#yes i'm not finishing the entire thing because i may do that in a separate post

[ensnchekov-a]

DRABBLE ⸺ 1 / ?

Somebody always dies.

Sometimes, no matter how fast his fingers fly at the transporter controls, somebody does not make it off Vulcan. Sometimes it is Sulu’s beacon that disappears before he can even blink and Kirk is laying there on the transporter pad dazed but still alive, horror in the depths of his eyes.

Kirk says, “Sulu,” and his voice breaks and all Pavel can do is curse his own fingers, a misplaced decimal point in his hasty computation of gravitational pull, and subpar skill because clearly the fault must lie with him. If it didn’t, both men would be alive now, but only one has returned and so he waits for the inevitable backlash that is sure to follow.

Other times, Kirk is the one swallowed up by the singularity that is consuming Vulcan. Sulu materialises on the pad and Pavel’s heart stops because there’s only one and there should be two men, but he knows he’s hoping for an impossibility. He doesn’t know what happened as they fell, but Sulu looks in Pavel’s direction with a thousand-yard-stare and he feels the burn of accusation. “He lost his grip,” Sulu says, but what Pavel hears is “You couldn’t save him, kid. This is your fault.”

Pavel knows he’s right.

—

Tonight, he fails again to save Amanda Grayson. The red cliffs of Vulcan crumble and a woman screams and she is terrified, Pavel is sure of that, as she plummets dizzyingly fast toward her own grave. There is nothing he can do.

Five Vulcans make it aboard the Enterprise. One human does not.

—Я потерял ее, he whispers gravely, and the words repeat over and over in his head like a death sentence.

Four Vulcans maintain an air of cold impassivity on their faces that do not reach their eyes. There is anger in their eyes, unrestrained and unmasked, and Pavel feels the burn of their gaze searing right through his clothes, his skin, and he starts to believe—however foolishly—that looks can kill.

One allows his face to twist with a rage so thick he can feel it across the room. An apology forms in the back of Pavel’s throat, but he chokes on the words because an apology will not fix what he has done. It will not bring back the mother he failed to save, it will not make him less responsible, it will not absolve him of his failure.

—У меня получится! He hears his premature confidence echo in his head and never has he been so wrong.

His throat feels impossibly tight and he’s only semi-aware of the fact that he’s no longer sitting at the transporter controls. His back is firmly pressed against the wall and beyond the sound of his heart beating furiously in his chest, the room is deathly silent. He’s frozen still, not in control of his limbs. When he comes back to himself, Pavel sees it there in Spock’s eyes as his vision begins to fade: anger, betrayal, directed solely at him.

‘I trusted you to save her,’ Spock’s fury-darkened eyes say. Not a single soul moves to intervene. Pavel doesn’t remember how to speak, doesn’t think he’ll ever remember how to again.

—

Everything is still black when his eyes snap open and for a moment, nightmare is inseparably entangled with reality. He’s dead—Spock strangled him and he didn’t put up a fight now he is who-knows-where, there are no answers to what happens after death. But his heart is pumping like he has just finished a marathon—the hearts of dead men don’t beat—and he’s suddenly aware of the Starfleet issue blanket tangled around his midsection.

He is not dead. He is still on the Enterprise, startled awake by another nightmare. This is the fifth since they began their journey crawling back to Earth on impulse power and it will not be the last.

“Компьютер, свет на 20%.” His voice is far away and sleep-addled and it takes the computer a fraction of a second longer to obey when he mumbles in Russian, but the lights ease on. He digs his palms into his eyes and rubs away the exhaustion.

Almost any attempt at sleeping more than a few hours is thwarted by his subconscious—seventeen years is long enough to know how his body will react to certain things, and he has always suffered from nightmares in the wake of stress and trauma ever since he was young. They are defence mechanisms, he recalls reading in a journal when he was around ten years old, the subconscious mind’s way of working through difficult scenarios.

Some have suggested rewriting their nightmares and exerting a certain mastery over the dreamscape, but try as he might, this was never a skill he was able to achieve. Why, he can’t say—he knows what these nightmares are trying to tell him, so it should be simple to imagine a different outcome.

He finds this far more challenging than some of the courses at the Academy.

He’s tired—they all are, why should he complain?—but as long as he can continue to function as navigator and ensure their safe return home, he can endure the restless nights and Sulu’s constant enquiring after the faint dark circles under his eyes and the how are you? at the beginning of every shift. Sulu is a perceptive man. Pavel knows that he suspects something and that he does not really believe his smile and his automatic ‘I am fine, Mr. Sulu,” but he hasn’t pushed too far yet, and for that, he’s grateful.

He untangles himself from the covers and stands. His body wants to go back to sleep, but his mind and his heart are still racing. The chrono at his bedside reads 0229 hours and this may be a blessing in disguise. The Enterprise will be mostly asleep at this hour and he just wants to get out of this room, to wander the decks while he picks apart his thoughts and not have to worry about someone on the crew stopping to make small talk or smile ask how he is.

He’s fine. He just doesn’t want to smile right now.

Pavel snatches up the sweater he left hanging over the chair at his desk, tosses it on over his pyjamas, and slips out of his quarters in a pair of slippers.

Twenty-one steps takes him from his quarters to the turbolift and the only sounds in the corridor are his slippered feet tapping against the floor and the low humming breaths of the Enterprise. He mumbles, “Deck 2,” when the turbolift doors glide shut and steps out the moment they open about thirty-six seconds later.

He could spend some time on the Observation Deck and stare out into the black and let his mind wander. The stars have always been a comforting sight; something to focus on when his mind moved too fast for him to keep up. Tonight, he’d like to lose himself in plotting aimless courses and calculating within a minute the amount of time it would take them to reach home at this very moment.

Movement in the corridor in front of him momentarily makes him forget all that. He does not want company right now, but he quickly straightens his spine and attempts to muster up a cheerful smile. He’ll say hello, they’ll exchange small talk, and then he will be free to continue on.

It was a perfect plan had he run into anybody else on the crew. He should curse the universe for its cruelty.

“M-Mister Spock,” Pavel manages softly and forces his spine as straight as it can possibly go.

“Mister Chekov.” Spock tips his head a fraction of an inch and acknowledges him calmly. His voice sounds no different from the way he would address anyone else on the crew, but Pavel is still afraid to look him in the eye for too long and face what he’s seen in his nightmares.

Resentment. Blame. Anger.

“Is everything all right, Ensign?” Pavel swallows and forces himself to look up. It’s only now that he notices Spock is not in full uniform—he’s in black instead of science blue—and he looks perfectly relaxed with his hands clasped behind his back.

But he knows—it was a lie, then, just like his own. He remembers the mask of calm dissolving in the fire of explosive rage and how helpless the captain was when caught in it. He feels that same fury directed at him and he needs a minute to find his voice.

After a long pause, he answers, “You are not asleep. Sir.”

Spock lifts a brow. “No. Nor are you.” Pavel shakes his head and Spock continues, “You may join me if you do not have other arrangements. I am—amenable to the idea of company.”

He doesn’t elaborate any further. Pavel shuffles in place, momentarily stunned by the Commander’s easy invitation. He shouldn’t want anything to do with him. His guilt is written all over his face—the Commander should not want to spend time with the man responsible for the loss of his mother. It doesn’t add up.

The words he hasn’t said yet are eating a hole through his chest. In his nightmares, he never has the chance, but he can do it now, he can apologise, and he’ll understand if he blames him, he is well within his right t—

“Ensign.” Pavel’s thoughts come to a screeching halt. “Chekov.” Spock’s brows knit themselves together and a stone drops in Pavel’s stomach. Unless Spock used the telepathic abilities inherent to Vulcans to pick up on his thoughts, he hadn’t just thought all that—he said it out loud.

“Sir, I-I’m so sorry. I—”

“Come with me,” Spock says, less an invitation and more an order. “There are things we must discuss. Allow me to preface this with the following: I harbour no resentment towards you for what happened.”

[vinceaddams]

Any tips on learning to make buttonholes? I've been putting it off for.... *checks notes* like three years.... but better late than never and all that. I don't have any fancy machines so I gotta do it by hand but that seems right up your alley.

Thanks!

It IS up my alley, yes, I do most of my buttonholes by hand!

I'm actually part way through filming an 18th century buttonhole tutorial, but I expect it'll be a few more weeks before I finish that and put it on the youtubes, so in the meantime here's the very very short version. (The long version is looking like it'll probably be about 40 minutes maybe, judging by how much script I've written compared to my last video?)

Mark your line, a bit longer than your button is wide. I usually use a graphite mechanical pencil on light fabrics, and a light coloured pencil crayon on dark ones. (I have fabric pencils too, but they're much softer and leave a thicker line.) You may want to baste the layers together around all the marked buttonholes if you're working on something big and the layers are shifty and slippery. I'm not basting here because this is just a pants placket.

Do a little running stitch (or perhaps a running backstitch) in fine thread around the line at the width you want the finished buttonhole to be. This holds the layers of fabric together and acts as a nice little guide for when you do the buttonhole stitches.

Cut along the marked line using a buttonhole cutter, or a woodworking chisel. Glossy magazines are the best surface to put underneath your work as you push down, and you can give it a little tap with a rubber mallet if it's not going through all the way.

I'm aware that there are some people who cut their buttonholes open using seam rippers, and if any of them are reading this please know that that is abhorrent behaviour and I need you to stop it immediately. Stop it.

Go get a buttonhole cutter for 10 bucks and your life will be better for it. Or go to the nearest hardware store and get a little woodworking chisel. This includes machine buttonholes, use the buttonhole cutter on them too. If you continue to cut open buttonholes with a seam ripper after reading this you are personally responsible for at least 3 of the grey hairs on my head.

