel obviously but I think?? the Leon looking guy is actually Leon???? idk. maybe it's a bit of a retcon. but yk

Anyway I actually liked every character quite a bit this time!! I liked my fav characters even more (coughcough Stahn and Leon living in my brain now) bc the extra conversations and voice acting were fantastic ✨✨ It really helped the emotions hit for me. I don't remember it all super well since I took so long to play it but I was a giggly little bastard abt the relationships and got a little teary at parts.

Cried at the end despite it all,, Stahn finally finished writing a letter like he was attempting for his family and it was for Leon ;w; That plus just. Tales credits. got me just a liiiittle teary lol. I liked it soso much. Also the reunion at the end made way more sense to me this time around lsjfd;lk just bc of some added dialogue and whatnot

The final boss is kinda meh as a character honestly but the overall story despite that guy was awesome!! I have a lot of fondness for the character arcs of Stahn, Leon, and Rutee, and also just the overall party dynamic was quite fun :3 Silly little creatures, the lot of them.

I missed having anime cutscenes after playing Destiny ps1 alksdjl; so they definitely got me there even tho they really only had character ones at the beginning and the end. But it's not like they do too many of those anyway.

Briefly on the character designs: they're goofy. I can't deny they're goofy. I love them sm they're unique lolol I'm attached to them

Oh yeah I LOVED the tie in to the title lol it was heavy handed as hell and it was perfect.

Bouncing back to what I said abt og Destiny, the dungeon designs were still kinda interesting here and there but less cool than the original, however the combat was definitely some of the best in the series. It's a serious learning curve but very fun!!! It was fun to see how they adapted the puzzles as well; a lot of them were similar but the final dungeon was way different. Hated the mirror area way way more than in og Destiny laskjdfkl;dsj I got stuck for a while but I do like the split party collaborative puzzles!! I remember Abyss did the same sort of thing an I liked that quite a bit, so it had that factor going for it too.

Umm final gist is it was really really fun and even tho it was actually pretty hard for me a lot of the time, but I think to a point that made it still fun. Except the 3-ish hours I spent on the final boss goddamn.

In any case, this definitely bumped up into the favorites!!!!! Stahn is an especially endearing protagonist to me and his relationship with the party was fun to watch develop <3

Fin~

[stardial]

I didn’t vote for Homura (I like that silly cat) however I AM transgender can I get band recommendations besides Blind Guardian? (I already listen to and love them. <|:) )

symphony x is really good! especially their stuff from the early 2000s! v: the new mythology suite is a great concept album by them about the story of atlantis that is wonderful to listen to in one sitting. it’s a symphonic prog metal album that uses a LOT of classical elements.

the final track to their odyssey album is also really good, and is 25 minutes long, so it’s a great time killer

ghost reveries by opeth also remains one of my favourite albums of all time! i generally don’t like growling and death metal, but the way this album paces itself and tactfully mixes out the death metal with softer prog rock makes it incredible to listen to

at the gates of oblivion by the dark moor really fucks too! it’s got a really pretty style of symphonic power metal that uses a lot of like. brighter sounding instruments? listening to it makes me think of stars :)

excerpts from a future past by hällas is a prog rock album that i like a lot! especially the first track, the astral seer, is one of my favourite wizard songs to listen to

[nightly-ruse]

I swear I’m working on art it’s just taking a long ass time bc I have A LOT OF SHIT to catch up on. Um also it’s another hypoparents things sorry

[sweethibiscustea82]

can I ask about ur au? :33

of course!! All under the cut and stuff, all of this is just bits and pieces of stuff because there’s not a super clear like outline of events and stuff but here’s some basic thoughts and ideas and stuff lol. Uh warning its very long, very rambley and kind of just jumps from one thought to another sorry 😭

Okay so basically this isn’t a very nice au to Steven sadly (I do it out of love for the character 💗💗), when I first got back into Steven universe I kept rewatching the diamond days episodes and I really enjoyed them. So basically this au is called diamond years, where Steven ends up staying for a very long time (about I wanna say year and a half) on home world pretending to be pink diamond so that he can change the diamonds ways.

This takes a while though, he’s failed again and again at trying to talk to white, so end he focuses on trying to change blue and yellow’s minds first, on not hurting defenceless planets and trying to stand up to white (they never take him up on standing up to white until about the last year). At first he is completely put off and ignored just like in the show but the longer he stays there the more they begin to listen to him. But despite how well Steven is doing at changing homeworld from the inside, it’s been taking a toll on him.

