#(note that the characters aren't necessarily old

[tossawary]

One of my personal nitpicks for historical fantasy is a lack of servants, staff, subordinates, and... idk... subjects? Like, their absence is not... a total dealbreaker for me, depending on the situations the characters are in and whether or not I can just assume that other people are there in the background... but so many of the protagonists in historical fantasy stuff are higher-ranking (very often royalty), and/or have busy jobs, and/or have enormous houses that would necessitate having at least part-time staff.

Like, girl, you should have a maid! WHERE is your chaperone?! WHO is driving this carriage?! Where are your footmen? Are you trying to imply that a WEALTHY DUCHESS is taking a CAB?! You know that you probably have tenants, right? Where is your steward?! Where is your lawyer? Your accountant?! (Like, yeah, you're not going to have your lawyer living in your house, but you HAVE one, right???)

Or, man, you're supposed to be a military commander and you don't even have a single secretary?! Where is your SQUIRE?! (In the spirit of historical fiction, I am jumping wildly across time periods with every sentence here.) Man, I know you aren't looking after your own boots. Where are your GUARDS?! Who set up this tent for you?! Who is looking after your horse?! Who is making and carrying the incredibly valuable maps people are recklessly stabbing daggers into?!

SOMEONE has to be scrubbing these floors and delivering the mail and cooking the meals and doing laundry, and they're probably all DIFFERENT people! My dentist has at least three different receptionists and we can't even get ONE for our court wizard here? A sorcerer's apprentice to take notes? Someone like Sherlock Holmes could get away with just having a housekeeper and taking taxis, sure, but your character is supposed to be a KING?! Why is he answering his own front door? He's going to get assassinated. His SERVANTS should have SERVANTS.

Like, yes, I understand that a lot of servants in certain places at certain times were supposed to make their labor invisible, but there have always been servants who still had to interact directly with the masters of the house?! Yeah, there are potentially really messy ethics here, class divisions are bullshit, but I don't think that completely ignoring the reality that humans have ALWAYS been doing work for other humans is better than just including some well-paid and well-treated servants and employees? Because a complete absence of them, especially where logically for the worldbuilding there MUST be servants (and probably exploited servants, or worse, for some particular worldbuilds to work), often makes me think that your main characters just don't care enough to notice the "lower class" people or know their names.

Also, even Frodo Baggins had a gardener and Samwise Gamgee might be the best damn character in the story?! Sam saved the world?! Servants are PEOPLE. Servants are often the funniest and most interesting characters, tbh, with the most to say about a society and its workings (yes, Discworld is a very good book series, highly recommend), and also the joke of some romantic scene being carefully orchestrated by a stage crew of servants frantically diving into bushes to stay out of sight never gets old to me. Teamwork makes the dream work!

I don't want to gatekeep historical fiction, especially not historical fantasy, because the worlds don't necessarily have to conform to our own and may have magic and characters are often in very unique circumstances, but... sometimes I pick up a story and it's like... "Author, please tell me that you know there is a difference between a butler and a valet?!"

#tossawary reading #tossawary watching #I don't know what to tag this as #tossawary fandom #long post #where are your servants

[ququb444hm]

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭, 𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝

paring: kenma kozume x fem!reader

genre: smau (^_^)!!, comedy, fluff, slight angst, college!au, slow burn (?), friends to lovers, constant pinning reader x in hard denial kozume

summary: the worst part of having a secret crush on yn kuroo, in kozume kenma's case, is that she's one of his close friend's ex and his childhood friend's sister. although y/n makes it clear she harbors deep feelings for the blonde, the two reasons that restrict kozume from making any moves, don't necessarily limit her, “no tetsu, I do not have a crush on your best friend aka my ex-high school situationship aka my recent ex’s best friend… but if I said I did what would the consequences be?” summaries aren't my best suit but wtvr

update sched: hopefully every wednesday n friday (im lying) (updates are often at random)