Do a whipstitch around the cut edges, to help prevent fraying while you work and to keep all those threads out of the way. (For my everyday shirts I usually do a machine buttonhole instead of this step, and then just hand stitch over it, because it's a bit faster and a lot sturdier on the thin fabrics.)

I like to mark out my button locations at this point, because I can mark them through the holes without the buttonhole stitches getting in the way.

For the actual buttonhole stitches it's really nice if you have silk buttonhole twist, but I usually use those little balls of DMC cotton pearl/perle because it's cheap and a good weight. NOT stranded embroidery floss, no separate strands! It's got to be one smooth twisted thing!

Here's a comparison pic between silk buttonhole twist (left) and cotton pearl (right). Both can make nice looking buttonholes, but the silk is a bit nicer to work with and the knots line up more smoothly.

I've actually only used the silk for one garment ever, but am going to try to do it more often on my nicer things. I find the cotton holds up well enough to daily wear though, despite being not ideal. The buttonholes are never the first part of my garments to wear out.

I cut a piece of about one arm's length more or less, depending on the size of buttonhole. For any hole longer than about 4cm I use 2 threads, one to do each side, because the end gets very frayed and scruffy by the time you've put it through the fabric that many times.

I wax about 2cm of the tip (Not the entire thread. I wax the outlining/overcasting thread but not the buttonhole thread itself.) to make it stick in the fabric better when I start off the thread. I don't tend to tie it, I just do a couple of stabstitches or backstitches and it holds well. (I'm generally very thorough with tying off my threads when it comes to hand sewing, but a buttonhole is basically a long row of knots, so it's pretty sturdy.)

Put the needle through underneath, with the tip coming up right along that little outline you sewed earlier. And I personally like to take the ends that are already in my hand and wrap them around the tip of the needle like so, but a lot of people loop the other end up around the other way, so here's a link to a buttonhole video with that method. Try both and see which one you prefer, the resulting knot is the same either way.

Sometimes I can pull the thread from the end near the needle and have the stitch look nice, but often I grab it closer to the base and give it a little wiggle to nestle it into place. This is more necessary with the cotton than it is with the silk.

The knot should be on top of the cut edge of the fabric, not in front of it.

You can put your stitches further apart than I do if you want, they'll still work if they've got little gaps in between them.

Keep going up that edge and when you get to the end you can either flip immediately to the other side and start back down again, or you can do a bar tack. (You can also fan out the stitches around the end if you want, but I don't like to anymore because I think the rectangular ends look nicer.)

Here's a bar tack vs. no bar tack sample. They just make it look more sharp, and they reinforce the ends.

For a bar tack do a few long stitches across the entire end.

And then do buttonhole stitches on top of those long stitches. I also like to snag a tiny bit of the fabric underneath.

Then stick the needle down into the fabric right where you ended that last stitch on the corner of the bar tack, so you don't pull that corner out of shape, and then just go back to making buttonhole stitches down the other side.

Then do the second bar tack once you get back to the end.

To finish off my thread I make it sticky with a bit more beeswax, waxing it as close to the fabric as I can get, and then bring it through to the back and pull it underneath the stitches down one side and trim it off.

In my experience it stays put perfectly well this way without tying it off.

Voila! An beautiful buttonholes!

If you want keyhole ones you can clip or punch a little rounded bit at one end of the cut and fan your stitches out around that and only do the bar tack at one end, like I did on my 1830's dressing gown.

(I won't do that style in my video though, because they're not 18th century.)

Do samples before doing them on a garment! Do as many practice ones as you need to, it takes a while for them to get good! Mine did not look this nice 10 years ago.

Your first one will probably look pretty bad, but your hundredth will be much better!

Edit: Video finished!

And here's the blog post, which is mostly a slightly longer version of this post.

[wanderingblindly]

HI BABY 🫶🏻 welcome back from the mines of Migraine

may i please please pretty please request a directors cut of too close to touch? literally anything you want to talk about, i shall be seated

i love yooouuuu! x

thank you for welcoming me back to the land of the living, happy to be here etc etc

even HAPPIER to talk about this fic, lowkey I love Too Close To Touch and it was a haze of an experience lol

Some Backstory

Ok so this fic definitely partially came about because my goal for 2024, creatively speaking, is to stop telling myself I don't have the skills to finish certain ideas. Even if I don't execute them perfectly, I still want to push myself to put something together and get even an inch closer to learning how to make something I'll be happy with. This fic came about with that goal in mind.

I'm bad at writing kissing.

I will write an entire fic with kissing as the premise.

This makes perfect sense.

Most of my fics start with my fixating on one very specific scene. Or maybe even a fraction of a scene, a specific mannerism in one conversation. For this fic, the thing my brain latched on to was that moment in a makeout session where you're like.... you're not even really actively kissing anymore, you're just kind of breathing each other in with this open-mouthed desperation like you can't bear to separate yourselves.

So yes. A fic about kissing, and a fic about kissing that devolves into like, talking against each other's lips and breathing each other in. Sane.

My Favorite Lines

And Lando breaks. He breaks loud and hard. His hands fly to Oscar's hips, strong fingers digging in and forcing him down onto his lap with a punched out moan. "Fuck, Osc, I need –" Oscar's hands are already grasping both sides of his head, bringing their mouths together without a hint of delicacy, swallowing his words whole.

As I've mentioned before, I'm not able to see things in my head at all. Tragic. But when I wrote this bit, the immediacy of their movements played like a sound in my head; it's like I could hear the how quickly Oscar grabbed Lando's head, the sound of them pulling themselves together in the blink of an eyes.

Idk, I really loved how I conveyed the urgent pace here, I think.

"Cheater." Lando smiles, and Oscar's lips are back on his before he can get in another word. It's messy. Their mouths are open like they want to devour one another whole, far passed the stage of anything soft. Hell, beyond the point of anything even remotely appealing. It's sloppy, more hungry than sensual – Lando feels like he's trying to breathe him in, like he's trying to taste every piece of him.

This is the thesis. This is the feeling that I wrote this fic to describe, which doesn't always go according to plan. However!!! In this instance I think I nailed it.

In it's blushed innocence, its warm chasteness, it almost felt like a first kiss. He runs his clean fingers over his lips, chapped and sore. Oscar's face burns.

And finally, I thought the ending -- especially for a shoddily thrown together oneshot at 3am -- came together nicely. The shift in tone, the implication that Lando has more delicate feelings than we just saw, was an unexpectedly sweet ending that felt very... them. Like, of course these two idiots would need an excuse to make out on Lando's bed for god knows how long even though they wanted to do it the entire time. Losers. Love 'em though!

[saltydkdan]

Salty, may I ask which you recommend more: the one piece manga or anime. I wanna get into it but I also want a recommendation on which one may be better to start with depending on the pros and cons. Anyways I apologies if this is a dumb thing to ask.

Sure! One Piece is a really interesting beast when it comes to the difference between it's anime and manga, and at the end of the day it depends on your preferences- However yes, there are Pros and Cons to each! For this ask, I'll be trying my best to stick to the Official options available to you.

Also, this post specifically will be about how to best GET INTO the series, not necessarily a critique on the content of it! (I'll gladly do a separate write up on that eventually if anyone is interested in my thoughts on the Pros and Cons of the series itself)

Anyway, here are my personal thoughts:

MANGA

(This is my preferred way to experience the story)

PROS

-I'm not a manga purist by any means HOWEVER, the One Piece Manga is really good

-The pacing is really great (especially initially). In the first half, arcs are very quick and snappy! And even as they got progressively longer in length I didn't mind because by that point the story already gripped me.

-The art is wonderful in both black and white, and the official colored scans (which you can find online)

-This isn't really a "pro" per say, but it's something I enjoy doing. When I read, I like to put on some of the soundtrack from the anime. I usually find stuff like "Tense One Piece Music" or "Emotional One Piece Music" and listen to it as I read. It really enhances the experience for me personally. I also like to look up clips of arcs from the anime that I'm reading or already finished to see what they look like, and also see them in a fun new way. I feel like this sort of mixed approach is optimal for me.

CONS

-You have to read 😔

-There are many ways to read One Piece and in many different languages. There's black and white and colored manga- however just be careful. The best one TRANSLATION wise is the official release, and while you may find other options, some older "unofficial" translations are VERY outdated (I once saw one where Zoro casually dropped slurs)

-That also being said: Even though the official translation is the best, it is stuck in black and white. Many official colored scans were never officially licensed in English, and because of that aren't as accessible.

-Collecting it physically is fun, but can get VERY pricey. Like... hoo boy. Thankfully they sell compendiums that collect a metric shit ton of chapters, however the paper/print quality is noticeably cheaper. So if you want to collect them, the smaller volume releases are the way to go. That being said, I would just suggest using the Shonen Jump App by Viz Media. It's the best official way to support the series officially, as well as the cheapest for the average consumer! $3 a month for the entire library as well as other series + getting new chapters updated every week is great. I'm not sponsored or anything either, I just really like the model. So if you find yourself really enjoying the series, THEN you can go about collecting it physically if you want!

ANIME

PROS

-It's animated (obviously)

-You have a choice of either the Japanese Sub or English Dub. This also boils down to preference but from my experience they're both great options!!

-I'll get into it in the "Cons" section, but the One Piece anime is VERY long, like... kind of in a not so good way at certain points. However, I've heard that even though some parts are a bit too long, it's one of those things that if you really get into it, you'll love the fact that it feels like a never ending adventure! Not my experience, but it's what others have told me!