He finds himself questioning his identity more than ever before, and it really stresses him out. He also feels bad for bringing the gems into this plan with him, he feels like he’s forced them back into their homeworld lives and it makes him feel horribly guilty a lot of the time. In my head it’s like all of this fighting in the rebellion just to end back up here serving diamonds and it sort of starts to make Steven feel like a disgusting person. Like pearl doesn’t belong to him and amethyst shouldn’t have to wear limb inhancers but like whenever he like debates it with blue or yellow they chastise him.

I think eventually he’s permitted to go visit beach city, as a gift for his good behaviour since he came back and it makes him so happy that he finally gets to be Steven again, but whenever he’s there the moments are sort of bittersweet because he knows that if he messes up at all on homeworld, he might lose getting to see his friends on earth. So he throws himself even more into the pink diamond role.

When the first year finally passes and he’s made a significant amount of progress (not enough in his mind) he’s never Steven in public. Only when no one else but his family is around does he consider himself actually Steven, yellow got on him about his pearl calling him Steven still after a year of being on home world officially. They offer to help like recondition her but he refuse’s absolutely. So now pearl calls him pink in public, which sets it in stone in his mind that oh right now I’m not Steven.

When Steven turns 16, is when he not only updates his pink diamond outfit to something newer and slightly different, but his eyes look like pinks and it doesn’t go away even after he stops living on homeworld. Pearl is the first one to notice it and tell him and he’s horrified. The next days when some of the other gems starts to see his eyes, he can tell they’re a little shocked, a little uncomfortable. None of them bring it up besides amethyst who’s like woah cool eyes Steven cause she’s trying to be jokey. It doesn’t work but he laughs.

All this time he’s seen white maybe a dozen times and she’s barely even talked to him. He’s making changes, blue and yellow are more merciful but it’s still not enough. So around the end of the second year blue and yellow finally actually help him go confront white, and he has relief all of this all of this horrible pain and issues and pink diamond stuff wasn’t for nothing and so when they go confront her it starts the yk white diamond confrontation in the show except she’s like oh starlight you’ve been doing so good, why did you have to mess it up now. And this is the first time in so long that he’s protested about being pink, he’s Steven and he gets punished for it with white pulling his gem out to prove that pinks still there and that he isn’t.

It plays out mostly the same as the actual show except what happened in like the third episode of the diamond days arc, happened 2 years after the first episode of the diamond days arc lol.

And so now after that huge fight stuff he’s free, he’s Steven. But he still has the lingering feelings of being pink for so long. When he steps into his house for the first time he doesn’t even know what to do really. He hasn’t seen some of his favourite foods besides the things Connie sneaks in for him, he hasn’t watched tv in so long. he hasn’t seen almost all of his friends on earth. They all celebrate him coming back, he’s fixed everything but why does he still feel so just empty, like he’s living someone else’s life. It’s horrible, that’s how he felt when he first had to act like pink and now he feels like that for his own life.

His friends tell him he doesn’t have to act so formal around them when they’re out in public. People don’t greet him by saluting their diamond. And he doesn’t miss it at all, he’s happy that he’s finally home but it takes so long for him to get used to being himself again.

Anyways sorry for like dumping a pile of random thoughts on you lol, I hope you find it good. I don’t know how good the ideas are at all, it just started from my fascination with characters pretending to be someone and then the lines blurring between them and the person they’re impersonating

oh and uh here’s an official reference for DY!Steven

[doomsday-dj]

Hello! So as you (hopefully) know I am a huge fan of your work & I have been working my way through all your fics on ao3 - which has just been an absolute delight. This is gonna be a bit tangential, because I am a very long-winded human, but I've been meaning to ask (if you don't mind sharing) what led you to the decision to leave academia?

I intended to take a Gap Year which has now led to a 4-year break, and I'm really hesitant to return to that world. My undergrad had an Honors Program that allowed me to work throughout my 4 years to complete a thesis project, and while that was an awesome experience, hindsight has led me to a lot of conclusions about elitism and the looking-down upon/ gatekeeping that is so present in those circles. It's really just turned me off to the idea of trying to re-integrate myself into that world, which is something I've been weighing as of late.

