#yay i'm actually happy with this sorta

[aanesthesiia]

love-struck:

experiencing intense feelings of romantic love for someone; besotted or infatuated.

Author: Moto42 Title: SCP-173 - The Sculpture Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-173 CC BY-SA 3.0

[angstivylupidene]

so apparently Cesar and Mark had a toxic friendhsip.

[writingwithciara]

Best Friend For Life ~Auston Matthews~

summary: y/n's best friend stephanie is getting married to the best guy in the world. aka mitch marner. she is the maid of honor but the best man tends to get on her nerves whenever they're together.

word count: 3.7k

pairing: auston matthews x reader, mitch marner x stephanie lachance

notes: so i was listening to a song the other day and for some reason, i immediately thought of mitch and his wife [friends to lovers sorta]

masterlist

"promise not to get mad at me?" was the first thing stephanie said as she walked through the door of the apartment she shared with her best friend. y/n looked up from her computer with a raised eyebrow.

"what did you do?"

"how do you feel about hockey games?"

"can't stand them. why? what did you do?" she repeated, getting up from her chair and walking over to her best friend.

"we're going to the toronto game tonight."

"and i repeat. what did you do?"

"i was at the coffee shop and i ran into this really cute guy. we talked for hours and he's so sweet. asked me to go on a date with him after his game tonight."

"oh that's great. congratulations."

"but there's a catch."

"oh god. what do i have to do?"

"his best friend is single and so are you so i figured you could tag along since his friend is going to be there too."

"give me one good reason i should, steph." y/n walked into the kitchen to make her lunch. stephanie followed her quickly and clasped her hands together.

"please come with me. i think this guy might be the one. like, for real this time."

"you're lucky i love you and believe you deserve the best."

"does that mean you'll come to the game and the date?"

"let's just see how the game goes first."

"yay. we need to dress really good." steph smirked and dragged y/n into her closet, the lunch completely forgotten.

that night, y/n met mitch and was amazed at how good he treated stephanie, even though they had only met each other a few hours earlier. his best friend, however, was not as great. he did try, but it was easy to tell that he didn't want to be there.

and it only got worse from there.

over time, they both developed a mutual disinterest in each other.

and here they were, a few years later, helping their two best friends plan a wedding.

it was very obvious from the beginning that mitch and stephanie were meant to be together so it was no surprise to anyone when mitch approached y/n to ask for her help with the proposal. he had already gotten her parents approval but he knew that her best friends approval meant a whole lot to her too. he respected their relationship and treated them both well.

the only thing that mitch did that y;/n didn't like was asking stephanie to move in with him. it left y/n alone in their apartment and it felt weird. mitch had suggested that auston move in, in place f stephanie, but y/n quickly shot that idea down. she would rather live alone than live with auston.

as the two girls sat in the kitchen of mitch's house, zeus was resting his head on y/n's lap. she stroked his ear and listened to the plans stephanie wanted for the wedding.

"i'm really honored you chose me to be your maid of honor. but do i have to dance with the best man?"

"i know you and auston despise each other but it's a tradition in my family that the best man and maid of honor share the dance after the married couples first dance."

"i know." y/n sighed. "i'll do it but i won't be happy about it."

"oh thank god. mitch and i were worried we'd have to break tradition."

"i would never allow that." y/n smiled and stood up. zeus tilted his head slightly and gave her a look. "maybe i should dance with zeus instead. he's so much cuter and he actually likes me."

"that would be cute, but it's-"

"tradition. yeah i know." y/n smiled. "how did auston react when mitch told him?"

"i think he's telling him after practice today," stephanie checked her phone. "which should be over right about now."

"i hope he has the same reaction."

over at the arena, mitch and auston were the last two out of the locker room. mitch sent stephanie a text and looked over at auston.

"hey, there's something i need to tell you about the wedding."

"what is it?"

"after steph and i have our first dance, there's a tradition in her family that follows that. the best man and the maid of honor have to dance together too."

"meaning i have to dance with y/n? seriously?""

"sorry man but it's tradition. you can put aside your hatred for one night, can't you?"

"i can promise to try but i can't promise a success."

"that's good enough for me." mitch chuckled and got to his car. "you coming over for dinner? the girls are making meatloaf."

"yeah sure. why not?" auston got in his car and followed mitch to his house. he completely ignored the fact that y/n was going to be there.

the next few days were spent learning how to dance properly. auston and y/n barely made it through without killing each other, but at least they were ready for the big day.

when it arrived, y/n and stephanie were in the room with the rest of the bridal party. the hairdresser finished the last touches on stephanie's hair and she turned around.

"so, how do i look?"

"you look like a princess. mitch is going to cry." y/n smiled and wiped a tear from her own eye. "gosh, you're so lucky. mitch is probably the last good guy on earth."

"he's the best." stephanie looked in the mirror and smiled. "i love him so much. i knew from the moment i met him that this day would happen."

"i knew too. he was the sweetest." y/n smiled. "if you guys ever have kids, that child is going to be blessed with the best genes ever."

"you and auston are good looking too. and if you guys ever get over yourselves and get together to have a child, it's going to be just as beautiful as you guys."

"we're never getting together."

"i want us to have babies around the same time so they can be best friends too."

"i can try to give you that wish. but it's not going to be with auston."

"okay. as long as i get a niece or nephew to love like crazy."

"i love you, steph." y/n pulled her best friend in for a hug before there was knock on the door. auston poked his head in and covered his eyes.

"you ladies ready?"

"auston, you can uncover your eyes." stephanie giggled and shook her head, shooting a look at y/n. "let's go."

one by one, the bridesmaids made their way to stand next to the groomsmen they were paired with. when y/n walked out with stephanie, auston couldn't keep his eyes from roaming y/n's body. the dress fit her so well and her hair was styled perfectly.

'is she not wearing any makeup? holy crap. i don't think i've ever seen her wear any. has she been this perfect the whole time?' he found himself thinking. he shook the thought from his head and took his spot next to her.

"damn, matthews. you really clean up well, don't you?" y/n nudged him with her elbow and he was suddenly at a loss for words. "what's the matter? cat got your tongue? no funny remark?"

"no. sorry." he let out a breath. "thank you for the compliment. you, um, look really good too."

"i know i do." y/n smirked. "but thank you. that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"it can't be." auston looked at her and ran through their history in his mind. "okay. maybe that's true. and i'm sorry for that."

"you are forgiven, matthews." y/n watched as the pairs in front of them made their way out to where they needed to be. she linked her arm up with auston's, wished stephanie good luck and followed the man outside. they stopped at the end of the aisle and went to their designated locations. "you look great, mitchy." she whispered to mitch before taking her spot.

the music started and everyone stood up. when stephanie and her dad walked out, y/n glanced over at mitch. she had only seen him cry twice before in the few years she had known him. this was the third time she had seen tears in his eyes. he tried to hide it but when he looked over at y/n, he smiled.

as the minister went through the normal ceremony, auston kept looking over at y/n. she was watching the interactions between stephanie and mitch so intently, wiping away a tear or two every few seconds. auston was in complete awe of her.

at the reception, stephanie and mitch had the traditional first dance and when that was over, auston was more than eager to make his way to the dance floor. he and y/n took their places and began to dance

as they moved to the music, y/n looked up at auston.

"have you been practicing on your free time?"

"no, i swear. maybe you just make me a better dancer." he shrugged and moved her around the dance floor effortlessly.

"what's gotten into you tonight, matthews?"

"i think it's all the love in the air." he smiled.

"never would've pegged you for a romantic guy. no offence."

"none taken. i didn't expect it from myself either honestly." he spun her around a few times and when the song ended, so did their moment.

everyone else came to the dance floor to do their thing and y/n walked to the table to sit for a minute. stephanie was sitting beside her with a smile.