-This is gonna sound crazy, but Filler Arcs. A lot of people don't like these, and I get why, but they are very easily skippable if you want to look up a guide, and some of them can actually be really short and fun (as well as add a bit of extra flavor to the story). One of the best examples is an arc called "G-8". Even Manga readers recommend it, so you know it's good and gives each of the characters some fun moments!

CONS

-You may be aware already, but the One Piece anime has a very bad reputation of having HORRIBLE pacing. Now, to be fair, many people say that the pacing only gets truly horrible AFTER a very specific arc about halfway through the series (which is where a lot of anime watchers jump ship to the manga)

However, I'll be honest... I wasn't a super huge fan of the pacing from the beginning. To clarify, I STARTED with the anime. I don't have a super great attention span, so having to wait around 38 or so episodes for "Arlong Park", the arc that people suggest you get to before deciding whether to keep going or quit, was very difficult for me at first. I got through it, and I'm glad I did, but as soon as I did, I decided to switch over to the manga and had a much easier time.

-I find the show's music very repetitive at times. That's not to say the music is necessarily bad, I love the One Piece OST! It's just... over the years they have barely updated the soundtrack. Every arc you might here one or two new tracks, however a lot of the time you'll hear the same tracks replayed in the same sort of situations. ("OVERTAKEN" is an AMAZING track, but if I hear it one more time I'm gonna snap)

-This is a bit of a nitpick but I need to say it. One Piece's sound effects, while iconic, are also extremely outdated. When you start the series and hear the older-styled Toei Animation sound design, it is super charming because it fits with the older visuals. However in more modern One Piece, which visually looks incredible, THEY STILL USE THE OLD SOUND EFFECTS AND THEY JUST DON'T FIT.

TOEI, UPDATE YOUR SOUND LIBRARY!!!

ANYWAY...

Anyway, I hope my funny little list here helps!! Sorry it's so long, went a bit off the handle. But I think this is a fine enough starter guide and may help you get started!

[tigerdrachin]

I HAVE DONE IT

I'M FREE

Ok, what the fuck is going on? Well in a post from like a few months (its been like... a year and a half at this point) ago I rambled about NYs character being inconsistent at best with how often he changes between outfits and the characterization always changing slightly with it.

So I decided to make a character deep dive for him out of boredom (oh past me I envy you) , I know Ben did not intend for the characters to have very in depth personalities, it's just a fun thing I noticed and wanted to talk about.

I have rewatched all the videos NY appears in (yes all of them. twice. took ages) and my suspicions have just gotten stronger, so here I will present to you everything I pulled from the video canon, which is the only thing I will be pulling from.

I also can't give episode names to most of my points, as sadly a chunk of my notes were lost while I was neglecting to finish this and I don't have the time to rewatch them all a third time, so if you want to know why some points are in this, ASK. I will try to provide answers (as far as my incomplete notes can provide).

Starting with the groundwork that basically started this project.

I don't think NY is NY, the state, most of the time, but more NYC posing as NY, kinda like the Austin-Texas situation just flipped with the city calling the shots while the state takes backseat, mirroring real life (as in NY being only known for NYC).

And I also don't think NYC is the only one sharing a body with NY. I think Albany and Buffalo are also there.

I will get into each of them individually in a second, but first I have to address the episode that brought me on this train of thought, which is "DC statehood"

This episode, for those who don't know, shows NY and NYC as two different entities, NYC having the classic NY look we all know, and NY wearing Bills merch from head to toe.

You may already see the problem, how could NY and NYC be the same person when we see them separated here? Well, because Ben doesn't have a consistent canon, but that isn't the point here.

The other problem with "DC statehood" is that it is an outlier, it's the only instance that doesn't fit the pattern that the rest of the episode laid out. While being an important piece of this take on a character study for NY it doesn't fit in with the rest of NY canon.

The thing is, this is not the only case where "DC statehood" doesn't fit in with the rest of the table episodes, which is why even tho it disproves this entire theory I will go on with it as the normal episodes give me enough confidence to deem this specific video as an anomaly.

I wanted to address this as its the episode that started all this (note from currents stripes: Its my theorie and I can dismiss whatever I want :P)

Now that that's settled

Every character corresponds to a few outfits that I will list. I will only do a broad overview tho for the sake of both our time.

I will go after how often they appear and the importance they seem to hold, starting off with,

NYC

NYC is the one we see the most throughout the series, he has the most appearances and is the one we associate with the character NY.

The states referred to him as NYC multiple times, but it often seems more like they are poking fun at him and aren't actually aware that he's not the actual state.

He always wears the red beanie, but his shirt often changes, he is also the one wearing the coat in the earlier episodes.

Quickfire

He does not like Chicago

Frenemies with Florida

Is the one that has a bat in his trunk

Insomnia

BIG BROTHER VIBES INTENSIFY

Is the only state we see outside the statehouse (not counting Florida man in SO Cal)

always stressed

the one doing the job interview episode

Quotes

"Good for her/him"

"That's your business"

"I don't (sleep). That's kinda my whole thing" - ´The Hot Dog Hoax´

"Because I said so." - ´The Hot Dog Hoax´

"Go play in traffic." - ´The internet bans the president´

"I'm late because I don't wanna be here" - ´The internet bans the president´

(NY, as in the state, doesnt get a whole lot of rep, but from what I have seen he is much nicer than NYC)

ALBANY

Albany, as the state capital, has the second most appearances, he pops up sporadically when something in Albany specifically happens

Albany is calmer than NYC, still an asshole, but less ready to commit violence and more verbally a dick.

Bills beanie and New York shirts or red beanie and bills jersey, it switches sometimes

Quickfire

The one with the ´don't come here list´

Gets annoyed when meetings derail, he just wants to leave. (its impressive how consistently he just.wants.to.leave.)

Big power saw TWICE

does not like Florida at all

Aroace, I think? (Based on the states walking in on you)

lets gov speak

Quotes

"What we doing here?" - ´Weekly News Recap 7/14 pt.1´

"Wouldnt it be nice if we had a big saw?"

(future stripes again: MY NOTES ARE INCOMPLETE, SORRY ALL FROM HERE IS JUST ME DOING MY BEST WITH THE MESS YOUNGER ME LEFT ME)

Buffalo

buffalo is the one I have the least information on but I thought he would still be worth mentioning

Hes the one jumping through tables tho

like thats the only reason he appears in like 3 episodes (other then one time for football(I think) but in that epsiode breaking folding tables was also mentioned)

[iciatheguardess]

Hiiii it’s meeee elsie

conflicted Elsie

Look, you know as well as I do that I love TAOCC to freaking death

but like

I may have to partially step away from it after the current arcs are over.

these goofy goobers took over my life for the last three-ish months, and while I’ve had an amazing time, it’s…caused me to neglect other parts of my life, and restrict myself more than I should when it comes to how I am on this site. I’ve stated my intention to try and branch out multiple times but I never go through with it because I just…I have things to write here! I can’t! And yeah it’s fun but sometimes I get hurt even if people don’t mean to, like, I’ve gotten legitimately ill from this once or twice.

But I feel like even trying to step away a bit is somehow abandoning all of you or betraying your trusts. I want to stay friends with you guys, but my actual life and Irlsie has to come first most of the time, because I am not JUST Elsie, if that makes any sense. Elsewhere is and was always meant to be a sona for some interaction, maybe some friendos, but nothing this…involved, because I can’t put all of my social effort onto the internet because no matter what I do, the internet is not a completely genuine place, and I’ve accepted that. There are some parts of my personality I just don’t use. You don’t really ever see calm Elsie or mental illness Elsie or sappy Elsie, maybe once or twice, and that’s intentional. This is Writing Elsie’s blog, lol, but there’s other Elsie that needs to be allowed to exist outside of the internet, and I can’t neglect her or my actual life for the sake of this.

I honestly don’t know what to do here. I love these characters on a very personal level, and have poured my heart into them, and I don’t want to straight up leave them. Even only partially separating myself seems kinda pointless because I know what happens when someone gets really behind on the lore and has to be caught up on even just a day’s events to explain why Character A looks like this now or Character B is referencing this event, etc. etc.

But there’s a point where it’s not healthy anymore. Where things reach a place where I have to admit that this can’t be my entire life anymore. And I’m not entirely sure what on earth I should do about it…

If I do somewhat step back, it’ll probably be right after the vacation arc ends. i’m gonna pour my fluff loving heart and soul into that thing, don’t you worry. But you shouldn’t expect another dungeon or something like that from me unless I have a VERY good reason and a well formulated plan. Yes, I’ll probably still engage in shippery and fluff, as well as analysis, but mostly within the bounds of characters and dynamics we’ve already established, and not much farther than that. My one exception to the “after the vacation arc” rule would probably be Yelena’s arc, because of how long things in that section tend to take, for various reasons. Yelena’s arc is barely started, and stuff takes possibly days to move even a few hours in-universe. Sooooo….yeah, I wanna finish that, I’ve put too much work into it already to just stop it.

…dang this was only supposed to be a paragraph…

…pls halp, I have no idea what to do lol.

Ok. I've read over this a couple times.

First off, I'm talking to you as L here, and not Star. I am very, very proud of you for acknowledging this and understanding that this is getting unhealthy. I think it's very smart that you dont want to neglect your yourself irl and the fact you're saying this, and saying exactly what you'll be doing, I'm really proud of it.

To give you a clear answer, if it's going to help you irl then I think stepping back is smart. Especially from the trauma and angst, because that stuff hurts a LOT and it can be really, really detrimental and negatively affect irl things. What I DONT think is that it's betraying anyone. You need to be able to put yourself and your needs first in order to be your best self, and everyone understands that you can't be on tumblr 24/7 because, well, that's really really really really unhealthy and not good. I'm really glad you're telling me about this though so I, and everyone else who sees this, knows.