So, in your experience, did you find that academia just stopped filling your cup, or did you have a particular experience that led you to take a step away?

I just adore your writing style, and may leave you a comment one day just going off about how much I adore your prose and sentence structure, but I really feel that tug to fan fiction where it's almost a compulsion instead of a decision that you described with Rizzles. So, yeah lol- I hope the question isn't too rambley? Just very curious to know your thoughts.

I definitely know you're a fan but if I say it's unclear will you tell me more flattering things? Just kidding... Unless? No, but really, thank you. It's really just super fucking special to hear it every time. Thank you for loving my prose and sentence structure. :)

As to your question, I was reading it like, "you seek to know…...about ME?" I think this is my first non-fan fiction ask. So I have a BAH and an MA in a humanities discipline that shall remain nameless. I spent four years seriously pursuing a PhD and an additional year just going through the motions and bleeding the remainder of my funding dry. I wrote a draft of a dissertation that my very accomplished advisor was mostly disappointed with. The reasons why I left academia are actually many. Buckle up. It's important to mention that I was in academia not just to get a PhD but with the intention of then teaching in my discipline, so a huge reason was the lack of jobs, particularly if I wasn't willing to relocate to any dumb town in North America that might offer me a tenure track job. My wife's career is such that there's only a few cities she can work in, so one of us was going to have to make a change. She already had a career so it made sense for me to be the one to reroute. Importantly, I also had virtually no desire to live in the USA, and that's likely where I would have ended up. Another reason is that I am a terrible procrastinator and living my life with something ALWAYS looming over my head was slowly killing me. There was always something that I should have been working on. My whole life was being lulled into a tenuous relaxation and being jolted out of it by all the things that I had to do. I now work in a job where, for the most part, I leave it all there when I go home and am able to actually relax. Here's a big one: I didn't really love it. Not the supposed "real" work, anyway: writing papers to submit to journals and writing books that you will then force your students to buy which will represent the entirety of your profit from writing the book. I did genuinely, truly love teaching. I don't know if you can tell from the way I'll talk for fucking ever (LIKE RIGHT NOW), but I love being the smartest person in a room and I loved explaining concepts to students and watching them clue in. I loved luring them into my word traps like fucking Socrates and then blowing their minds. I really really really did love that part, and I was very good at that part. But you know what? In my discipline, people mostly think that part is incidental. The glory comes from getting into journals and writing books and giving keynote speeches at conferences and writing snarky objections to other people's work. Teaching is the thing you do in between that to pass the time. I hated that. This speaks to your concern about the elitism and it's a very real thing.

Also, because I liked teaching and because I cared about my students, I started to feel like I was part of a multi-level marketing scheme: in order for me to have a job I needed students to keep paying out their fucking asses to go to university and get saddled with debt for a degree that wouldn't really help them much. I struggled a lot with students who would come to my office hours, unable to get the material because they really shouldn't have been in university but felt pressured to be, or overworked because they had a full-time job on the side, or devastated because the university was throwing all kinds of arbitrary and stupid road blocks up for no other reason than to make this a Thing That Is Hard To Do, and it was really weighing on me, morally.

Finally, writing a dissertation is just really fucking hard, and I had the kind of project where I was dealing with a moving target. I had really keyed into the zeitgeist of my tiny corner of the discipline and I was working on an idea that was really exciting and a lot of people were all suddenly working on the same idea which meant that every fucking month it felt like a book or an article was coming out that scooped my whole damn project. I kept having to change what I was ultimately trying to accomplish because someone would go ahead and publish something where they did what I had initially set out to prove. And because I didn't love it enough, it grew too exhausting, and so I dropped out. Honestly, there's so much more that I could say. But I think those are the pillars of the decision to drop out. If you ever want to talk more about your own decision, feel free to message me. I'm always happy to talk to someone who is trying to figure out if the academic life is for them. Just edited to quickly add something crucial: I loved doing my MA. It was a fantastic experience, I had a truly great time doing it. I also loved all my PhD coursework. I loved going to class. It was once all that was over that I fell out with academia.

[kerfufflecricket]

Akaza Q4 and Douma Q12 (Like what nicknames he’s given akaza ^^)

-knyagere

Yay questions! Please forgive me if I get rambley I just love talking about these two! (⁠人⁠*⁠´⁠∀⁠｀⁠)⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Question 4 - is their regression more voluntary or involuntary, do they ever regress without realizing?