warning/notes: grammar errors, characters may be (definitely) ooc, profanity, kys/kms jokes, atsumu n yaku's years are off (atsumu is a senior n yaku is a junior), following usa school system btw, lowercase intended, *I FOUND OUT WAY TOO LATE THAT KOZUME IS KENMA'S LAST NAME AND NOT HIS FIRST 😭😭* uhhh none of the pictures used are mine!! (middle picture used made by hakiso_o on twt)

key

✎ - written chapter

profiles

malnourished art students + supportive parentals

kozu's paycheck

table of contents

01 ugly and bitchless

02 surrounded by homosexuals - ✎

03 stuck w me - ✎

04 fnaf

05 you. win.

06 denial is a river in egypt

07 whore house

08 moments before disaster - ✎

09 therapy

10 hi cheese

11 moral support - ✎

12 how cute - ✎

13 blondie #1.5

14 deja vu - ✎

hnnnghh marked as mature so idk if u all can see it but js lmk if u can’t 💔💔

15 monopoly

16 NOTHONGZ

17 sixth sense

18 chivalry isn't dead

19 #onebedtroupe - ✎

20 touché - ✎

21 grandmama chocolate cake - ✎

22 side-hustling - ✎

23 mistake - ✎

24 towels

25 nair hair removal - ✎

26 mic drop

27 cramps - ✎

28 TYPE SHIT

29 secret little personal diary

30 sassy man apocalypse - ✎

31 old man - ✎

32 nipples in a twist

33 BOLSHIE

34 me n the girls

35 introverted freak - ✎

36 first amendment

37 js bitch slapped my ex

38 golden setter

39 dad that stepped up

40 so feminist of you

extras

01 twilight

#🐈.thanksalotcupid #kozume kenma #kenma kozume #kozume kenma x reader #kozume kenma x fem!reader #kenma kozume x reader #kenma kozume x fem!reader #kenma x reader #kozume x reader #smau #kenma smau #haikyuu #haikyuu smau #haikyuu!! #haikyuu!! smau

[taralen]

Why I draw Spamton the way I do and in defense of the "Tumblr sexyman" Spamton G. Spamton. An ESSAY.

EDIT 2/3/24 - Fixed some grammatical errors, changed font colors to make them easier to read against a white background, and reframed some of my arguments, especially regarding the "Yaoi style" portion, as it came across as ignorant and spiteful.

I follow the #spamton tag here, and I hate to say it, but it's full of artists jabbing at other artists who so happen to draw Spamton handsome. I see comments like, "No, he's a middle-aged sleazeball who is grungy and dirty." Often, these depictions show him with graying hair, ratty clothes, and covered in filth and grime. While there is nothing inherently wrong about drawing him this way, I find it disingenuous that the same people who draw him this way criticize people who draw him more handsome and or clean-cut because this depiction is even less based on his canon appearance than someone simply drawing him more realistically proportioned and with a pleasing visage (the definition of what this is varies by artist, but they're all often reduced to just "tumblr sexyman.") I see similar comments by people who draw him in what they may describe as "disgusting" or a "dirty scammer."

If Toby intended for Spamton to look dirty and gross, he would have simply gone with a similar design route to this character as an NPC in Undertale.

Toby or other official arts never depict him with the following, even though I see it in fan art all the time:

Ball-jointed hands. Some artists draw them properly and make them look super cool. Simple lines aren't how they look in reality, but I get why people do that. Either way, it's not canon.

Dirty with tattered clothes. Spamton is only ever shown with a black blazer. It's debatable if he wears pants, but Toby has also drawn him with a collared shirt and tie.

Graying hair. Should be obvious. He's only ever seen with jet-black hair.

Overweight/Fat. While some fan depictions of this are cute, it's not canon. Spamton is always drawn thin but not necessarily in shape.

Buff. Same as the above. It looks really good in some fanart but is also not canon.

Tail. It can look really, really cute, but not canon for him or any of the Addisons.

Feathers. Only Swatch and the Swatchlings are depicted with feathers in Cyber World.