TAOCC is really great but there's a LOT of heavy things on here and with everything going on, it can be super weighing and really affect people irl. I can speak from experience because honestly, I'm in a similar situation. I won't speak much about that though. It's definitely addictive and can get really really unhealthy if you let it, and honestly it's not hard to let it.

I want you to do whatever you feel is best for you, no matter what that entails. Fei and Tails and Xeya and Kumo and so many others and I love you so much and do NOT want you neglecting yourself and your life irl for this- it's meant to be entertainment, not a lifestyle.

I think it's smart to finish Yelena's Arc before partially stepping back. And I think it's even smarter to not want to do another dungeon, because that whole thing was a massive angst-fest and I think it negatively affected people more than they care to admit. Shippery and fluff and minor things is a good boundary.

I'll wrap this up now, but again, I'm in full support of this decision because I want you to be at your best. You're right, you're not just Elsie. And it's not fair for you to only be Elsie when you're so much more than that. If stepping away from tumblr will help you take care of the other parts of your life that we aren't involved in or aware of, then please do so because no part of you and your life should be sacrificed for the sake of entertainment.

Again, I'm really, really proud of you for admitting this.

Please know we'll always support you and you're super important to all of us, so don't ever feel bad for putting your needs first. Irl things should always come first.

But no matter what always remember:

WE LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH AND YOURE SUPER IMPORTANT AND WE WANT THE BEST FOR YOUUU ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Everything I said is applicable for everyone else reading this too. Taocc is fantastic and we love it but it shouldn't completely take over your life. It's okay to take a break or step back fully if it means the best for your health and irl life. Please remember to take care of yourselves- and everything that Elsie talked about here is FANTASTIC self care. It may be hard, but it's also the best decision she can make for herself and may be the best decision for others too.

Alright- I think I covered everything. Don't ever feel like you're betraying us Elsie- it's not betrayal, it's self care. We'll still be here for you, always. Never forget that ❤️❤️❤️

[devilishmango]

Kenneski [DEVLOG 5/5/2024]

Hey guys!

This isn't an update to Kenneski, but I just wanted to bring you guys a devlog so you know how things are going and what to expect. ☺️

I'm about half-way through chapter 2, which is exciting. I'm not entirely sure where the chapter is going to end up, because I only have a basic outline of how I want the entire story to go. [Yes, I know, I'm horribly disorganized 😅] So for now, I'm just kind of going with the flow, and waiting for that pivotal, important part to pop up and stuff. The good part about that, though, is that I'm not afraid to go off on different paths and stuff for you to take. I think that'll definitely be fun to play through the story multiple times to see all that you can find out in each one.

Anyway! Down to more technical stuff- I rewrote the beginning of chapter 1, and added a bunch of new coding and whatnot. So, when the time comes to play chapter 2, you will need to re-play the entire thing. But, you will definitely want to, because I've improved a lot of different parts in the first chapter!

Relationship and character-wise, you get to learn A LOT more about each RO, because you get to spend some quality time with each of them. I'm already so excited to get to the romantic parts, but I have to keep restraining myself and let the relationships develop naturally. This can't be a PWP 😂 [I mean, if you guys are interested in some PWP side-stories, I can definitely oblige you... 👀] You also get to learn a little more about MC, one thing being kind of a major spoiler so I can't say anything about it for now. You'll just have to wait to find out about it when I upload the demo!

SO! Speaking of uploading the demo: I'm hoping to have chapter 2 finished by the beginning of June... But it may reach towards the middle of June. It all depends on how much writing I can get done THIS month. 🥲

Anyway, that's all I have for now! I'll hopefully get you the update next month. See you guys then!

CURRENT WORD COUNT: 30,635 45,440 [+14,805]

Also, as promised, there's a little sneak peak under the cut!

With a quick glance back at the door, I make sure no one is watching before I quickly pick up the little dagger and hold it in my good hand, feeling the weight and cold metal against my palm. Then, I realize that I have no idea how I’m going to keep this weapon hidden away in my sleeve without it falling out… That is, until I see a few pieces of thin rope lying on the floor.  Deftly, I pick the rope up and place the cold dagger against my left arm, careful of the stitches. Then, after some finessing, I’m able to wrap the rope around my arm a few times, before tying the ends into a knot with the help of my free hand and teeth. After I pull my sleeve down, I can feel a sigh of relief escape my lungs when I realize that the sleeves are //just// loose enough that the dagger is unnoticeable. Feeling rather proud of myself, and a little reassured that I now have a weapon, I continue my search of the storage closet.  Farther into the storage closet, I can barely see anything except for vague silhouettes on the wall. There seems to be some sort of handle, but I’m unsure what it’s connected to. Is it another door? Why would there be a separate entrance to this storage closet? Where does it go?  I stumble my way into the dark, my good arm out to guide me, before I suddenly stop dead in my tracks. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as a cold breeze drifts through the storage closet, bringing along //something else//… A feeling. A feeling that I’m being watched.  Looking around is pointless, as I can’t see much of anything. But that means I’m unsure if there’s actually someone in this closet with me, or if I’m just being paranoid. And if I can’t see my surroundings, how do I know if it’s safe to retreat?  Something catches my attention- a small movement in the back corner of the storage room. I squint my eyes, trying to see into the inky blackness… only to realize that I’m staring at a //figure//. Whoever this figure is, it’s hard to see them clearly. They must be wearing dark clothes since they blend into the darkness so well…

[unmeritedunearnedundeserved]

A LAW OF ATTRACTION ANALOGY ABOUT JOSEPH PRINCE'S TEACHINGS

In prison I read Pastor Joseph Princes book Unmerited Favor.

I didn't realize that this book by a Christian Pastor would be the GREATEST BOOK ON THE LAW OF ATTRACTION I HAD EVER READ.

Now, I had to read it allegorically and not literally for it to make sense. Yes, even from a literal standpoint it was a great book. But from a symbolic and metaphorical perspective, this helped the Law of Attraction come alive for me!

And so today I'm going to take one of Joseph's sentences from Unmerited Favor and I'm going to translate it for you all allegorically.

May this truly bless you because this will blow your mind.

"You cannot add to Jesus' sacrifice nor can you deserve His favor by depending on your obedience to the law." (Page 119 of Unmerited Favor by Joseph Prince)

You cannot add to the sacrifice which your consciousness has made for your present conditions.

The finished works of the Law of Attraction cannot be added unto. For the simple fact that they are finished works.

When you think that you are at Point A and that the works are not finished, this causes you to feel the need to deserve the favor or manifestation. It now becomes a matter of your performance to GET THERE, since in your mind you are NOT THERE yet.

And so this is the psychology behind "massive and immediate action" or aggressive action towards one's goals.

One acts aggressively to try to achieve and get to Point B because they are in lack of Point B.

This premise of course comes from the evidence of their senses.

My senses tell me I'm at Point A, that I have opposition, that there are people and causes and forces against me, hindering me and slowing me down.

But that is only the apparent facts. There is a much greater unapparent truth.

The "facts" say one thing, but the principle of your consciousness says another.

The facts tell you you're undeserving and that things don't come to you because you have not upheld a specific standard of behavior and performance by which others label as "deserving".

What I want to share with you today is that this concept of "deservability" is entirely made up! It's different for everyone! Completely subjective and subject to change.

We make up the concept of deservability and then subject ourselves to it as if it were an objective external law.

All because we want to feel deserving and powerful and valuable enough to "get to" the "Point B" (manifestation) we feel ourselves not to be at yet.

The idea to remember is this. In principle, by the very nature of your consciousness and this concept widely know as the Law of Attraction, YOU ALREADY HAVE YOUR DESIRE.

Your deservability had nothing to do with it. Your qualifications had nothing to do with it. Your behavior has nothing to do with it. This is the real "fact".

The apparent facts are illusions. Projections of your consciousness. Laws that are not inherently real but that one subjects themselves to by their belief and feeling that they are real.

This is why the one who doesn't understand the Law of Attraction never advances themselves. This is why all that they try to do is met with resistance and sabotage. They are still trying to get to a place where they already are.

Your desire is real. Your desire is here. There is no separation from you and Point B, though the evidence of your senses deny it.

Reject the appearances. Utterly and completely deny any idea that there is an external cause of force that can prevent what you are aware of being from coming to you.

This is a LAW, a natural law of the universe that does not bend nor break. You cannot break this law, you can only break yourself against this law.

And those who deny the reality of the Law of Attraction are not spared from the harmful effects in their life that comes from the transgression of this principle.

One way to completely tell if you are violating the Law of Attraction's principles is if you believe in a concept of value, external power, or deservability. For yourself or another.

For if you place another under the burden of having to meet a requirement in order to manifest their desire, then you are really placing yourself under the same law. And the covenant of deservability is definitely no covenant you want to be a part of. You will fail everytime and meet with the crushing standards or every act of yours being highly scrutinized and evaluated.

People will say they understand you when they really mean "I understand what's wrong with you".

And so, elect yourself to fall under a new covenant. One of grace and unmerited favor. In which you say "I know I don't deserve this. I know I haven't earned or merited this and that I don't have the right qualifications. I haven't performed and I haven't done right and I've made mistakes. But thankfully, today, I know that because of the Law of Attraction, I am not blessed because I am good, I'm blessed because the Law of Attraction is good. I'm not blessed because I'm deserving, I'm blessed because the Law of Attraction deserving for me."

"I have no ability or deservability to get to Point B. Buy my consciousness literally IS Point B. My consciousness in principle is the fulfilled manifestation of all things in every area of need or want."