Akaza's regression is mainly involuntary, he has little control on when or where he slips. He can put it off for a little bit but will almost always end up slipping in the end.

If he gets especially upset, usually by being reminded of his human life, he can end up regressing immediately without warning.

He generally has very little warning before he starts to feel small but he's usually pretty good at telling when he feels small all things considered :]

Question 12 - do they have any specific nicknames for when their regressed? What about for their caregiver(s) or friends?

Oh, Douma has SO MANY for akaza!! He calls him the usual pet names, sweetheart, sweetie, honey, ect. But his favorites to call him are "My Darling" ''My Dearest" "Sweet Boy" and "Snowflake".

He likes to add the term "My" to them. It's his way to show that he cares about him and likes taking care of him! He's not great at talking about his feelings or being open/vulnerable so he finds small ways like this to show it instead

It's also a reinsurance for Akaza, we all know that emotions are not his strong suit.

Vulnerability? Never heard of it.

So obviously his regression is a really personal thing to him and he has insecurities surrounding it, that being paired with his pre-existing insecurities he has a hard time believing someone exactly wants to look after him or wants him in general, so being referred to as "My Darling" or "My dearest" it helps to reassure that he's actually wanted and loved. Though he'd never admit that lol

They're dynamic really relies on the whole "it's the thought that counts" really ^^ (and I eat it up everytime)

[lordofdragos]

What's your second favorite installment in the PMD franchise? Why isn't it your absolute favorite, and what changes could hypothetically be made to change that?

Gonna be honest I know I reblogged that ask post but like actually getting one? I appreciate it a ton just wow getting an ask thats crazy I've never done an ask before But for your question, my second favorite PMD installment is the original Red & Blue rescue team! I'm probably not the best person to go for this kind of information as I've never personally played Gates or Super (not owning a 3DS will do that to a person, and the 3DS emulator I tried had some issues) but I have watched full playthroughs of both of them, and they still rank below Rescue Team for me. I really, really appreciate Rescue Team for starting off the franchise, and playing it as a kid made me realize there was something truly special about it, and subsequently, Explorers and the rest of the PMD franchise. It's not my absolute favorite because even with Rescue Team DX it just feels a bit dated at this point, but that's also one of the big reasons I love it so much. I adore older games, and some of it is just because nostalgia, but they do just... hit different than some games do now. And I would never change Rescue Team, or any of the PMD games personally, I like keeping games as they are, even if that means with some flaws. It might sound a bit weird but I think having some jankness or bugs in a game just give it a special factor even if they can be frustrating at times. (I do not advocate for keeping Game Breaking Bugs in your game some things do need to be fixed!)

But yeah thank you @sincerely-sofie for the ask! Let me know if you want to be untagged and I'll uh... figure out how to do that I don't really make posts lol also apologizes if that was a big long or rambley

[aphantimes]

it's hard to tell bc so much of my shit is unfinished and abandoned but i have played with the idea that knuckles is basically echidna chaos soooo much

i wanted to write a fic where he goes through freaky mutations like chaos did. i never actually got to the good bit though lol

i have a messy rambley never-to-be-released fic all about him being pushed into a corner where using the m.e is his only option but he's terrified of it terrified of being something more akin to chaos than those he spent his whole life honouring and clinging to and naming himself after

it makes so much sense to me okay !!!! chaos is the only other being we see acting as the guardian of the emeralds and they're a god-like being mutated by the m.e!! knuckles has this mysterious backstory and how he ended up alone is unknown to himself but what if he's been there for centuries and just doesn't remember?? what if the m.e changed him in ways he doesn't realise and caused him to outlive everyone?? what if he was even around back during pachacamac's time it would explain how he RECOGNISES the knuckles clan temple which should be IMPOSSIBLE

i swear it makes sense im so sane

[estbela]

@moonstone-vibe

Wellllll...I do have some thoughts about them(since I think that's what you're asking?) but theyre all very rambley and subject to change as I learn more etc etc etc (and this period of history is not one I'm very familiar with, I know a basic summary of stuff and some specific events, but not everything).

Alright, since we have gotten the (really long) disclaimer out of the way, I'm gonna ramble on a bit about these thoughts of mine.

(This took so much to write i stg)

anyway!

I think they met during the 14th century, the late 14th century to be precise, while the Ottoman Empire was expanding through Europe.