"40+ years old" - There is zero evidence of this in-game or in official merchandise or media. This assumption apparently comes from people assuming that his birthday would be the same as the first "spam email," which (at the time of this writing) was 46 years ago. This is a false equivalency since there is no indication that Spamton has any associations with our real-world history of spam emails. It should also be noted that this was not a true spam email. The only thing closest to Spamton in association with real spam email history may be his favorite year, 1997, in which spam marketing emails became frequent nuisances. However, actions to stop spam mail started in 1996, and it was by the 2000s that they became a serious concern because technology had since advanced. If he were truly born in 1978, he would only be 19 by 1997. While not impossible, it's not how most people see him in his Big Shot years of barely just entering adulthood. Also, as someone who has lived through most of the 90s, I can attest to a lot of this. Spam stuff existed, but news reports only heavily got into it by the 2000s.

100% Inorganic or Robot. While a cool idea, there is more evidence against this, like his ability to eat, sleep, and genuinely feel pain.

Boobs. I get most people who do this are doing it for fun, but it's not canon to his design, lol.

Tall. The most obvious one. Spamton is below average height, as made evident by his nearly 1:1 scale with Kris, a teenager.

Toddler-sized. Same as above. I won't lie that it can be drawn super cute, though. Haha!

With all that being said, why is it such a contention among his fans to depict him as handsome?

There is evidence to support that Spamton is at least, to some degree, good-looking but unconventionally attractive based on several sources. It should be noted that people often use his shop sprite as the best representation of his head, but this isn't accurate, either. In Undertale and Deltarune, because of its cartoonish sprites, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Spamton's are the most inaccurate and change frequently. Another user posted an entire comparison of all his sprites and how drastically inconsistent they are. I tried searching through my likes for this, but I can't find it. If anyone finds this, please link or reblog it to this post. Anyway, the intent of the post was to show artists that there are numerous different ways you can interpret Spamton's design with what's provided in the game, alone.

Stuff people often miss that is canon:

Lips. Believe it or not, this bastard's got kissable lips. Toby's recent art and his Neo attack are proof of this.

Eyes under the glasses. Seen in his sprite of going "BIG SHOT" the first time with Kris. It also hints at heterochromia because they contrast in color with yellow pupils under the pink and pink under the yellow.

NEO has no visible jaw hinge line. Only puppet Spamton does. Big Shot Spamton doesn't have one, either.

NEO's glasses' colors are reversed, and they are pince-nez style.

Androgynous sense of fashion. This is the least missed one, but it's worth mentioning. Spamton has no issues wearing pink, a color nowadays associated with women, and the NEO body has fabulous heels in addition to mostly being a magenta pink. The dress on the mannequin that greatly resembles him (and may hint at him being a white Addison before) shows a pretty dress that mirrors the one Mettaton wore in Undertale.

So then, WHY is he being depicted as handsome or unconventionally good-looking a BAD thing?

There really shouldn't be an issue with it at all. It's less offensive and technically more canon than many of the supposed depictions of him being a sleazebag who looks like he hasn't showered in a century and is hooked up on drugs or booze. You don't become a media darling without a charming personality. Mettaton only got successful in Undertale before he got his EX body because there was literally nothing else the people could watch. Spamton, on the other hand, was competing against many, so he had to stand out and look good even with the help of Mike (and possibly Tenna).

I often see people make this very reductive argument that it's a "yaoi style." This is by far one of the stupidest arguments I've ever seen. Drawing good-looking men is NOT equivalent to liking Yaoi. There are plenty of other genres of Asian-origin or Anime-styled media that feature pretty boys that have nothing to do with Boy's Love. Even Shounen anime has some bishies. Drawing bishounen-style male characters is a design choice and does not indicate someone's interest in Yaoi media. I swear, I have never seen this problem with Eastern fans. It's rude to lump people with similar art styles under something most people who make this claim don't even understand. I've seen people make upset comments about other people calling their style stuff like "Cal-Arts" even if they never went to Cal-Arts or like the media produced by them. It's the same principle. Stop lumping entire artists under one umbrella.