Enter into this consciousness and you will see tremendous favor and manifestations unfold in every area of your life. And it will all happen by grace, that is, in unmerited, unearned and undeserved ways.

For as being one with the First Cause, the source and substance of all things, you are entirely deserving, fully righteous, invaluable and all powerful. Nothing can stop the manifestation of your desires, for you as consciousness are a direct beneciary of an ENDLESS stream of unmerited favor and well being.

For Example: For many years I had been looking for my sister. My father adopted me when I was one and my biological father continued to have many kids. I didn't find out about my biological father until I was 13. And so at 13 I met my younger sister for the first time.

I immediately fell in love with her. She was so small and cute and sweet. And my instinctual bigger brother instincts kicked in and told me to love, protect and honor her at all costs.

I saw her one more time when I was 17. But unfortunately as happenstance would have it I went to prison for nearly 8 years and lost all contact with her.

For many years I had thought about reconnecting with her and finding out where she is. But every attempt to find her was met with resistance. I just didn't have the resources to do it.

Years went by, and in those years I had visualized myself finding her. Reconnecting and telling her about my desire to support her and rebuild a brotherly and sisterly connection.

Unfortunately, my time in prison was an uphill battle. Not externally, but internally. It was the greatest challenge of my life to come to a belief that I could still expect or be deserving of good things to happen to me, in spite of my mistakes, in spite of me completely blowing it, in spite of my behavior and poor performance, and in spite of letting others down.

But by grace, I "wasn't alone". It seemed as if in the moment that I felt most defeated and undeserving, that's when a tremendous manifestation would happen. Total unmerited favor. Completely Undeserved. It was as if the universe told me "I haven't forgotten about you. You can still have a good life. You can still rebuild. It's not over. I can still use you. You can and will still accomplish your dreams and be of service to innumerable amounts of people". And while it was difficult to maintain this consciousness. I persisted in doing what I felt was right. Reading another book. Creating another analogy. Sharing the Law of Attraction with another person, even if externally they were completely undeserving of it.

And finally the day came. A manifestation which I had completely "forgotten about", when my brother had told me that he had gone to the gym and found a man there who he had gone to school with when he was younger.

He sparked up a conversation with this man and during their talk, it suddenly occured to my brother than perhaps he may know my sister because they had gone to the same high school.

The man said "oh yea! I know her", and proceeded to give my brother her information. Turns out she had a social media name we could have never guessed.

My brother immediately reached out to her and explained that I was in prison and that I had been looking for her for years. Also telling her of my desire to reconnect.

My sister responded "Of course! Tell him to call me!"

And a week or so later I was now talking to my beloved sister who had been gone for so so long.

When my brother told me he found her. I couldn't believe it and I was overwhelmed with emotion. I cried and cried and cried. For this was one of the most important of manifestations to me.

My sister and I reconnected and now speak regularly. And what was once a vision in my mind has entirely materialized.

But I want you to notice something. Notice the principle.

I didn't go after it. This happened unexpectedly. Organically. In an entirely effortless way.

Imagine the factors that had to align. Infinite factors that I in and of my own human strength could never influence.

And yet the "universe" did it effortlessly.

My brother told me this man had NEVER gone to the gym. That the meeting was entirely random and unexpected.

That's what I want to point out to everyone.

You have so much favor on your life that the universe is literally doing backflips to bring you your hearts desires.

You are so highly "graced" that you have absolutely no idea what is ready to be released unto you upon you returning to the awareness of your oneness with all things and awareness of there being NO SECOND CAUSE.

As some would label it, this manifestation came to me when I least deserved it. I haven't earned it. I want qualified for it. I didn't have any boyscout merit badges to boast about to show myself and others my deservability.

I was just.. existing. Doing absolutely nothing. In a state of rest and blissful indifference. (And not even that most of the time!)

And out of the blue with the full force of how the universe manifests, suddenly the breakthrough occured. Suddenly I was shown favor I didn't deserve. Suddenly I manifested in spite of everyone disagreeing that I should manifest, and in spite of even MYSELF disagreeing that I should manifest.

And so this is my message for you my friend. You've disqualified yourself long enough from your manifestations. You've derived a sense of value and power from the external world long enough.

You've felt that value, power, deservability, security and completeness is to be acquired externally. You've felt yourself at Point A and needed to collect merits to deserve Point B.

I'm here to tell you friend. YOU ARE POINT B.

You are inherently valuable. You are inherently powerful. You are inherently deserving.

Nothing external can add an ounce of value or power to who and what you are.

The evidence of your senses lie to you. You lack nothing. You are all things. You are not subject to the "karma" of your mistakes. There is a law higher than karma and it is the Law of Attraction.

I encourage you to allow my words to sink deeply into your consciousness and see for yourself that not only are you deserving, but that ALL people are deserving. Because of the mere fact that they ARE consciousness and the Law of Attraction ceaselessly works for them.

If you give yourself unmerited favor (grace), you will effortlessly extend it to others.

Tap into your inheritance. Tap into the favor that is yours. I can attest to the fact that you wouldn't believe how highly favored you are in this world. You wouldn't believe the manifestations ready to unfold and be released to you.

But the way to tap into it isn't by your works or merits. It's by your focus. It's by your AWARENESS. A slight shift in "consciousness".

Elect to come under grace and not under law, depend on the universe's unwavering goodness. Not your wavering goodness and performance.

And you too will see restoration, health, wealth, provision, influence, love, power, your divine destiny and all the desires of your heart manifest with perfect ease and absolutely no effort, works or external deservability required on your behalf.

[ilthit]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @keirgreeneyes

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 

Not counting orphaned or anonymized, 297.

2. What's your total A03 word count?

803,155 words, and that includes co-author input. I've been a short fic, instant satisfaction kinda writer for most of this time.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently trying to finish something for Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, and editing the epic Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades campaign story with @minutia-r. I get really into a fandom and write a bunch for it, then I get out of the fandom and write whatever + original fiction, then maybe get into a different fandom. You know how it is.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Bonus Material, The Makings of Fate, One Thing or Another, The Upstart King and His Golden Concubine, and Some Sugar for Daddy, all of them Scum Villain. It's definitely the biggest fandom I've written for recently. I used to write Discworld and LotR, which are bigger, but those are mostly not up on AO3 and none are very long.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I usually do, especially for smaller fandom fics, not always. But even if I don't, I see and appreciate; I also see and appreciate the kudos. No pressure to comment, y'all.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I have written a fair bit with angsty endings. Maybe The Greyest Timeline (Community); or maybe it just felt angsty, because I wrote it to process my grief over Troy and Abed's separation. Also there may be some I anonymized... but that's my business.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

What a question. 🤔 I'm not sure I can answer that one. I recognize a lot may have more mixed endings, but there are too many to think through.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Rarely. I can't remember an incident right now.

9. Do you write smut?

Yeah.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not as a rule. My favourite of the few currently up is The Last Florentian, a crossover between Poirot and Jeeves & Wooster, in which Lady Florence and Miss Lemon fall in love.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Sometimes ones I really didn't think deserved it, but it's not up to me, is it? I always give permission.

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

Hehe yeah, the Lin Moniao series, which grew out of TTRPG.

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

Pass!

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

Original works. My 60s LA gumshoe novel, the superhero comedy that in retrospect is probably not as funny as I thought it was.

16. What are your writing strengths?

🤔 Side characters with interiority. Ability to keep an entire world in my head, and invent on the spot. Flexibility. Sense of the shape of a story. Not getting too hung up on whether what I produce is popular (so I don't write stuff I don't care about just for the clicks, or get distressed if I get none).

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Losing motivation in the middle of writing longer fic. Underthinking. Messy. Unable to edit effectively due to having lost interest. Self-indulgent ficlets that are more me speaking my thoughts out than anything designed for an audience. Piling my plate too high when I get excited for challenges. Occasionally I have to take a break in the Pit of Despair.

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

Usually not necessary. Fine if you like it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Not entirely sure. It was either Dragonlance or Ranma 1/2. Neither will be on AO3.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

If the Lin Moniao series counts as a fic, then it's the Lin Moniao series.

Has everybody been tagged? tagging uhhh @minutia-r

[dairy-farmer]

So I've recently made a new AO3 account (completely separate from my main one, different email and everything lmao) bc I want to start writing porn, and I was wondering if I could have your permission to use some of your asks as like, prompts or ideas? Especially ones that were my own (this is PP!Tim Anon btw, and I've sent in. A lot of asks without signing them off as that, like I could make an entire list and it would probably hit double digits of which asks you've gotten that were mine lmao)!! I would ofc credit you and your blog! I don't know how to imbed links to the individual asks (I'll still try but I can't promise anything lmao), but I'll at least mention your Tumblr name and AO3 account!

I really wanna try my hand at some random, filthy oneshots without a bunch of world building or context, bc that's something I tend to get hung up on in my writing, and I wanna stick to some short and sweet smut oneshots about Tim being a pregnant, underage nympho slut, or a puppy factory, or a cocksleeve for the rogues of Gotham and their goons, all that good stuff!!