"auston is so into you."

"no he's not."

"oh please. i heard what he said before the wedding started. he was genuinely complimenting you. there was no hint of lying in his voice."

"he claims it's the love being in the air. i don't know what else to tell you."

even as y/n spoke those words, she couldn't bring herself to believe them. maybe stephanie was right and auston really was into her. she scanned the room and found him with mitch in the middle of the dance floor. they were having the time of their lives and y/n couldn't help but smile.

auston could feel someone watching him so when he looked up and locked eyes with y/n, he winked at her. she turned away shyly and sipped her drink. he thought it was cute.

y/n could feel her cheeks heating up and she hated it. she didn't like the way auston was suddenly making her feel. looking down at her now empty glass, she decided to blame it on the alcohol in her system, and as auston put it, the love in the air.

halfway through the reception, y/n was beginning to really feel the alcohol. the thing about that was it made her act differently and her voice of reason flew out the window whenever she drank.

as she downed her drink yet again, she found herself making her way to where auston was leaning against the wall. he noticed her approach him and he finished his drink.

"hey. what are you doing all alone over here? you should be having some fun. trying to pick up a girl or two." y/n giggled. why did it feel like her stomach was in knots?

"honestly, nobody here is really catching my eye." his eyes roamed the room before landing back on y/n. "might just call it a night."

"no don't." y/n sounded too eager to get him to stay so she backtracked her outburst. "i mean, it's your best friends wedding and you're the best man. you can't leave." y/n shyly looked down at her shoes.

"okay, i'll stay. but first, you gotta tell me why you hate me so much."

"what are you talking about? i hate you because on the night we met, you decided right away that you didn't like me."

"what gave you that impression?" he chuckled dryly.

"you were grumpy and it was very obvious you didn't want to be there. you put no effort into getting to know me. but i don't understand why you were grumpy. you scored the game winning goal in overtime, not to mention you had the only hat trick the entire game. that should've made you a little happier. you were so good that night. i remember telling steph 'wow. that matthews kid is really good.' like i was very impressed. and then we met and i thought you were really cute. but you had to ruin it by opening your mouth."

"you thought i was cute?"

"why do you hate me?"

"i don't. never did. i jsut really didn't want to be put on a blind double date. i hate blind dates."

"i hate them too. and i was only there as a favor to steph."

"i was only there for mitch. he was telling me during practice that he thought he met the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and he wanted me to meet her & make sure she wasn't a serial killer or crazy in anyway."

"and look at them now. kinda crazy how they both knew right away, huh?"

"yeah. but i think it's sweet." auston looked down at her and smiled. forgetting for a second that he hated her. "i'm really happy for them though. they're good for each other."

"i agree." y/n grabbed a glass off a passing waiters tray and drank half of it in one gulp.

"do you think you'll find the person you want to spend your life with?"

"i'd like to think i will & i'm hoping it's soon. but with my luck in love, it'll probably never happen." y/n sighed. "how about you? think you'll meet her soon?"

"honestly, i think i may have already met her."

oh. well that's good." y/n looked down at her feet. "wanna dance? reception's almost over and i feel like we should get at least one more dance in, just to make the newlyweds happy." she gestured to their right where mitch and steph were dancing. they waved and danced away.

"sure. what harm can it do?"

the two of them walked out onto the dance floor and just as they were getting into the beat of the song, it ended and a new slow song started. y/n froze and looked at auston. he grabbed her hands and placed them where they needed to be before he guided her across the dance floor.

they locked eyes and it suddenly felt like they were the only people around. to everyone but them, it was obvious there was an attraction between them.

when the song ended, y/n stayed with her arms around auston's neck as they swayed back and forth.

"so there's really nobody here that catches your eye?" y/n asked, bringing up part of their earlier conversation. she played with her thumbs behind his neck and one of them wrapped itself in a curl that was loose.

"actually, now that i've thought more about it, there may be one."

"wanna point her out? maybe i can talk you up to her."

"red dress, dark hair that's half up half down with curls, no makeup because she's literally perfect and doesn't need it. she's so perfect but she's dancing with the hottest guy here. i can't compete with that."

"one of those things describe steph. she's not wearing a red dress though, nor does she have dark hair. however, i am dancing with the hottest guy here."

"i know." auston smirked and twirled her around. when he pulled her back, he was holding her tighter. "you look so beautiful right now. and not just tonight. every night since the night i met you."

"auston, are you drunk?"

"maybe a little. but i'm coherent enough to know what i'm saying and i'm sober enough to tell you that i mean it."

"auston, please don't lie to me."

"why would i need to lie to you?" he looked down at her and y/n searched his eyes for a sign of him lying. there wasn't one. "i've always thought you were beautiful. gorgeous even. out of my league for sure. and i'm genuinely sorry that i never really said anything about it."

"please don't apologize. i wasn't exactly the nicest person to be around so that must've made it difficult for you."

"difficult, yes. but worth it? totally. 100% worth it."

"do you think that if mitch and steph hadn't dragged us both on that date that night, then maybe we would have a different history than the one we do?"

"what do you mean?"

"i mean, if they had invited us to a group thing instead and that's how we met, do you think that we could've been friends these last few years?"

"for sure." auston smiled. "and maybe, if we had been friends and i asked you on a proper date, you could've said yes."

"i think i would've." it was y/n's turn to smile. "but hey. we're both still young and have plenty of life left to live. why don't we go out tomorrow night?"

"that sounds like it could be fun." auston chuckled. "and just to be clear, it'll be just us, right? no one else."

"yes. just us."

"great. i'll pick you up at 8 then."

"it's a date." y/n smiled as auston spun her around.

the following night, y/n was getting ready for the date when stephanie facetimed her.

"oh, who you getting ready for?"

"believe it or not, i'm going on a date with auston."

"oh my god. finally!" mitch cheered from the other end of the phone. his face appeared on the screen and he was sporting a large smile. "i'm so tired of hearing him pine over you."

"you're exaggerating, mitchy." y/n shook her head. "how's the honeymoon you guys?"

"it's perfect. thanks for the suggestion." steph was back on the screen. "and thanks for agreeing to take care of zeus while we're gone."

"of course. i love zeus." y/n smiled and looked at the dog, whose head was resting on y/n's lap. "who's the bestest boy? you are. yes you are."

"have fun on your date, sweetie. make sure to tell me everything afterwards."

"always. see you guys later." y/n hung up the phone and finished doing her hair. "which dress should i wear zeus?" she held up a yellow dress and zeus tilted his head. she then held up a blue dress and he barked. "thank you, zeus." y/n changed quickly and looked at herself in the mirror. "what do you think?"

zeus barked and tilted his head.

"you're so cute." y/n grabbed her purse and walked to the door when she heard a knock. "okay, zeus. i'll be back in a few hours. there's plenty of food in your bowl and your treat ball is filled so you should be fine."

y/n opened the door and auston handed her a small bouquet of orange chrysanthemums, her favorite.

"how did you know?"

"i remember you telling mitch one day that you loved chrysanthemums and how your heart would be complete if someone ever gave you the orange ones specifically. i didn't know what the different colors meant but i did some research shortly after that night and i've wanted to give you a bouquet of orange ones ever since. delicate love, right?"

"yeah. exactly." she ventured into the kitchen to grab a vase and filled it with water. "i can't believe you even remembered that. i told him like 4 years ago."

"i know. um, you may not believe me but i had a list of all your favorite things. i don't have it now because i memorized it but i figured i'd let you know."

"auston, this is so uncharacteristic of you. but i appreciate the attentiveness. no guy has ever done anything like this for me before."