Apparently the first confrontation they had was during the rule of Vladislav I , a ruler of Wallachia, who was allied at the time with Ivan Shishman , the emperor of the Bulgaria in Tarnovo, who was not doing very well at the time btw, partly because of the Ottoman Empire lol.

Bulgaria is gonna be mentioned a lot during this, I fear, because I think he does play some role in their dynamic.

Ro, or well as he would have been called at the time, Wallachia, had been part of the Second Bulgarian Empire for a pretty long time, though eventually gaining more and more autonomy, and sort of becoming a vassal state of sorts for a time(basically still kinda being part of Bulgaria, but nominally really), still having to pay tribute to Bul tho. (Also for some time Hungary & Bul basically had a dispute over some part of Wallachia, but as Hungary was weakening due to Mongol attacks, it paved the way to Wallachia being established)

Although that's not important and Im kinda getting sidetracked. Anyway Wallachia does kinda get it's independence, altho it's more like Bul not being able to control it anymore due to the weakening of his empire (before becoming a vassal of the Otttoman Empire, which we'll get to shortly!)

I think they heard of eachoter before meeting, thought. Probably good and bad things, but mostly bad. For Wallachia, Ottoman was the guy that was going around conquering the lands of his friends, including Bulgaria & Serbia, and she...was not really happy about this, obviously. He was actually often allied with Bul, to fight him off(altho not always, relationships between Bul & Wallachia were not always good). For the Ottoman Empire, Wallachia was a thorn in his plans, Bulgaria's even more annoying other half.

Similar to the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire considered itself the successor to Ancient Rome, which really annoyed Wallachia, because he really didn't want to deal with another annoying guy who considered himself as great as the Roman Empire (Wallachia did not have a good relationship with the Eastern Roman Empire, but he would pick him over the Ottoman Empire surely).

And so, Ro did not see Ottoman as anything other than another empire trying to claim the glory of Rome, that would probably not last very long until the next one came. Simply a flicker in mankind's history. He had done and seen this before many times, just another nation that would try to claim her land and people. He was not scared of him, didn't feel much for him besides annoyance at first.

But I do think, over the years, they gained some respect for eachoter, for their skills in battle and outside of that.

Also annoyance eventually turned into anger at him, because how dare he take his friends away from him and hurt them! How dare he take Wallachia's independence away, too!

And so he became even more annoying. His plans were basically to not make it worthwhile to conquer his lands, to make the cost of a battle unjustifiable.

And they did fight, but Wallachia always somehow managed to keep being a vassal state, part of the reason because he was a buffer zone for a lot of european powers and stuff.

And like...I think this fighting of theirs became some sort of "dance" for them, something they were used to. Their own game of chess, if you will. Turk would make a move, then Ro, and it kept going, none of them ever truly changing the status quo, Wallachia remaining a vassal but never truly part of the Ottoman Empire, always slightly out of reach, never his.

It probably drove Turkey a little mad, but he also kinda liked it. I think when they weren't enemies they could get along pretty great, but both of them would rather eat knives than admit that (especially Ro :]]] )

I'll be honest, i think there were moments when Wallachia scared the crap out of Turkey, not that he'd admit it, of course, but little Ro could be really creepy.

The Ottoman Empire didn't scare Ro much, more like the reminder of what he could do to Ro and his loved ones(and what he already did) scared her, and his people also. Specifically that if Wallachia wasn't careful, the little freedom & independence he has could be taken away.

So Wallachia when he'd interact with him during times of peace ig, would always be careful to not actually get attached to the guy, constantly reminding herself of what he could be like. He always treaded lightly around him. Constantly telling herself that he's the enemy!!!

As time went on however, their relations got more...tense then they already were. Wallachia wanted independence and later a union with Moldavia and the Ottoman Empire did not want this to happen.

And of course, I ought to mention the Phanariots. God, save for maybe a few of them, Wallachia hated them so much! And sometimes it wasn't anything they did, it was more that they weren't his own people, and paying to get to rule over him and his people and lands. Definitely not happy about this was he.

Anyway eventually the whole thing happens when Moldavia & Wallachia elect the same guy (Alexandru Ioan Cuza) yada yada yada they unite and Turkey is probably not really happy (random, but apparently Austria was actually the main opposer of this while Prussia supported the union, and really not happy but was caught in the austro-prussian war do couldn't do much about it.)