On that thought tho, do you have any pieces of advice for like, consistent writing, or motivation to write? Bc that's my biggest struggle tbh is sitting down to start writing. Usually once I start I can churn out a couple thousand words in one sitting, but I gotta start first, ya know? Any words of wisdom would mean a lot ❤️❤️❤️

answered out of order:

yes of course❤️❤️❤️!!!!!!!!!!!! you don't believe how happy that makes me to hear!!!! so many of the asks i get sent are just so brilliant and well done and it would make me so beyond happy to know people started writing or got inspired to write out their ideas!!! and i'm sure that people who submitted other posts you get inspiration from would love to see others expand further on their asks ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!!

one shots are a really great way to really get back into a sort of groove of writing because it can be shorter, the plot may be not as dense or complex as something from a multichap (though you can also write VERY long one shots that are incredibly detailed too), and it can be mainly composed of "fun" writing in the sense that you don't have to do buildup for bigger things like you would in longer multichaps or those that are heavily plot driven. i totally get struggling to get motivation to write, for me it was always like i had to wait for my brain to be turned "on" or in a working mode for me to get any writing for my fics done which meant it usually only happened when i was studying for exams or doing projects for school. however for me that meant when i was in the 'off season' like breaks from school it meant that even though i had time, i no longer had motivation to write. that's something i'm still working to break myself out of and i think one think that is pretty effective is thinking of a scene or piece of dialogue i'm excited to write and look forward to getting to so it motivates to write to reach it. that works sometimes, other times i think of a reward i'll get myself once i finally finish. something like candy or some snack or food i don't often get or go out of my way to get. and another thing that works for me sometimes is basically planning the fic, for a short one shot the major bullet points of what happen would be a short list and so it would pretty much trick your brain into thinking 'wow a short task list i can do all of these pretty quickly/complete them without too much hassel or procrastination!'.

ultimately i think writing one shots takes a lot of pressure off since as a single chapter there's basically no further commitment needed like it would during a multi chapter fic which can be very relieving for people who get easily stressed or pressured by commitments with no hard deadline.

im very happy to hear you'll be expanding on your tim ideas and look forward to them!!!!!! also if you need any help with embedding on aow the reference collection on ao3 is really helpful and its where i learned to embed links with this tutorial ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[kollector-of-stims]

Do you think you could do a tour of your stim toys and where you got them from? :D

This sounded super fun, so YES! I just finished taking all the pictures and I'm ready to start! Here is all I'm going through, and for the tour itself begins....under the cut!😁🙌

In each image is labeled the place I got them from for all that I can remember. Also, I categorized them to the best of my ability!

First, we have: Various Absentminded Toys

A few of my favorite tools are here! And we even have cheap cat toys...Anyway, the favorites are definitely my precious infinity cube from Walmart, fidget cube from an old and now hard-to-find (or deleted) $5 and under stim toy post, and articulated octopus from Books A Million! Also some shots other than this one have stuff from Stimtastic...you will be missed 😣

Next category: Stretchy Toys!

The good ol' monkey noodles, funky caterpillars, other stretchy critters, and wiggly fruits and vegetables. The super realistic banana is from the tiktoker Mrs. Bench and I was mainly tempted to get one because of the YouTuber NerdECrafter 😂 Oh and also, the sand-filled carrot does NOT feel as good as the sand-filled banana, and I feel like that may be consistent.

Next category is: Articulated Fidgets!

Ok first off, I forgot to put the two from Cracker Barrel together, and same for the two from Books A Million. So, arrows. Second, I coulda put the octopus here in the first place but gathered this category later and had already taken the other picture, so I simply put it in here again! This is one of my favorite categories overall, as not only is the feel of these articulated animals good, their sound is too~ The small ones are SUPER handy since they're easier to take around!

Next up: Fidget Spinners!

Classics. Varying prongs and weights. The five pronged green one is one of the most satisfying to spin, along with the black one. The simple dimple one would honestly probably appeal more to me if simple dimples didn't hurt my fingers often (I bite my nails so, soreness). But the colors are still nice to see spin!

Next in line: Fun Textures!

(I forgot to label the tiny hedgehog- it came from a quarter machine in an asian restaurant)

Quiet and nice to rub my fingers across (or hold tightly as is the case with the alien). The purple piece up there with the green textures may look kinda weird, and its because it's a piece of a larger toy, an asmr fidget cube. It was my favorite side, so I separated it from the entire thing🤣. Also, the rainbow textured strip has suction cups along the bottom.

Next group: Putties!

I definitely favor putties over slime, mostly cause of texture and less mess. Simple silly putty eggs serve their purpose well, and so does crazy arins, but those can be hard to get out of their containers, and as a result, my super scarab putty is in a small jar instead!

Next: Visual Water Toys!

ERROR: THE SHARK CAME FROM FIVE BELOW, NOT BOOKS A MILLION)

The shark....Oooooh the shark...And the hourglass came from a cheap fidget toy box with like a pack of 30 (like some in previous images as well) but unfortunately due to little use, it's been growing mold or something inside of it, and I'm afraid that I cant fix that..so that's a downside😭.

Next, another small category: Noise Makers!

Cool and fun pop tubes and the clicker (that honestly makes my small weak hands a bit sore after a while). The pink one was a freebie with the realistic banana, and the small one...I for the life of me can't remember where I got it. I just put Walmart cause it sounds kind of familiar.

Next and last of the small categories: Wacky Tracks and Similar!

The one from Stimtastic is my ultimate favorite of them all, and while the twittle turned out to not be as pleasing as I planned, I also noticed another kind that looked similar but had slightly different shaped joints and I'm honestly tempted to try that one too. The big one came from one of my cousins who gave it to me after I asked who's it was, and it's not bad! The cheaper ones however can be harder to clack and are more prone to pinching.

Next: Pop-its!

I guess this is a smaller category, but the toys definitely have a big impact. Another favorite of mine, especially the smaller ones! The cow is a cheaper one that came from walmart as opposed to ordered from a better brand I've seen, so its front poppers don't work, but the back ones do (The suction cups on the bottom of it are AWESOME regardless though). And the unicorn pop it ball meant a lot to me not only cause it came from the Stuckey's store my aunt is a manager of, but also because its the first pop-it ball I ever tried that I was able to pop in all poppers on!

Next category, Squishable Toys!

(Not shown are my squishy owl and penguin cause I forgot them, but they stay with me often in my handbag! I also have tons of squishies but many enough to be considered their own collection)

Stress balls of various kinds one could say. The little sticky wall-climbing balls near the top are in a plastic bag to keep them sticky, and they remind me of the larger versions I had as a kid! Splat balls are a favorite of mine that I honestly dont use enough, partially cause I dont wanna pop them, but the shark is my favorite out of this entire category as it feels like the "dehydrated" dna ball from walmart, but with that soft cover.

Second to last: Fidget Brand Toys!

Basically in my mind "toys either made by fidget specific companies or have fidget in the name" I guess. Also common fidget toys you may see specifically in the fidget toy isle in Walmart. For some reason I cant recall any of those common fidget brands right now, but I do know how they have their own exclusive section in our Walmart nearby. Then the squirkies all came from books a million, in a smaller section they had. Love them!

And lastly: Plushies!

I have TONS of plushies obviously, but the ones I'd say I "fidget" with are the cats vs pickles and my one aurora palm pal cat! Small and soft and weighted with beans fits every single one of these, and the weight, crunch, and feel are just so nice! I feel as if they're good to collect for me, and once dragon kitty comes out, I plan to find it, and I also kind of want another palm pal sometime too!

🎉AND THAT CONCLUDES MY STIM TOY TOUR!🎉

It was fun to put together, and I love showing my toys as much as I love seeing others', but if you still have questions (or anyone does), feel free to ask about anything here!

[duplicitywrites]

Tagged by @racfoam and @the-paper-monkey, thanks!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

183. Technically, I have a second separate account with archived older works that would add on top of this total. It's not really hidden, I just pretend it does not exist.

2. What's your total A03 words count?

1,693,656. Same thing as above. Some of these are from collabs, but most of it is mine.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter, exclusively at the moment.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

But For You, I Did (20,976 words)

Harry James [Redacted] (23,832 words)

Sugar, It's Cold Outside (14,548 words)

Thanks for Harry (4,313 words)

Ripples Across the Water (95,453 words)

Personally, I find the top fic to be insufferable in the position that it's at. I have any number of works that I'd consider better 😔

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try my best! Currently I'm sitting about 100+ in the hole. If your comment is nice, I will endeavour to eventually respond 💝

Some people leave a bunch of emoji comments on chapters as they go along, and in that case I usually just respond to the last one rather than each one individually.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

We Still Have Time (9,053 words)

On Samhain, the veil between the physical and spiritual world weakens enough for the living to speak with the dead for a brief period of time. Tom and Harry are graced with twenty-four hours together before one of them must return to the other side, only— Which one of them is it?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I write a lot of happy endings, but I don't think I could pick just one, or even a few.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I'll say I give as good as I get.

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

Made a pseud — pwplicity (duplicity) — just for the smut. I think my favourite genre of smut to write is smut crack.

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

Not my cup of tea.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

On Wattpad, yes.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Plenty! All the translators who I've spoken with were lovely people, and I really truly appreciate all the hard work they put into making fanfic accessible.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Most people, I hope, are familiar with The Immortal Duties of Lord Voldemort. I have collabs outside of that, most notably with @dividawrites and @cindle-writes 💘

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

I'd say this one. Older fandoms hold nostalgia for me, but I've never created as much as I have than for this ship!

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

I have a gen fic one-shot that involves terminal illness of sorts. I started it during the pandemic, and it will likely never be completed due to the overall depressing nature of the story.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I'm funny and I have creative ideas.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm a pantser. And I always have a dozen gdoc tabs open at a time because I keep starting new ideas.

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

In moderation, unless we're actively providing translations. Even so, it can break up the flow of reading if I have to dump entire paragraphs into a translator just to understand what's going on.

In certain fandoms, there may be canonical language elements that are frequently used and thus become colloquial in a way — I used to read/write in the Les Miserables fandom, so there was a lot of French.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter... so we've come full circle!