"i know. it's unfortunate but you deserve it. you deserve someone who is willing to treat you like a queen. someone who can't get you out of his head, even if he tried. because you are so perfect, it's crazy."

"auston?"

"hmm?"

"stop talking." y/n smiled and pecked his lips. "you are so sweet, matthews."

"hold on just a second." he kissed her again but this time it lasted longer than a simple peck. she wrapped her arms around his neck and his found a place resting gently on her waist. auston was the first to let go of the kiss but they were both smiling from ear to ear.

"no guy has ever kissed me like that before. wow." y/n smirked.

"well all the other guys have been really stupid. and i'm not ashamed to admit that i'm part of that list."

"you're also a lot smarter than all the other guys i've been interested in." y/n's hand reached up to rest against his cheek.

"has anyone ever told you how perfect you are?"

"you did last night while we were dancing." y/n smiled and looked into his eyes. "and for the record, you're pretty perfect too."

"does that mean we're....perfect together?"

"corny joke aside, i think we might be."

"good." he smirked and kissed her again. their date was pretty much forgotten at this point as y/n pulled him through her apartment and into the living room.

auston sat on the couch and held y/n's hips as she straddled him. she looked into his eyes and felt herself getting lost in them.

"just so you know, i never bring a guy home on the first date."

"i know. and technically, if you count the blind date when we met, this is technically our second date." he smirked in response.

"it was a disaster and i feel now that our relationship has crossed the friendship line, we should just forget about the night we met."

"deal." auston smiled and they sealed their deal with a kiss. several kisses to be exact.

taglist: @worldlxvlys @fearfam69691 @carolinalikesthings

[gothwineaunts]

Yay! I’m so happy you’re on Tumblr! I really respect you and Flynn’s work but have been too scared by the fast pace of Insta and Twitter to be able to follow news there. Out of curiosity, are you planning to add your account to linktree? Or do you want to keep it more on the DL?

Thank you so much, glad to be here!! I really like tumblr, it might be my favorite place to... well, lurk. I really just lurk on social media. It's kind of my default setting. I've been trying to get better at it, and tumblr feels most approachable to me I guess?? Plus the nevermore community on tumblr is amazing. (And actually a little intimidating. Y'all are so talented, it's wild.) I wasn't planning on putting this account in our linktree. At least not for now. Sorta let it be more of a like, iykyk, kinda thing. I'm just here for the vibes, pff.

[darknebulablader]

So I watched the Garouden anime. And I have thoughts.

(TL;DR I liked it but have some gripes)

I watch/read martial arts series like Garouden not for the plot but for the beefy men beating on each other so I do not care that the plot of the anime is... sorta not there and goofy as hell. The fights are animated beautifully and are nice and brutal and that's what I'm here for. Yeah the animation was sometimes janky in the non-fighting scenes and there was some funny CGI in the background but again, the fights were good so I was happy. Yay men punching each other in the face.

Also I feel like if someone watched the anime without reading the books or Itagaki manga adaption they would have no idea what's happening and who any the characters are, like for example Tanba's little twink friend shows up halfway through the anime with no intro and it's never explained who he is and I think that's pretty funny.

But. My one actual problem.

From the trailer it was obvious the story was gonna focus on Fujimaki and tell a different story from the manga, which is fine, I actually like him better as a character now after watching the anime, I was pretty meh on him in the manga. But. Then Tanba is also a character. And then they name drop Tsutsumi in the first ep. And then they mention the Tanba vs. Tsutsumi fight. And speedrun like half the manga in like two eps.

SO HOW CAN YOU NAMEDROP TSUTSUMI THREE TIMES AND SET UP HIS AND TANBA'S FIGHT AND THEN LITERALLY NOT SHOW THE BEST FIGHT FROM THE MANGA LIKE HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME PLS GIVE ME THE BIG-TIDDY-SHORT-KING VS UNEMPLOYED-HORNY-FOR-FIGHTING-MAN FIGHT I'M BEGGING YOU

So anyways, pretty salty my man Tsutsumi didn't get to fight in the anime. Other than that, I enjoyed it. Would love a season two.

[karmawonders]

Congrats on 800 followers!!!

Ever since I learned about SAGAU, I have been nervous to play music (idk why though??) But I listen to people like Cupcakke and Ayesha and now I'm wondering what the acolytes' reactions would be to the creator playing weird music ^^

🌸Thank you, thank you!🌸

Ahh, I do enjoy myself some good Cupcakke and Ayesha. I got both of em on my playlist, haha! I listen to some pretty out there music as well, if hyper-pop counts as weird. Who knows~ Anyway somehow this became Consort!Diluc and I apologize, my brain went running with this ask and it became.. this.

Warnings: Sexual Content. Cult and Self Aware AU. Somewhat Yandere.

Contents: This could be considered a crackpost at some points. Includes the song squidwards nose / commentary from because I bop to it, aight? . There is mention of "holy dildo." Forgive me i thought it was funny. Diluc is completely devoted to you(he wants to be your consort) and is suddenly worried about his dick size. Not beta read we die like rex-lapis.

Anyway!

I imagine it would be a normal day like any other in Mondstadt. The city is bustling, Flora giving people cute little flower crowns to promote her flower shop, bards singing about various topics and styles, Knights of Favonius helping people find lost cats, etc etc.

In the middle of the town square, stands your current puppets (thats what I call the"vessles" in my au) , in this case the traveller. I imagine depending on the emotional connection/friendship level you have to each of your puppets, people can sometimes hear you through them. Like a walking speaker or smth.

Since the twins don't got a friendship level, its just the equivalent of maxed out. They're crafting up some condensed resin for you, since you were AFK and they knew you were going to do so anyway. They were doing their best to ignore the loud music that they are emitting whilst doing so, Timaeus and others looking at them with wide eyes.

It isn't often your non-puppets hear obvious signs of the creator themselves, ya know! Literally everyone likes listening to you, whether it's Lofi music, rock, pop, or your voice itself!

Whenever they hear your voice from one of your more connected puppets, everyone is just filled with bubbles of happiness and excitement. Like! yay! I am directly in the High Gods presence! Sorta! Not really but its stilly exciting!

This time though, its a bit more of a "Ayo what the fuck?" sort of feeling instead of the usual.

Loudly blaring from their beings, was Cupcakke, and the iconic song "Squidward Nose".

Jean? Red faced, making sure no children are in the area, hands covering her face as she does her best, and fails, to think on who "dora the explorer" is, instead thinking about her god wanting a dick apparently as large as "squidwards nose". She has the church and the sisters notate this in a book. Might be some form of holy dildo or something, who knows.

Lisa is laughing her ass off the entire time, patting her on the back as she helps annotate notable things in the song with a few of the sisters from the Cathedral. Gotta keep their holy bible updated, afterall. She is tempted to write a new thesis for the scholars at Sumeru just for kicks and giggles about how their High God could potentially be more human than formerly assumed. She has a great new evidence, after all~ then again, the scholars at Sumeru are batshit crazy, so many not.

Venti is right at the travellers side, committing the song to his memory the best he can. Definitely getting in the way of them actually crafting the Resin, much to the twin's annoyance. He is always at whoevers side when you are playing any type of music, the music is completely new to him after all. You can bet he will be doing his best to sing the song at any late night tavern performances, even if he isn't getting all the references outside the obvious sexual stuff. Its an instant hit at Angels share, not just because Venti is singing it, but because the High God apparently likes the song as well. Also because its a great song.

Speaking of Angels Share, Diluc's face, is obviously, also as red as tomato when he hears Venti reciting the song later. He enjoys very much being a puppet, and he is definitely incredibly devoted to the High God. (aka you). He has to be devoted if he wants to fully commit himself to you, and possibly be your consort if you come down to Teyvat one day! This entire situation is completely uncouth, much to his dismay. He thinks its ruining your image before he realizes it is simply expanding it. Also, he is very upset. He is packing down there, definitely. But now he is self conscious because what if squidwards nose is better? He should honestly really kick out Venti, even is he is an Archon. Its getting in the way of his business.