And eventually Romania gains his independence, fighting alongside the Russian Empire, Bulgaria, and also Serbia & Montenegro I think? Anyway Romania gets her independence, and he & the Ottoman Empire are on pretty bad terms.

But after Romania became independent; things actually, slowly, started to improve between the two. They became...friends of a sort. Although they both wouldn't admit it obviously, they are fond od eachoter. They probably even look fondly back on some of their memories and shit.

But they don't have the best relationship either. That perhaps, there is still some resentment and hurt there, just a little, that neither is keen on adressing ever.

Anyway I don't particulary see them as romantic but I can imagine Ro getting probably mad at Bulgaria or something, feeling hurt and probably flirting with Turkey to piss him off.

I can see Ro kissing Turkey but like, to surprise him in order to fight him or something. Kiss him then surprise punch him while he's trying to process it haha.

Also I basically have my physical age headcanons written for Ro here but I basically see Turkey as being always a few years older than Ro historically, like 2, or 3 at most? (which is probably way younger than in canon, but then again, canon is dead and we do what we want.) I see Turkey as being in modern times in his mid to late 20s, at most, early 30s (I see him being called an "old man" but he doesn't look that old to me AT ALL so I'm really confused, plus it wouldn't make sense for him to be way older than the main cast for a lot of reasons etc etc. But maybe it's just me idk)

So yeah, I don't see turkro romantically, I guess? Nonetheless they have the potential of a very interesting and fun(and perhaps a little fucked up :] ) dynamic. Perhaps a little romance here and there, maybe in the current era, but they'd both have to go through a lot of character development for that :]]]

These days, they probably hang out sometimes, do stupid shit together, and actually have a really fun time. They probably recall some of their more fun memories, talk about the times they won in a conflict with the other, argue about something then get drunk and laugh with eachoter.

also a lot of these things also apply to my Moldavia OC and her relationship with Turkey, altho not all cause her personality is different from Romania's obviously.

[bluewinnerangel]

right back at ya cowboy

Omg ella I'm so sorry I was gonna do this "later" and then it got buried. OK. I clicked. EDIT: I JUST FOUND THIS IN MY DRAFTS IM DOUBLE SORRY lol imma expose my ramble draft

[So in case someone's reading this thinking ???? we sometimes throw a spinning wheel of songs at each other and then just go rambling yelling analysing whatever it gives back. I've kept track with this tag, feel free to copy any of them wheels links and go off or bug someone with it actually pls do]

Oh you mean that song I for some reason like some total idiot put on first thing in the morning and just bawl my eyes out, you know when its so early you're just so vulnerable and everything feels raw and there's no thoughts just something primal happens and it's me drowning myself in this song and then the day can start I guess am I fine nobody knows. It's now my Saturday morning ritual where before coffee I see some sun and I just bawl there's something therapeutic about it. I'd recommend it. Just some sun some coffee brewin some confused pet wondering if you're OK yeah.

Anyway. The song I can place extremely easily in like "1d ended and it sucked" context, but it works with a lot. whatever I can think of him, or anyone, writing about, whatever it means to me. (general Louis' songwriting ramble incoming:) I'm looking at FITF differently compared to Walls and previous work and he's approached it differently, I feel like what he's been saying about his discography fits that as well. I think (this is a mash of what i think to hear in his lyrics and in interviews, so heavy paraphrasing:) before he had this idea he should be writing where the whole thing makes sense to be about this one situation/idea and it has to be about him too and sure perhaps a context might have been written around it, but i think in the past hes been pretty perfectionist on having every single line fit the thing he was thinking of what that song is, and now thats no longer the case. Now it's whatever works, whatever hits, feels, does it. It doesn't matter one thought/situation flows into another.

I guess that was a long rambley way of saying I wanna do line by line lyric analyses of his stuff but I don't know how to make that work as it did previously, for me at least. But on the other by temporarily running with one interpretation and seeing what you can find in the lines can really help see more angles, bring more depth to the line, and consider other meanings and stuff so.. idk not much wrong with it. I wanna do that too I think. This is I guess A Promise I'll do a Holding On To Heartache lyric breakdown. At Some Point. :D