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

This is the question I hate the most because I never have a real answer. Either they're all the best, or I hate them all. Take your pick.

-

Anyone who wants to answer these, please feel free! 🎃

[beasttrash]

with twitter self imploding i thinking about shifting back here so i am cautiously starting with Some Thoughts on film red under the cut

yes!! i love the confirmation that usopp is the crew's stylist and makes their clothes. actually, i think oda might have mentioned something about usopp making t-shirts but i've also been re-reading saint young men so my wires are getting crossed, probably.

audience surrogate jinbe is great and helpful ngl. he's the only one asking the right questions and i love him for it. also?? they did just a fantastic job seamlessly adding him to the crew here. he had so many cool scenes i am so happy for him. 😭

i wanna say the most out of focus character in the movie was,,, zoro? he was. there. like he did a lot of cool things, but he didn't do a whole lot. which is fine bc i think characters like brook and usopp have been out of focus in the manga so giving them some time to shine isn't a bad thing. i honestly think the only thing zoro got out of the movie was free booze, he's happy. i'm happy.

we'll get to sanji. also zosan so do not fret i will be on brand for this.

im a dumbass who paid $25 US dollary doos for dolby digital (imax though, makes me nauseous) but holy fucking hell that was worth it, the music combined with the visuals looked so fucking Good on screen, i can't really imagine watching it on my laptop screen or even a tv. this is definitely the reason why we need theaters yet ngl.

uta gaslights the entire movie and we love her for it. i love oda's "were gonna make cute, morally ambiguous girlbosses" era

"oh no not another movie about a new character from a main character's childhood who we never met until now" actually i felt like uta's addition to the movie was a lot less contrived than sabo surviving a ship explosion, and tbf luffy is not really one to talk about his past all that much so it works for me.

most of the side characters were well intergrated into the movie with the exception of kalifa, i wish she'd done more but i guess there were already a lot of characters to organize.

im so happy they were like "brulee has such a fantastic devil fruit power we're gonna add her in here and also katakuri, sure, the people LOVE katakuri i love brulee she's so funny and my favorite charlotte sibling WEEPS

ok now we'll talk about the Boy.

sanji was a good boy

i love when sanji keeps his shit together, smooth operator sanji is such a Mood.

YES i did cry at him flirting with brulee omg that was such an adorable scene, i wish he was more flirty with older ladies like that. it feels so on brand for him to do that.

ok back in may i made a joke about sanji and zoro taking edibles in context of this movie and i didn't think there would be drugs in the film because of japan's views on illicit substances. and then uta slips sanji a shroom and i'm fuckin losing my shit. apollo pegging me with the dodgeball here.

music, violence, drugs, Woodstock 99 the anime. Anyway

i'll finish off this ramble with Zosan of course.

the pandering was so explicit i cannot believe toei made them sleep next to each other like a chaste 1950s couple with separate beds.

ok i said zoro did nothing earlier. 90 per cent of zoro's lines in the film were just him flirting with sanji and 45% of sanji's lines was him reciprocating. toei knows exactly what they are doing and its killing me.

the shoulder scene? fucking Shameless zoro. whore behavior.

imagine being anime only and watching zoro knock out a bunch of dudes with out even looking at them and sanji's leg turning into blue fire for 5 seconds. have fun wondering what that's all about.

and that 5 seconds where luffy does gear 5?? knocked my fuckin socks off

final thoughts: if i had the time i'd go watch it in theaters again. this movie?? this movie was made for me!! im sure there are a lot of flaws but personally it worked for what it was lol. 10/10.

[stobinesque]

Hi! Can you explain what your Semiotics Verse is? Eee! 🖤

Yes!! I feel like I always end up talking about it in gesture but haven't, like, info-dumped about the series as a whole ever. It was originally borne out of dual fic ideas after finishing season 4. The first one was "what if Robin coming out was Steve's gay awakening?" (which became phryctoria) and what was supposed to be an entirely separate fic idea of a 5 + 1 Steve flagging fic. Except then my rat bastard of a brain was like "what if those two things exist in the same universe and what if you write a whole series exploring queer culture and signifiers and give all of the fic titles in the main series titles based on different kinds of semaphore/telecomms/cryptographic systems" because I'm an insane person with worms for brains.

Wayfinder (my Lucas POV s4 fix-it) is technically a part of the same universe, but won't be a part of the "main" series. I had already wanted to do a season 4 rewrite that treated Lucas and Erica with more respect than the show ever lends them, and for the main 'verse I needed to work out how closely I was or wasn't hewing to canon, so Wayfinder will basically establish where the universe is diverging from canon while allowing me to focus on Lucas, my best boy. I may end up writing bits and pieces of that Season 4 rewrite from other POVs eventually, because I'm planning to change a lot about how the events of Vol 2 go, and only some of those things will really be visible from a Lucas POV, but Wayfinder is my baby.

The series as a whole will mostly be Steve-centric, with a heavy Stobin focus, along with some Steddie. A lot of stuff post-flag the play is still a little up in the air and is constantly changing, but the idea is that the series as a whole will explore queer culture and community in Indianapolis + found family dynamics.

Series features (things in italics subject to change):

Will and Steve gay bonding

potential byler?

Slutty!Steve

leather

AIDS Activist + Sex shop worker & Sex Educator + Queer Youth shelter volunteer Steve (the boy is doing too much)

They're [Steddie] switches, bitches! (in both sense of the word)

awkward Rockie flirting

Smithie!Robin

an epistolary Stobin fic

NoHo Pride

Robin & Nancy east coast bonding

Lavender marriage/queerplatonic Stobin

so many OCs

Steddie + Rockie and/or Ronance duplex living

Steve's six little nuggets [exact kid count subject to change]

The 90s

queer intimacy + non-monogamy

info-dumping about queer history

no seriously i have an annotated bibliography planned and a whole Notion database of research

demiromantic lesbian Nancy Wheeler

Edancy bonding

Steve and Robin Share A Gender

[doubleddenden]

Anxiety is rampage tonight, so it is time to hyperfocus on pokemon

Specifically I'm going to be thinking about the next 3 years of the franchise. It's long, so you're welcome for the read more

I know pretty much 90% of the fans want them to slow down (with 9% wanting them to stop all together and 1% wanting more games of lower quality, which yes is a take I've seen (source for these numbers: me I made to those numbers but it feels accurate yknow?)).

That being said, we know Game Freak are stubborn. In fact, TPC has said, on record, they want to maintain their cadence of releases while "ensuring quality."

So if nothing is changing in terms of pace of release, then oh well, all we can do is wait for more releases and judge from there.

But with that knowledge out of the way, let's get talking.

I'm gonna make a radical prediction. Gen 9 is going to last 4 years rather than the usual 3. SV released in 22, and guess when the 30th anniversary is?

2026.

Now here's the thing. They COULD drop gen 10 in 2025 on regular schedule and drop dlc in 2026. But let me ask this: would that be AS profitable? My take is that Pokémon has succeeded because of genius marketing strategies and timed releases, so the 30th anniversary, being a huge year for them, would probably boast much better profits by dropping a new generation, which would also give them an extra year to develop the game.

Let's also keep this in mind: the Switch 2 is almost upon us. It's not in the wild yet, but devs have been talking about getting dev kits for a while, they've been talking about ps4 level specs or close to it, and how they want it to be an easy transfer from Switch 1 owners to Switch 2- name not final obviously.

If that's not enough, there was a very accurate leak regarding Indigo Disk a few months back on 4chan that stated they were working with a new system for performance tweaks.

So basically what I'm getting at is that by 2026 we will have the Switch 2 or Switch U or whatever, and gen 10 will launch on that- but it won't be a launch title. Pokémon mainline games don't really do that for some reason.

Let's back up a bit before I go further. Assuming gen 10 releases on the 30th anniversary in 2026, that leaves a blank period in 2024 and 2025. Make sense?

This has been very long winded, but this is what I think will happen.

2024

Pokemon reveals intent to revisit Unova in 2 separate instances of games.

Nintendo reveals the Switch 2 to the public and announces a launch for late 2024 or early 2025.

The Unova revisitation titles are the last mainline pokemon games for Switch.

2025

Johto revisits are announced as the first mainline titles on the Switch 2. Most likely Crystal reremakes, but I'm not sure if it'll be precisely Let's Go style.

In addition, pokemon Switch 1 titles will have some better performance, particularly gen 9 games.

They might do a Legends title, but not just for Johto.

2026

Lots of Pokémon celebration, music videos, ports, and eventually gen 10 as the finish line of a huge celebration.

Now you may be asking "why 2 remakes in a row? Didn't they just remake gen 4?"

Hence why I said "revisits" instead. Because of Legends Arceus, we truly don't know what kind of curve ball could come next for us. Could be straight up remakes, could be new games entirely. We can't even say that they'll just 1 game a year because Legends Arceus and SV both dropped in 2022.

Something else that complicates things is this: Unova didn't have a Platinum or Emerald that they can just ignore the enhancements of. Well. They CAN, but I'm pretty sure we all agree that if they just remake BW1 and completely ignore BW2- aka a game most hardcore and long time fans hold as the GOAT of all Pokémon games in the same area as HGSS- fans will be absolutely livid.

That is... if they choose to REMAKE BW1 at all.

The Revisit clause opens the door for alternative takes. Perhaps a BW3, a BW0 or prequel to BW1, or perhaps something completely different all together like Legends Unova by itself. Or Paradox versions.

My personal predictions

BW1 remake, Legends following

BW1 and 2 combo remake, Legends following

A completely new game set in Unova that acts as a soft sequel to SV and its DLC, possibly merged with the concept of a Legends game OR a Legends game following said soft sequel set in either the past or future.