Kaeya and Rosaria know about Diluc's somewhat obsessive worship and desire to be your consort, and they also know exactly why thats he is so red faced and upset and Venti's song. And because they absolutely enjoy it, they keep on giving Venti bottles of alcohol for encores of the song. And more, and more. Until Diluc has to excuse himself and leave. They are laughing the entire fuckin time. They always enjoy listening to your music whenever its playing, and they definitely agree that you should play similar songs more often. Its incredibly amusing.

🌸

Anywho's, that was fun to write! I do not know why Diluc was on the mind, but to be honest, I simp for the man highkey soooo-

Hope that was all alright for you dear Anon, and I hope you have a good day!

🌸Want to support me? Here is my Ko-fi and Masterlist!🌸

[sohcah--toa]

bullet train/マリアビートル details ~

Hello!! I recently dug up the Bullet Train script (if you search it up, you should be able to find it relatively easily!! I'm not sure if it's completely reliable but it seems to be the first version) and listened to the soundtrack. (It's awesome, you should listen if you haven't already!!)

There's a lot of stuff here about マリアビートル, I hope you enjoy reading 🥳 (It's really ridiculous)

-- 1 ) LEMON'S CHILDHOOD // BACKGROUND(??)

I attached a photo for reference in the book!! :D (there's highlighter marks, I'm sorry) His backstory is tragic and aahh noo 🥹... I won't say much on it because we're all thinking the same thing. In the script, this is carried over when Lemon passes out because of the water. But apparently, in the final movie, this isn't shown a lot. In the book and movie, they aren't brothers and have a considerably colder relationship, so I can understand why the childhood scene in the cut is so much more wholesome. (Still supersuper cool though!!)

-- 2) "I'm forever blowing bubbles"

The original reason why this song was chosen for Bullet Train was because of Tangerine's West Ham United sticker (turns out, that's a football club). Hey!! But wait a minute!! There's a funny coincidence because Ladybug in the book was trying to become a football star. He has a quote that's like "my friend told me that someone like me could either become a footballer or a criminal, so I did both" and he says that his first crime was stealing a football.

The song delves into themes surrounding fortune as well!! I love their music selection 🙇‍♂️😤

-- 3) THREE ASSASSINS/グラスホッパー REFERENCES

Okay this part (in a way...) contains spoilers for Three Assassins, which is the first book of the "series"! ! The story revolves around a guy named Suzuki, who appears again in Bullet Train!! He kinda-sorta becomes friends with Ladybug and it's like 😊 they are so happy. To be completely honest, Suzuki's a bit traumatised but so is Ladybug, right?? Lovely friendship!!

It's also so interesting that he's reading a hotel buffet menu because his wife used to love eating at buffets and he adopted the habit of hoarding all the food as well. He's on the train to meet with his dead wife's family (which was extremely difficult for him after her passing).

-- 4) BULLET TRAIN REFERENCES IN THE MANTIS/AX

There's this other book in the series called The Mantis or AX for the Japanese version. This one isn't talked about a lot but if you like family stories, this book is so so soo good. It really pulled at my heartstrings when I first read it but I can't say too much without spoiling everything. Anyway, it makes a few references to Bullet Train and literally starts with the main character, Kabuto (an assassin), having a flashback to talking to Tangerine and Lemon during one of his missions, where they had the same target so they worked together. The Twins really respect him, actually, but find it funny that he's so careful around his wife (YES KABUTO, AN ASSASSIN, HAS A WIFE). Some characters reappear so.. :")) yay!!

-- 5) 777

Ladybug comes back!! He comes back in the latest book in the series; 777. So far, the Japanese reviews have been pretty positive and I think there's an English translation coming in November!! 🥳 I like how the title is 777; 7 like 7 tails in Nanao (七尾), car 7, his favourite number is 7 (if I recall correctly), 7 the "lucky number".

-- 6) THIS GUY

No one asked but I heavily dislike the Prince in the book. (to be honest, who doesn't...) He's just mean for no reason and likes ruining people's lives, makes fun of poor Ladybug (this really isn't that bad compared to the other stuff he does) and yeah, the list goes on. Also apparently he (heavily) tortures other schoolmates and it's not like he gets paid for it like the Twins or the other guys. He just does it for fun?? OK!! The premise of his character is amazing and it's great to see a villain that's actually just straight evil but since he's designed that way, we are validated when hating him ww. He talks about politics as well for some reason... keeps referencing historical tragedies.... man.

-- 7) ASAGAO/THE PUSHER

The Pusher is back too!! Weee~ (not really)

In the movie, it seems as though this entire part got cut out which, like, is reasonable. I attached a photo from the Grasshopper (2015) movie for reference hahaha. The guy in the black suit is the Pusher!! Yeah, he pushes people!! (not in the fun way!!)

He is in charge of protecting Wataru from the Prince's guy, although he's reluctant at first. He's obsessed with bugs and stuff. Whenever he opens his mouth, it's probably going to be about bugs. The Pusher's also strangely poetic. Maybe it's because he likes old bands like the Rolling stones? Oh!! And he gets mentioned in The Mantis.

And speaking of the Kimura family, Yuichi Kimura says something very true and it's:

"who do they gotta make the train toilets so nasty"

-- 8) LADYBUG IS COOL

This is very much a fact. In Mariabeetle, he gets kidnapped when he's 8 years old because he gets mistaken for a rich kid (after he lost a bet with his wealthy friend and had to wear his "rich person backpack"), then in the place he's being held captive, he escapes by HIMSELF since his dad isn't able to give the guys money for his son back (since they took the wrong person!!). But heyy he's resourceful and smart.

AND guess what?? He gets traumatised because there was this other boy being held but Ladybug didn't save him and it's haunted him ever since. This is also one of the reasons why he ends up helping the Prince even though he knows it won't do him any good.

Obviously, it gets worse from there. He makes it back to his family and they're pretty happy. Unfortunately, they're far from rich and Ladybug has to study extremely hard to get into a college. Spoiler alert, he doesn't. THE THING IS!! He studied so hard!! It's just that during his exam, some kid sneezed on his paper and he wiped it, smudging all his work and even his name!! Nanao! No!!

-- 9) TANGERINE BOOK RECS

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

"We perished, each alone."

-> He really loves that quote. A lot. Also he's a Virginia Woolf fan!!

2. Forbidden Colours - Yukio Mishima

-> He's also a Yukio Mishima fan... I wonder if he's ever read "The Sound of Waves". What would he think about it? Hahaha this will keep me up at night 😅 (<- SLANTED EMOJI!!)

3. The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Yukio Mishima

-> To talk about Article 41 of the Penal Code of Japan. (Mr Kotaro Isaka, the author, studied law, by the way!! It's interesting!!) However, here, Tangerine quotes Mishima on Article 41 ;)

4. Hemingway and Faulkner

-> Actually it's a collection so it's not really a book recommendation but these two people are real - Ernst Hemingway (the Old Man and the Sea guy) and William Faulkner. They didn't really get along, by the way, and even though they respected the other's work, they criticised more than praised. Sounds like the Twins.

5. Demons - Fyodor Dostoevsky

-> "Crime is no longer insanity, but simply common sense, almost a duty; anyway, a gallant protest."

I think the author is a heavy Fyodor Dostoevsky fan, just because he also referenced his works in Three Assassins.

6. Crime and Punishment ;D

-> "Science now tells us, love yourself before all men, for everything in the world relies on self-interest."