But I think his choices of words and soundscapes and perhaps all them being little references are just wonderful. I cherish it so much. I'm slightly afraid he did the same in Perfect Now (like after seeing a web of possible perfect now lyrical referencing that song did become one of my favs as I love that idea like it gives so much more body depth meaning whatever to a song to me even if not on purpose lol its not even relevant at that point anymore anyway) and long term didn't value it much so now I'm afraid my new little more poppy fav will be his new neglected child but time will tell. Just... have an itch. Rip. EDIT yeah that itch got worse because of the track by track we got now.. it's got that bit about HOTH being a poppy one and the way he's talking about it sigh i feel him but sigh also hes sigh i dont wannt start that discourse over that shit so no. but itch. I uh... luckily don't let how I interpret his reactions to his own songs affect the way I feel about his own songs haha brainpayne this.

ok ok ok last ramble it sounds so fucking liquid? so wet?? how do I explain this why does it sound w e t EDIT: help me he said the sound is like a guitar under water like he's drowning it's flooding we're in a puddle of tears this song, it's what makes me bawl I think, because the song sounds like bawling, and your cheeks are puffed up and we,t and you find a moment of quiet and stare up at the sky with your wet lashes exhausted defeated but you're still here you're still breathing. Also the bridge with the "space between us just comes FLOODING back" at the end of it, it's not the bit that hits the hardest in an obvious way, instead it kinda gets overlooked a way, theres no moment to sit and waddle in the SHIT FLOODING BACK RIGHT THERE it just goes right into the quiet bit again,there's no time given to recover from getting crushed by the wavesm and it just does something to me... I can't leave that bit as the little end of a big thought it sounds like, but the way its sung... time just keeps ticking and we're at the end. I'm almost sure that wasn't intentional and like @ me why focus on this of all the overwhelm that's in this song, but that just feels like a reflection of the feeling I get from this song, you're just fucking sitting there in the middle of this overwhelming ache these waves of hurt and shit just moves on and youre just there stuck there with but i wasn't done? But I guess I should be? Like there's no room for me drowning in this even more but I feel like I need to still?

ramble out.

[hikaruhoshina]

Ok so my big long rambley thoughts about Tokyo Mew Mew New after the finale because I’m very autistic about Tokyo Mew Mew lol

Originally I was worried about a reboot that seemed like it’d stick close to the manga because while I do like the manga I feel like it felt quite rushed especially in character development compared to the 2002 anime but I think TMMN improved on the manga a lot since it changed things from the manga to develop the characters more (but I do think the og anime is still the best adaptation)

The transformations and music aren’t as good as the og imo but I still liked the New ones (Pudding’s with the little monkeys is cute) and I liked that there was some anime original stuff and that we saw a bit more of the aliens past, culture and what the other aliens looked like. Though, since they did more anime original stuff I wish they’d had discussed more on how Mew Aqua came to be and who exactly Deep Blue is and how he came to exist.

There was some things in the manga I wish it adhered to like the boat party outfits (they were so cute and fit their personalities in the manga and I liked their hairstyles)

the Strawbell Bell Version Up design (I loved the big candy like wings and I’m not a big fan of the wand design 😭)

Ichigo’s wedding dress design (The original in the manga was so cute especially since it was designed by a kid who won a contest. Having it in the New anime would’ve been a cute call back 😭) Her party dress in New is cute but kinda plain.

Ichigo dying and Aoyama reviving her (I know they reversed it in New but I always found it an emotional scene I really loved), Mint’s love for ballet wasn’t really a big thing despite how important it was to her in the manga and 2002 anime and Berry’s cameo (I am so sad she didn’t cameo, I was so excited 😭) There’s others I probs forgot too

I did like how we got Lettuce confessing to Ryou because I’ve been a big shipper of them since I was a kid lol but I’m kinda sad they didn’t end up together and there seemed to be more Pie x Lettuce moments in the finale 😔. But I liked the epilogue bit showing how everyone got on especially seeing the Aliens working to help their planet and how Tart came to visit Bu-ling’s family lol

Also a bit of a nitpick and I don’t think it’s the fault of the subtitler since I think she said it was out of her hands but it’s a shame the official English subs had her change Bu-Ling’s name to Purin in season 2 and Quiche had to be Kish. Also that the songs in S2 didn’t get subbed and TMMN didn’t get a dub 😭

Also I liked that Zakuro and Mint got a lot more gay scenes lol but I would’ve liked it New had expanded on Zakuro’s relationship with her family like the og anime hinted (also one thing the og anime has the makes it superior to New is the Zakuro punching Quiche scene lol)