How do we know Unova is coming anyway? I mean it's kind of obvious if you've been paying attention to the DLC recently, but it's pretty much the most obvious hints since the KANTO KANTO KANTO re remake flags they kept waving in gen 7.

Blueberry Academy is in Unova

They keep highlighting and singling out specific Unovan pokemon such as the Unovan dragons or the starters, particularly Tepig and Snivy after giving Oshawott love in Legends Arceus.

There's an area that strongly resembles Chargestone Cave, apparently.

There's characters that may or may not be related to Unovan characters, like Drayton and Drayden

Ingo is in Legends Arceus

Now you may think all of this is easily explained because of the first point. Let me counter with this:

Why put BBA in Unova specifically?

Now are the gears turning? Sure there's a chance it was just a name thrown out- but if it were a nothing name, why not something different? They could've put Blueberry Academy near Kitakami, they could have put it in the real life chain of islands called the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, they could have just left it unnamed in the middle of the ocean, heck they could have made it the Indigo Academy from the anime or place it in Kanto in general and nobody would have batted an eye. Or Sinnoh for that matter since we know that's a done revisit.

So the fact they choose Unova has to be of some significance.

Here's something else: the concept of the paradoxes blends seamlessly with Unova's tradition vs futurism that's present in certain areas such as the desert area, Opelucid, and Black City or White Forest.

Plus... cmon guys, Game Freak LOVES money. That's EASY money. Idk if I want it because I'm still in shock of how bad BDSP were and just how abysmal SV perform, but they generally follow the money, whether the game is finished or not. They have multiple teams, they are willing to use outside studios, they can and will do anything for the dollar.

My next point actually leads quite well with the next remake topic

The specific choice of paradoxes for Violet are the Unovan Musketeers

Now this is the clincher: why choose these specific pokemon for future paradoxes? Perhaps a hint to the future? For that matter, there's also plenty of Paradox Pokémon from gen 5 (Brute Bonnet, Slither Wing, Iron Moth, and Iron Jugulus) and plenty of gen 5 variants and cross evolutions.

Perhaps the musketeers pair nicely with the Johto Beast paradoxes given their similar purposes and design styles.

... so why the Johto Beasts for Scarlet?

Now comes my argument for JOHTO revisits, and granted the points aren't as strong as it is with Unova, but I still think there's a compelling case.

The idea was already brought up in the ending for Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee.

I'll pause: "but Game Freak said they weren't making another Let's Go game-"

Lying is a thing. My name is Pinkrillabussy von Skalkatrass, I'm a Capricorn born in July of 1757, and I have 10 wives from Canada and Antarctica. See? Easy

They changed their minds because money

They maybe had no plans at the time

NDAs are a thing

It might not be specifically a Let's Go game

Now, back on track

The Switch 2 will launch in the next year or two, and let's be honest, GSC re remakes would sell the console like hot cakes just like Yellow remakes did for Switch. Pokémon is a system seller after all. Let's not kid ourselves, it will/would outsell Unova.

In SV, there are various gold and silver colored items. By itself that's not a huge hint, but 2 prominent items are sets of mirrored sunglasses- no other mirrored glasses are in the game, and they both show some odd reflection of other locations.

In Teal Mask, Kitakami is in Japan, same as Johto, and has a decent chunk of Johto representation.

Also from Teal Mask, we got some photo music, including 2 very specific remixes from the GSC games, including very muffled versions of the Johto wild Pokémon battle musuc, and the Pokémon March song from the Pokegear. Muffled as in maybe pretty far off, but soon ish. Probably the strongest point.

Billy and O'Nare, the rich assholes we chase around Kitakami and Paldea. They dress in golden colors, have some silver under tones to their hair, and give out a ton of nuggets- gold- and pearls- kinda silver in the menu.

In the same way that paradoxes line up well with BW, the use of the time machine itself is also relevant to Johto, given that the original GSC games had backwards trading compatibility with RBY via a time machine trading system- the exceptions being that you couldn't send a gen 2 Pokémon or a gen 1 Pokémon with a gen 2 move back to the gen 1 games.

While not exactly damming evidence, the variants, Convergent species, and cross gen evolutions- Wooper, Tauros, Wiglett and Wugtrio/Diglett and Dugtrio, Toedscool and Toedscruel/Tentacool and Tentacruel, Annihilape, Farigiraf, Dundunsparce, Clodsire- with exception to Kinggambit and the other cross gen evolutions and covergents introduced in the dlc, these are a lot of Kanto and Johto pokemon or derivatives that can easily be brought to gen 2 re remakes in the same vein as the Alolan forms and Megas in LGPE. For that matter, there's also Certain Hisuian Pokémon, and certain Paradox Pokémon that line up with this as well.

Lastly, johto now is the main region we have spent the longest time since last revisiting. Go figure, Unova is second.

So what could a revisit to Johto look like? Unlike Unova, Johto isn't as complex to approach. In fact, there's several directions they can go, but most likely they'll try to stay true ish to the originals.

Let's Go Johto

Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee had a few signs pointing towards its creation from gen 7, but one of the funnier ones was the phrase Let's Go written directly on the box of Ultra Sun and Moon.

In SV, we have the Let's Go mechanic.

I personally don't want a Let's Go game because I hate motion controls and the Go aspect of it all, but I won't deny the possibility.

An ILCA style remake of HGSS

Hang on, a remake of a remake?

Well, BDSP were straight up just Diamond and Pearl with a few extra bells and whistles, almost frustratingly so. In fact, they even have the same glitches as the originals, and the coding is basically just ported directly to the Unity engine.

HGSS were DS games as well, and most hard-core fans will say they're the absolute best of the franchise- I'm not included, but I do respect just how much shit is cram packed into these games by Morimoto. I'm pretty sure most people would be just fine with straight up ports with modern amenities to reduce the grind.

Different Gold and Silver remakes

This is the deal- HGSS were already Crystal remakes split into 2 versions. They could just remake GS and remove the crystal isms, but that seems unlikely to me

A new take on gen 2

A Legends Kanto and Johto game since they're connected, a revised version of the original ideas for Gold seen in the Space World demo, etc. By now, GF have to be aware that WE are aware of that demo and several of the beta pokemon and chamges. Some fun could be had.

Personally, my bet is a safe Crystal remake split into 2 again. Nothing too fancy, just gen 2 in 3D. Don't wanna scare genwunners or og fans.

Anyway, that was a lot for what could ultimately be nothing at all. In fact, they could follow SV with Johto first and then Unova, or do neither in favor of something new. I'm not gonna deny the possibility of one happening and the other not, and hell, they could drop gen 10 in 2025 on schedule. Could also do a Legends Unova game or similar by itself, then Johto by itself, then gen 10. Could even be a second set of dlc. Who knows, man.

Anyway thanks for reading if you've come this far. Anxiety is a bitch and rambling about this series helps me relax.

[joylinda-hawks]

So tell me, do you know who ordered the destruction of the Mirror Lake Sect? WOH, episode 27, part 9. WKX finally tells ZZS that he did not want to hide the truth from him. He adds that even if ZZS can forgive him, how can he face ZCL? He explains that he didn't kill ZCL's family, but his family was killed by WKX. WKX explains that what ZCL did is no different than what the Five Lakes Alliance did to WKX. ZZS asks if WKX knows who ordered the liquidation of the ZCL sect. WKX states that there may be a traitor in Ghost Valley or someone is trying to frame the valley. He adds that anyway, but he can't finish because ZZS tells him that it's enough. ZZS says that when Da Wu comes and heals his damn wounds, they will find out the truth together and avenge the Zhang family. Then WKX will be able to explain everything to ZCL. However, if ZCL blames and hates WKX, WKX will have to accept it. WKX has to deal with this even if he doesn't want to. ZZS continues by saying that regardless of WKX's identity, he is the younger brother of ZZS. When WKX finishes bathing, WKX is to prepare a good meal for ZZS and ZCL. Saying this, ZZS picks up WKX's robes and, without looking behind the screen, puts them on a stool next to the bathtub. ZZS clearly explains that life is simply three meals a day. Why should they worry about what hasn't come? They are not to create problems for themselves. ZZS then leaves, leaving WKX alone in the bathtub. This time it's the short last climax of this scene. This scene is well summarized by ZZS who says that you don't have to worry about things that haven't come yet and therefore create problems for yourself. WKX may not know it yet, but ZZS has accepted it as it is and has come to terms with the fact that WKX does not have the best past. He was aware that if all the brothers had not turned their backs on the WKX family, he would not have ended up in Ghost Valley as a child. ZZS is able to stand next to WKX when they look for those responsible for the ZCL sect massacre and, together with WKX, avenge those who died there. However, he explains that WKX must face the truth itself and bring it to ZCL. I don't think ZZS would let anyone hurt WKX. This whole scene, when an almost transparent screen divides both men, is extremely intimate. The two men talk and do not want to cross the boundaries they have set. I'm not entirely sure whether WKX's hiding from ZZS was due to the inability to tell him the truth to his face, or whether there was another reason. More intimate. ZZS respects WKX's request not to go behind the screen. He also says something that makes WKX happy that he still considers him a brother. ZZS has its principles, but it also has a common sense approach to life. Therefore, in simple words, he states that three meals are important in life and WKX is to prepare them for them. Yes, it's a subtle and intimate moment, brilliantly shown by ZZH and GJ. We know from BTS that it might have looked a little different, but the version that appeared on the show has its own vibe. This screen is the boundary that separates ZZH and GJ as their heroes. Their dialogues in this scene are balanced and thought-provoking. And beautifully conveyed by both gentlemen.