(CONT'D) yeahh this book was referenced in Three Assassins and one of the characters is obsessed with it. Glad to see that Tangerine is a fan too hahahaha.

-- 10) LEMON IS AWESOME

Opinionated text here but Lemon is plain awesome.

"Between the principal's name and Doraemon's gadgets, it was blindingly obvious which one was more important."

To each their own and I know he's a criminal but he seems like he has no enemies. Sounds very wholesome.

-- 11) HORNET THE MVP

She's in Three Assassins AND the Mantis!! Hypercool. In both books, the Hornet is a team of a male and a female. The female is eliminated (this word choice ww) by Ladybug but the male is still up and kicking, though Ladybug feels bad about it. They use poison needles, like the movie, but they trigger anaphylaxis, which is a really dangerous allergic reaction that causes body shocks.

-- 12) SUZUKI: PHILOSOPHER AND ECONOMIST

"If people knew that they might be killed by someone tomorrow, economic activity would grind to a halt."

... well 😅 take from that what you will.

(that's Suzuki!!)

Cela dit... that's all.... so long, I'm sorry. But thank you so much if you read until the end!! I hope you at least found it a bit entertaining!! :"))

[mr-jaybird]

actually, reblogging that post about not looking down on community college makes me want to talk about my experiences and career to show like look. you don't have to do what your high school guidance counselor said was best

at 19 (august birthday), i went straight from high school to a four year college. i did really well academically but my mental health was BAD and after two years admin insisted i leave to receive treatment. straight up would not let me be at school anymore (undiagnosed bipolar is a bitch)

at 21 i dropped out and worked for $7.25/hr at starbucks and also got mental health treatment (and meds!!!). at 22 i went back to school at community college part time and knocked out some gen eds (and also a couple classes just for fun, like theater)

at 24 i went to a different 4 year school. i changed my major (to psych), did three years there and graduated with an excellent gpa and extensive research experience (i busted my ass there, and since i took time off to get healthy, it went a lot better!). since i'd knocked out most of my gen eds, i got to concentrate on classes i cared about. my last year i was a part time student and worked as a paid research assistant more extensively, and did a honors thesis. i also taught myself the basics of programming my last year

i graduated at 26 and got my first programming and data science job (in fintech, blegh). it was terrible. my degree was largely unrelated and they didn't give me any training. they also expected constant unpaid overtime. i was just trying to hang in there and make enough to pay my rent. i actually was struggling so much i almost got fired. i had something of a nervous breakdown but stayed there long enough (18 months) to get a better job in the same field

at 28 i went back to the tech side of public mental health health (yay! and my degree is sorta relevant again). i worked for government. their tech stack was...less than corporate, and i was pretty bored. but i did really well there since i was overqualified! but they wouldn't promote me because i had the "wrong" degree :(

i was planning to leave that job because of no upward mobility when i was invited to apply for my current job, which is the head of data science for a public mental health lab at a public ivy university. they had heard of me from my boss's boss at my government job (networking!). i got that job just before i turned 30. my first year there was really stressful because of the neglect of my predecessor. i had another nervous breakdown. but this job was cool about my mental health and gave me a paid leave and i was able to fully recover and come back and thrive. i love what i do now and at 31, i'm getting a significant promotion from where i was when i started here!

the point of all of this is, i did a lot of things people think are "wrong". i took gap years, i dropped out, i changed my major, i went to community college, i had the "wrong" major, i had to take mental health leaves, etc etc. but i'm still successful and happy with my career! when i was working at starbucks and sleeping on a friend's air mattress i thought i'd be there forever. you never know what might happen in the future (good or bad).

if you can avoid having 3(!) nervous breakdowns in a decade that's better than i've done. but listen: i've failed. i've fucked up. i've been kicked out of school and almost fired and i've come back from it! i had to go on a mental health leave from my current job and they are still really happy with everything i've done there (now i'm just working on doing it in a way that's more sustainable). you don't have to be a perfect person to do well.

and seriously, community college saves a ton of $$$ and no one has ever cared i knocked out my gen eds there. you don't have to follow the "traditional" path, you just need to find something that works for you!

[abitofafreudmoment]

HELLO IRL FRIEND OF NICO

i have noticed that you are into discworld and would like to hear more about it bc i am interested in reading it but am incapable of getting into anything unless it's been hyped up to me enough and you seem like you'd be willing to ramble lovingly about this series so uhh. favorite characters? what's it about? themes? fun tidbits?

(no pressure though and sorry if this is a weird way to introduce myself hi im luce)

lol no worries Luce! yes I'm very happy to ramble for you. (post-writing here, this is so all over the place sorry for like not sticking to one area but hey it's defos a loving ramble - kinda just talked about vague stuff, but I can 100% go into specifics).

So. . . where do I begin?

40 books in the series, he wrote right up until his death. NOT a continuous plotline through all 40. In fact, I recommend not starting with the first one (two actually)as it's not spectacular (that being said, it is still worth reading once you're in the series, good for the overall worldbuilding if memory serves). below is a sorta ok guide to how they connect - I have my issues with it but it's the best I've found.

I wouldn't recommend starting with Sourcery, but that's cuz Rincewind isn't my favorite character - I'd start with either equal rites or Lords and Ladies or Mort or The Truth or The Fifth Elephant or just wherever really as long as it isn't the Colour of Magic or the Light Fantastic.

A few crucial ordering things - READ THUD AND SNUFF (and ig Making Money and Going Postal) BEFORE RAISING STEAM. READ THIEF OF TIME BEFORE NIGHT WATCH. Those are the really imperative ones that you gotta order right, generally do it vaguely chronologically and yeah. Have at it.

The Hedgehog Song - this is a tidbit that shows up a lot in the Witches books as a very rude song that Nanny Ogg sings, BUT WE NEVER GET THE WORDS and I so want them.

Because it was written over 32 years, there are so many characters that just like slowly worm their way into it and I love watching a character turn from like a single footnote into a fully-fledged, important-to-the-plot character (I'm looking at YOU, Cassanunda)

SPEAKING OF FOOTNOTES OMG the books are riddled with them and. . . chef's kiss they add So Much to the series. They're so funny.

Pratchett is actually just like so funny as an author in general, but wittily so. Not saying he does pure comedy - he doesn't. Many a time have I cried over a Pratchett book. He's also great at taking stuff and . . . twisting it ig into something brilliantly new - Take, for instance, Maskerade, which is the Phantom of the Opera but Pratchettifyed (New word! yay! I'll be using it a lot I'm sure.). or like just what he does with Fairy Tales in general (Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies sorta)

Also his MAGIC omg - soft magic system done right. I also love like the different approaches to magic that the witches and wizard have to it. Also how like the Creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions get [spoilers removed]

The gods man. Love them. They exist, they feed off of raw belief (Small Gods' premise is that people start believing in the institution formed around a god as opposed to the god itself and then that god like almost dies cuz no-one believes in him. (surprise surprise it's a commentary on the Church)) and they play games with the lives of men (the Last Hero). Love Granny Weatherwax's opinion on them which goes smthn like this: "No use believin' in 'em, it only serves to encourage 'em." <-- As a concept belief is not simply tied to the gods either. He does a lot of stuff about how what people believe to be true can affect how they perceive things around them.

THE FOOLS. Pratchett understood the tragedy of clowns and as such his fools are so insanely sad - the Fools' Guild is the least happy of all the guilds. I love them so much

Speaking of guilds: the Guild of Thieves. is a legit guild set up by Vetenarii to do crime to the socially acceptable level and no higher - I'm doing a bad job explaining it but it's ingenious.

Vetenarii is probably one of my favorite characters in the entire series. He, above all else, understands how humans work and he uses that skill to get people to do what he wants.