Anyway, this was very rambley but I hope we get animated Berry and Re-Turn and Ringo at some point (but I’m not 100% confident we’ll get Ringo at any point lol 😭)

[luisleyyaoi]

Ok ok ok I have to post my Welcome Home theories right now or I will explode

Under the cut bc it’s very long and rambley

My current theory is Wally isn’t evil, or at least not intentionally evil, and he definitely isn’t a possessed just puppet out for blood. Like I don’t think he’s completely innocent but what I’ve gathered from everything I’ve seen on the website I think if Welcome Home was indeed a real show in universe (found a secret page that could imply it isn’t? I’ll get into that later) Wally is more self aware than he should be which is why he’s so desperate to reach out to the audience. Like imagine going from constant interaction from fans, filming new episodes, talking to the audience, doing talk shows, the whole shabang, then going to being locked in a room away from the public eye. No one even remembering your name.

I think he’s so desperate to interact with real people he is willing to do ANYTHING to get that, even if it means doing shit to the whrp crew to get people to see. In short I don’t think the story is as simple as “ooo Wally is evil/possessed and KILLED PEOPLE!!! He’s so SCARY!!!”

That last bit is what I would’ve said if I didn’t find out there’s a secret page I hadn’t even heard of that completely uproots that entire theory lol. Ok will it doesn’t uproot the WHOLE theory but it makes me have to rework a few aspects.

Like the possession thang, it could be implied that Wally (the puppet) is indeed possessed and while I don’t think that’s exactly the case it’s still a likely possibility we have to consider. This would make my theory completely untrue bc possession is generally an evil thing so Wally would be evil and probably out for blood in this case

It’s also a possibility that Welcome Home isn’t a real show at all and is something a… ghost? demon? paranormal force? is using to get people to listen to it, again I don’t think that’s exactly the case but it’s still a possibility.

With all the new knowledge I have and from reading other theories and ideas from fandom goers I do have a new current theory to go alongside my current one. This theory is that Wally is able to influence people somehow (through their dreams maybe?) and is making them obsess with finding Welcome Home so more people know he exists, using my old theory of him being extremely self aware, desperate for an audiences attention, and the fact that he can see through the eyes of fanart of him (fucking awesome concept btw I’m loving that), being his motivation.

Also not theory related but we all agree that Wally Darling is autistic right? I’m not the only one that thinks that? As an autistic individual myself I heard him say one sentence and was like “oh he’s got Autism with a capital A”

You could def work an autism allegory into my theory tho I can’t put it into words rn but you definitely could ok bye

[netherfeildren]

I have a weird weird question, but I have been sexually active for some years now and I never find sex as enjoyable as the one in fanfics. I mean, yes, I have fun and everything but is NEVER like what I read. Am I a total freak and real sex like the one in fanfics DOES exist?

not a weird question and absolutely not a freak whatsoever. hmm I think I have a somewhat complex opinion on the idea of fictional sex vs. real life sex. I do think, most definitely, that most sex we read in fan fiction is largely embellished, idealized, glamorized, etc. and not very realistic whatsoever. but at the same time, I do think that sometimes a sex scene is written in a way that is so intense or sexy or honest that it sort of sets itself as a standard to which all other sex could idealistically be compared to, be that fictional or real life, and I don't think this is necessarily a wrong or untrue feeling because real life sex does also have the potential to be just as enjoyable as that which we read.

personally, I find it has a lot to do with the partner, in terms of how good an encounter will or will not be. for me, I perform (haha) better when there's feelings involved, and I think that can be said for a large majority of humans. we're emotional creatures. we crave connection and understanding, and that is always a benefit when we find ourselves in vulnerable and intimate situations. this however, is entirely my own opinion, and others might find they're of a different view.

this is sort of rambley and I'm not sure if I've appropriately answered your question. I think the bottom line is that no you're not even a little bit weird at all whatsoever, for not having had experienced some of the insane shit written in fic because most of it is entirely unrealistic. however, good sex can be really good and that is real and I think very achievable with the right partner.

I apologize if this is unhelpful I've taken a vow of abstinence this year and can currently not recall what the touch of another human being feels like LOL

[stellarwaffles]

Chef Rambley: I set 25 towns on fire perfecting this recipe!!

Clay: um. That sounds a bit dangerous maybe

Ava: lol, paranoid much?