Pratchett does not pull the punches when it comes to messaging and such - very anti-war, anti-racism, anti-sexism etc. Also love what he does with People and how they can/can't be controlled (The human condition as a whole ig) - one of my fav quotes from the series is Vimes saying "They're scared. You can't expect much from people when they're scared."

My personal fav book is Monstrous Regiment, which is relatively standalone. Very good. Very "horrors of war"-y with a touch of the classic [redacted due to spoilers].

I could go on, but this post is getting very long so if I do continue I'll do it in another post.

TL;DR: Pratchett = FUCKING BRILLIANT

[dootznbootz]

I saw your rant post about Odysseus x Zeus (or whatever else that is) and honestly I feel like epic fandom in general doesn't treat it to be that deep. You are of course allowed to have a negative reaction to it, but honestly there are so many people making "Odysseus adopts Astyanax AU" as well and treating it as a lighthearted thing when it was literally infanticide. People have fun in AU without thinking too much about the morality of it because it's all fiction. But certain fictional characters can also make us emotional because they are relatable or dear to us, but we can't expect all people to feel the same for fictional charas. I hope this helps you a bit and I have blocked the big artists that support this AU (nothing against them, I just don't wanna see it) so you can do the same for some peace.

Anon, this is genuinely really really sweet. 🥺 Thank you for your kindness. I appreciate it <3

ngl, it just felt nice to vent. I usually try to keep my "angry" takes private but it did feel nice to let it out :)

And I know I can't really "stop it" lol. And even if I'm not a fan of something, I NEVER wanna stop people from making art. I still think there's complexity in that, but in the blankest terms, Art should be of anything. (and definitely folks should not like, "witchhunt" the people who make this AU. that's not cool. Don't do that.)

And someone else in the replies kind of explained how it's mostly the kind of absurdity of the situation that like, "makes it humorous". Like a "pigs could fly" thing. I don't completely understand it but it kind of makes sense. (My neurodivergent, traumatized ass got all worked up lol)

I mean I'm already not the biggest fan of "Whump" and this whole AU felt like "Whump but we're laughing at and making fun of the Whumpee"

I mean as you mentioned with the whole "Astayanax lives AU", idk, while to me it feels... like it's removing the point of both HIS sad story AND Epic's "Just a Man" and it's impact on Odysseus. It STILL is like, a "fix-it AU". granted it's fucked that that poor baby isn't with his mother as he should be but it's still a "yay! Happy things!" sorta AU. It's removing the infantcide lol.

I mean even Epic with it removing Odysseus' SAs from the Goddesses. Still showing his discomfort and distress but he also doesn't need to go through it like in the actual Odyssey. Another "Fix-it" type of AU.

This whole thing was just... very funky for me. Odysseus is already called a manwhore because people do NOT see what is blatantly in the text. And it being treated as something funny just... yeah. ;~;

Helen kind of portrays it best but there's this feeling sometimes of even after what happened and you know it's not your fault, you still feel like some "whore". There's a lot of victimblaming in fandom AND irl.

And I've noticed there's this...common thing I've seen?? Where folks (especially men) who were victims of SA are often portrayed and/or talked about as though they are natually "promiscuous" and that's why what happened to them happened. I mean look at how often Helen is portrayed as a dumb bimbo who "fell in love" with Paris. >:( even if that may be the exact opposite of their feelings and/or wants.

I mean, there's Asterion from BG3 for example. I have not played the game yet (though I really really want tooo) but from the sounds of it, he was "owned" by someone else and you are there with him when he is finally free. And it sounds like he is kind of the most "vanilla" and/or least interested in sex canonically but there's still a lot of stuff that portrays him as very sexual and/or promiscuous.

Hypersexuality is a common coping mechanism/aftermath ofc, but that's a bit of a different conversation lol.

When the whole "Odysseus x Zeus AU" first happened, I was just kind of like "mmm, okay, no thank." but as it got bigger and bigger and with it kind of becoming more...Crude?? And with some of the language used it just really messed with me.

I don't ship Odysseus with anyone other than Penelope but even with folks who ship him with others, I've still thankfully never run into coercion and/or assault with those relationships. Honestly if it was just Zeus x Odysseus, I'd be like "oh dang, not for me" and then just move on but with it being to SAVE his friends? The same thing that happened before? yeh.... I still want a tag that I can block. lol

idk why I rambled so long but it felt nice. :) Again, thank you for your kindness, Dear Anon. <3 I appreciate it.

[dandylovesturtles]

How did you decide who got what sense in I May be Invisible? Like why Mikey got sight, Raph got hearing, Donnie got toucb, that sorta thing? Was it luck of the draw or pacing reasons?

I'm also imaging how crazy it would've been for Mikey to be open that portal and him suddenly hearing Leo's voice pleading for him to stop

So originally my plan wasn't actually to split the senses up; I always knew that they would break the curse in the order Mikey > Raph > Donnie, but initially I was thinking that it would be more cumulative. Like, once Raph got back a sense, so would Mikey, and then when Donnie got a sense he would also get the other two. Which would have made communication easier, but after writing chapter 1 I wasn't satisfied with a few things (both my original draft for chapter 2, which I scrapped, and the progression of the curse breaking), which is when I got the idea to split the senses up. (Don't listen to the author's note in chapter 1 that said I had the story all planned out, the story has almost completely changed from my original outline.)

As for why I picked what!

First of all, I knew the order would be Mikey > Raph > Donnie because that's the order they each awakened/solidified their mystic powers, with Mikey figuring it out first and Donnie of course not getting his until the end of the show. Mikey is also the most mystically inclined so it just made sense to me that he would break the curse first. And I liked the idea of Mikey having to get his older brothers to believe him haha. I also liked Donnie being last because of the initial conflict with Donnie thinking Leo was brain dead and suggesting taking him off life support; with no way to directly communicate with Leo (and he DEFINITELY wasn't going to play feelings talk telephone), he just had to carry his guilt around for all that time until he finally broke part of the curse.

Mikey gets sight because 1, I felt like getting sight back first just felt like the most obvious progression, 2, Mikey, being the most emotionally intelligent of these idiots, would be able to see (heh) through any of Leo's normal bullshit deflections. Basically, Mikey is most able to help Leo by being able to see him, and I think Mikey gets more out of being able to see Leo than the others too (Donnie would probably dispute that but we don't care about his opinion).

I made a joke that Raph got sound because it forces these two bozos to actually talk to each other haha. But also, while Leo is the leader of the team, he still looks to Raph for guidance and reassurance. Getting sound back lets the two of them have more detailed discussions about strategy and plans. Also I thought of the line "I never thought I would be so happy to hear your voice but so annoyed by it at the same time" and I had to do it lol. Again, it just comes back to who I think gets the most out of each sense.

And finally Donnie gets touch. I love touch starvation as a trope so making Leo wait for touch until last just hit that sweet spot for me. And then of course there is the inherent comedy of making the most touch-averse character get touch as his only way to communicate haha. Though, when you watch them, Leo is often touching Donnie casually, leaning on him, putting an arm around his shoulders, nudging him, etc, and I think that contact is something both of them would miss. Donnie would also be simultaneously annoyed at getting the most indirect form of communication and the most stubborn in finding a way around it anyway so it works out. Basically it forces Donnie a little out of his comfort zone for the sake of helping Leo, so you know. ~character development~

Btw since I had decided on this by chapter 2 I threw in some foreshadowing, with Leo's monologue to Raph in the training room (where he specifically isn't looking at Raph while he does it) and his attempt to give Donnie a wet willy (and thinking for a second it actually worked). At least one person picked up on it on a reread and commented so yay!

Mikey getting sound instead of sight could have been interesting too! Certainly it would have been easier for Leo to explain the circumstances right off the bat haha. Mikey would have been equally shocked to hear Leo's voice and may have thought at first that his body was talking somehow, or maybe mind melding with him lol. It certainly would be emotional, in any case!

Thanks for the ask!

[adhdbisexualramblings]

(I really hope I'm not being too much I just love the way you see them so much 😅)

so for any House MD character(s) you prefer :

💡How did they discover age regression?

🌈What about their regression is unusual, unexpected, or non-traditional?

🃏Your favorite random headcanon about their regression?

(No no no don’t worry I love these asks! You’re fine haha) (though I would like some from other fandoms)

I’m going for (naturally) House and Chase because why not?

(This one’s a little less safe, I think. There’s mention of restricting necessary drugs in the second question, and briefly of meltdowns. Other than that, it’s OK.)

💡💡 They both already knew about it. It’s required to do a psychiatry rotation for medical students, so they certainly came across it. When House started regressing, he was in a lot of denial about the fact. Chase was more open to it, though he had to ease into regressing completely and not just partially.

🌈 I’m not exactly sure what this question means, actually. I have a gist, though, so…for House, it’s his Vicodin. His pain doesn’t go away, after all. Unfortunately, he’s not the one in control of how much he can take at a time when he’s little, and Wilson is, incorrectly, under the belief that restricting access to the pills is a ‘good’ way of tapering House’s addiction. He hid them, but the system didn’t last very long after the first few meltdowns, and now the Vicodin is a given (though Greg has to swallow them with water sometimes. And he generally has to tell Wilson when he needs the pills instead of just taking them.)

🌈 For Chase…I don’t know. He’s just a very energetic kiddo who has to get bribed because his caregiver can’t handle running after him.

🃏 I mentioned that Greg is a cuddlebug in another post, and likes falling asleep with some part of him close to or on Wilson, but now we’re talking about Wilson as a caregiver! Yay! It takes a while for him to get out of his caregiver headspace, and while they’re working he’ll sorta…treat House like he would at home. Hold hands while walking, brush a thumb over his cheek, slip up and call him ‘Greg’ or ‘sweetie’ a few times. The usual stuff.

Unfortunately for House, this has proven to be too effective (he will never admit in a million years that Wilson’s mere presence makes his voluntary-involuntary regression a little more involuntary than it used to be). Wilson would never say anything either, but he likes that his best friend can allow himself to be that vulnerable with him, and that makes him value their relationship more.

🃏 Robert LOVES story time! Adores it! He can’t go to bed without a story. Sadly, it’s usually the same few books over and over because House doesn’t want to clutter his shelf with kids books or people asking questions (he doesn’t work with kids, so he has no valid excuse). But Robert doesn’t mind. He’s just happy having a story read to him, and House can be surprisingly ‘gentle’ (read: quiet) when the situation calls for it. He’s also the only reason House has ever bought chocolate milk AND hot cocoa mix. He doesn’t get nightmares often, but when he does, they’re really messy (figuratively and literally- Chase regresses very young), and he’ll have to get a nice drink and a few stories to calm him down again.

(Also, Robert has a lot of pacifiers because he needs them and they make him feel safe while Greg has, like, one or two - that he does actually use - because he’s too old for pacifiers! Duh! Jimmy just didn’t get the memo.)

[senblades]

4, 28, 34 for the ask game!

4: Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

okay so I already gave my whole spiel about my short film (i'll upload it one day.....) but lemme talk about some of my other characters!

I've got a trio of characters in a nebulous political thriller/high fantasy/steampunk world.... uhhhh basic premise of the magic system is that everyone has a spirit tied to them that is related to an abstract concept, which gives them relavant magic abilities. The spirits can be reeeeally broad or hyper specific- the hyper specific ones actually have individual personalities, whereas the broad ones are too abstract to really keep a hold on something like that

(believe it or not, this concept was cooked up before I knew what persona was about HAHAHA any similarites are coincidental)

the characters are:

Karmen (name pending a change): she's tied to a general nature spirit- very kindhearted, and set to be the next leader of her particular city. but, there are a lot of secrets and shady business that's been going on that she's privvy to because of her position, and she does her utmost to Keep Those Things Secret (stuff that keeps the city safe, but is uh... questionable)

Azaila (...name pending... something lmao): she's tied to a spirit of shadow- very combat focused. she's kind of an asshole fhdkjshfds /affectionate. Her city is wayyyy up north in the snow, and their culture is very merit-based, often devolving into duels and shit for leadership disputes. each family tends to have a 'leader' as well, and Azaila gained this position via questionable means from her uncle (she cheated in the duel lmao- her uncle kinda sucks and she was sorta desperate)

Elias: He's tied to a fire spirit, but due to an... incident (TM) in his childhood, he pretends his spirit is too weak and hyperspecifc to be of any use. he's a knight in the capital's royal guard, as is his father (yay nepotism /j HAHAHA) his whole deal is like... dealing with shit like duty and cowardice and trauma and whatnot

soooo i've had these guys on the back burner for a Hot Second. I'll do something with them one day...... maybe i'll draw them at some point too

28: Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

I once again have absolutely no idea what I'm doing HAHAHA- if this was like, art advice, I might be able to help more, but.... hm....

I guess: make sure you plan your plot way in advance! Even for smaller stuff! You are not immune to writing yourself into a corner!

following that, though, don't be afraid to deviate from your plan wildly! (i sure have with fftsr lmao) It's important to avoid writing yourself into a corner, but so long as you see where a potential path lies, you can often write something even better if you deviate from it once you've gotten a ways into the story

34: Do you write to improve? Or is that not a concern for you?

it's not really a concern for me, tbh. since writing is entirely a hobby for me, I don't really feel the need to hold myself to any particular standard.

that's a bit misleading, though, since I do still want the stuff I write to be good; it's like, I improve naturally the more I write, and I'm happy with that natural pace rather than pushing myself for any goal. With my writing, I'll be satisfied with what I've got pretty quickly, where I stop and start with my illustrations a lot more if I come up with a better composition or the anatomy is funky or the colours aren't working and yadda yadda (and thus, i improve at art a lot faster (the life drawing classes def helped with that too lmao (anatomy is an interesting beast to tackle)))

ty ty for the ask! <3

[pearwaldorf]

20 questions for fic writers

sorta tagged by @antivanruffles

How many works do you have on ao3?

130 excluding the the podfics I'm listed as a co-author on

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

230,000. I'm a very succinct writer!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently OFMD. I have written a lot of (in descending order) Star Wars sequel trilogy, Good Omens, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Critical Role, and MCU.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

we wore the jacket for the longest time (Star Wars ST, Finn/Poe/Rey, 3200)

well you laughed baby it's okay (it's buzzcut season anyways) (nsfw; Good Omens, Aziraphale/Crowley, 1100)

human sacrifice and mass hysteria (nsfw, DA:I, Cullen/Dorian, 1080) This one has a weirdly long tail. I still get bursts of kudos on it every now and then.

balance theory (The Old Guard, Joe/Nicky foe yay, 660)

taste the stardust in my mouth (Star Wars ST, Finn/Poe/Rey, 560)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do not. I don't have enough energy to write and respond to comments, so I'm sure people would rather I write. They are all appreciated though <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

a knife on the things that held us together for sure. It sets up the rift between Han and Leia after Ben's attack on the Praxeum and it's the last time Leia sees her brother. I was so emotionally wiped by it I couldn't even think about writing for two weeks hahaha

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics have happy endings, or at least hopeful ones.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

If I do nobody has ever told me.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! I'm not sure what "what kind" means.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I've written exactly one, the Will Graham/Aziraphale one (I swear it makes sense in context). ngl it's pretty weird. Plenty of AUs set in different universes though!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I have. Somebody plagiarized "but you laughed baby" beat for beat. When I confronted them about it they said they must have subconsciously regurgitated it. Binch, I had to reread my own fic to compare, don't give me that shit. (They deleted their entire account afterwards. I'm not sad.)

12. What's the longest you've spent working on one fic? And the shortest?

Shortest is drabbles, and those take anywhere from 15-30 minutes. Longest? I still have a Mass Effect fic that I've been picking at on and off since 2012. I should just finish it up.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I refuse to pick.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The Good Omens While You Were Sleeping AU is my only actual posted WIP. There are Reasons I tend not to post unfinished stuff.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm really good at nailing character voices and dialogue. I think I'm decent at striking a balance between pretty language and making sure it still moves things along. I have been told I'm very good at intimate character interaction.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

What the fuck is a plot?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Unless you're going for the half-remembered vocabulary because diaspora kid vibe (which I did in my Shang-Chi fic), get somebody fluent to translate for you. The amount of horrific Spanish I've seen in OFMD fic is... not good.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

X2! I thought I was very clever making puns on "le petit mort" in a Rogue fic

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I have a series! I love the extremely weird ones I wrote just for myself that nobody else seems to like, although the Ed/Blackbeard/Stede one is an exception.

I am where memes go to die, so if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged.

[otakween]

Digimon World: Digital Card Battle (1999) - End game thoughts (20 hrs in)

Yay, this was really fun and easy to beat! Honestly, that's how I like my video games, I just want to chill at the end of the day, not stress out. There were one or two battles that presented a slight challenge and that's good enough for me.

This game had so much charm and was a fabulous companion to Digimon World 1. It's kind of like its quirky and more casual cousin. Kind of baffled that there isn't a fan translation (that I could find) because it's honestly a pretty short game with not a lot of dialogue.

I'm going to do a little bit of post-game poking around, but here are my immediate thoughts after beating it.

Notes:

-I wonder if the lack of localization is 100% due to the Hitler stuff (which...fair) or if there's more to it than that. I get that it would have been difficult to cut that part out entirely, but maybe they could re-skin things to look less sus? I dunno...too late now.

-I was so happy with all the stats they give you during the end credits, that was such a nice touch! They gave me my playtime, how many times I saved, what decks I used and how I used them. Interesting stuff. I feel like TCG are for stats nerds lol (the only math class I enjoyed in high school)

-It was really cute how they recreated all of the scenes from the game with CGs. Of course, it would have been nice if those were just in the game proper, but oh well :/ it was fun looking back on all the battles and quirky events

-So...the Japanese was a bit tricky for me to follow, but it seems like this whole game had a gag plot? Like you spend the whole game trying to get to Mt. Infinity to retrieve a "bug card", but then you get to the final boss and he's like, "Huh? Who are you? What's going on? I've never heard of a bug card in my life." And then Betamon (who came with you for moral support) is like "oh yeah, I dropped that card and it was blown away by the wind to the top of this mountain teehee." Lol. So really, there was no villain...I guess. Really the MC and Babamon are the assholes for destroying Machinedramon's home for no reason.

-Speaking of gag plot, most of the plot of this game is on the very silly, toilet humor side. A majority of it is tracking down toilet paper and finding the culprit of who is breaking all of the toilets. In hindsight, this might be another reason this didn't get localized...

-So Babamon was Rosemon all along...okaaay. I didn't really get this twist because Rosemon switched back and forth between her two forms throughout the game before the bug card (which supposedly cause the transformation) was destroyed. Maybe it was a Fiona from Shrek situation.

-I was a little sad that I got all of these great "Sevens Cards," but then didn't want to use most of them. The only one I really ended up using was the holy one because it gave my digimon +1000 HP. Everything else seemed too risky to use. Honestly I used the same deck without many changes for 90% of the game. Kind of lame, but editing decks was sorta painful in how time consuming and clunky it was. It seems like arranging a deck would be a lot more fun IRL though, I kinda wish I had some actual cards to fool around with.

-I was surprised to see that there's no Analogman in this game. I guess that just goes along with this being a much chiller, parallel universe.

-I physically can't 100% this game (because of missable battles), so I'm just going to take it easy for post-game stuff. See how many more cards I can get and do a couple more battles. Excited for this game's sequel!

Despite the weirdo storyline and questionable content, this was one of the better Digimon games so far. Due to my high levels of enjoyment, I'm giving it a solid 7 out of 10.

[fukounaboy]

HOLY SHIT-! AdADYADQGF

Finally my brain lets me send an ask bleugh-

(idk what's wrong with it it just. Stops whenever I think about you D':)

Anyways!!! I have no idea what stage mental illness i am at this point but I think I've pretty much lost all morals so that's ah.. fun-?

I've had about 2 major mental breaks since I've last spoken to you so that probably why-? Eh! Who cares~

What was I going to say again..

OH YEAH!!!

I MISSS YOUUUUUU!!!! I CHECK YOUR TWT EVERY SO OFTEN AND STUFF AND I HOPE YOUR DOING WELL!!! <3

Still completely obsessed and insane about you so dw!! Im pretty sure I have forgotten how time works since I've been in my room for about 4 months now with the same walls and sheets and sounds and I haven't been outside and I sleep about 15 hours a day so tbh it still feels like we spoke yesterday-

Hm.. some life updates maybe?? Don't even know if you'll read this but yk-

Back in my flat, i got bullied and kicked out of the refuge I was in and am now here with my mum and stepdad? Bleugh.. but! I am hoping to flee again sometime soon? About 11 hours away to fuck knows so safe to say I won't be anywhere here again (yippee!!!)

I have headmates now!!! There's ÉlLolli, around 8 - 11 years old, nicknamed melody (or mello for short) and uh.. oh!! She kins my melody (hence the nickname) which is cool!! And ah. Shes fucked up to say the least? Pretty sure she formed through my medical trauma-

And rhythm!! Melody actually sorta created him..? I think she wanted a brother and boom! Next thing I know (well actually it took a while but) there's just some 6 year old just. There

He's actually uh. Musickin-? Songkin? Forgot the word- but basically a personification of the KARMA(a)DARMA album! Yay!!

Anyways enough about that-

I love you. And I haven't stopped loving you <3

It doesn't matter what you feel about me at this point.. your mine

Hope you are well!! Or happy at the very least-? Well I've said this a million times by now but-

I love you <3

WHEYYSFSYETEYYAYyayetuYEYYTYSGAYTAYEYAYTESTAYY!!!!!

Hihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihuhuhihiihihihihhii :3

Hhhhh same- /lh

I'm. Very sorry about that :(

AAAAA I MISS YOU TOOOOOOHRVRHRGRJRGRHGRHRGRHRBRHRVRHRGRHDGDH

IM DOING UHHHHHHHHH

IM DOING.

I'm v much doing.

Urgehegdhgdhebh same :3

Also. Same.

Aaaaaaa I hope you get to flee again soon!!!

N I hope you get v v far away this time :3

N I hope youre v safe wherever you go bc ily 💛

Yeye ik! /lh

I talked to Mello for a bit but my brain absolutely melted so uh

I only talked to her for like- a second-

V sweet tho :3

I've heard abt Rhythm- I've never talked to him tho :')

He seems like he's v sweet too :3

Ooh musickin!

I think it can be both musickin/songkin actually-

Oooh uh isn't the Karma(a)drama album by that uhhhhhhhh abuseken guy?

Like

Uh lemme see

HEHEHEHEGHEGRHH I WAS RIGHT

Need to listen to that album it looks v neat

Anyways ily2 <33333333 I also haven't stopped loving you either :3

I love you too :3

I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