I draw him handsome because it's simply the way I see him. I love many other depictions of him, undoubtedly, and I even have a sticker set that depicts him with the graying hair, but it looks really good anyway. My point is, the fact that people who draw him dark and handsome shouldn't be scrutinized any more than people who draw him way more off base.

My personal contentions with the assumption he is a "dirty sleazebag old man."

I find this absolutely hilarious because this is a genuine stereotype and stock character of people similar to him. The douchebag salesman is a trope that's been around for a long time, but people don't seem to realize that this is a caricature and not representative of real salespeople.

Go to any @$%^ing department store or even an electronics one. Do you ever see anyone selling you stuff looking like they crawled out of the trash? Most are lower-class people who can't find any other job, meaning they are stuck with sales. It takes skill to be a good salesman, and I hate to brag, but I can probably sell you a #@$%ing soap bar and convince you that the extra $10 you're spending on it over a drugstore brand is better for your hands by deeply moisturizing them through herbal extracts and only "naturally" derived cleansing agents. Your hands are dry from the cold, drawing moisture out of them, so the investment would be worth it for the health of your skin during this harsh winter season. Why risk a drugstore brand that will only make your hands feel even rougher, flakier, and cracked? Stuff like this requires you to look someone in the eyes and observe who they are—their body language, way of carrying themselves, and the cadence of how they respond to your words. Does it always work? No. However, do you think anyone would $%^&ing buy ANY LEGAL PRODUCT if a salesperson looked like they were a shady crack dealer who was suspicious as %^&( to deal with? NO. It's a stereotype caricature for a REASON. It's meant to demean the reality of the salesperson who is forced to peddle a stupid product for a living. It's hard, and if anything, GET MAD at the people who are the ones making the crappy product! Yeah, some salesmen are bad at their jobs, but do you really believe that Cyber City's #1 RATED SALESMAN got there from being mediocre?! He may have gotten outside help for something that Toby never made clear, but he definitely does NOT lack the personality to make a great salesman. And believe it or not, there is plenty of evidence to prove he WASN'T bad at it! The other NPCs sell stuff that was once his goods but with his labels removed, and based on his statement of wanting to "make his own deals," this heavily implies he was NOT selling products he wanted to sell before he became a Big Shot. He has a strong sense of pride in the way he sees and presents himself, and I think this may be overlooked by people who make him look as ratty as possible.

I will also CLEARLY state this but this depiction overall does several of the following, which I KNOW many people will say is bad:

Ageism. Why do so many people, mostly Zoomers, assume that a man in his 40s is washed-up, gross, or even considered old? I've seen hotter men in their 40s than some young men in their early 20s.

Downplays his mental health struggles. One of the best things about Spamton is how he DOESN'T play into just the "sleazebag" stereotype. Once we go into his shop, we see that he is truly just a very broken man. His theme song is a FARCE to try and convince you that he's tougher than he really is.

Classist/Poor-Shaming. The assumption that a homeless person has to have no sense of cleanliness. Please, for the love of all that is good, meet actual homeless people. Not all of them are like this. Spamton clearly keeps himself rather clean for someone who dumpster dives. He is trying to stay true to himself, and his sense of self is one of pride. There is no dialogue or description to imply he smells or lacks proper hygiene.

Again, while there is nothing inherently wrong with drawing him this way, I just want people to be more aware of why they draw him this way. Think of it like a thought experiment to reflect on why you see him the way you do. How I draw Spamton comes from a place of deep empathy, love, and life experiences I've had in sales in addition to ALWAYS being customer-facing, meaning I know what works and what doesn't for over a DECADE. It's rather bizarre to me that people who claim to be big fans of him draw him in such a demeaning way that goes beyond the canon depiction and lowers him to absolute dirt, almost like beating this character with the ugly stick just because it's "funny." Is he a tragic character to you? Or is he simply a clown to laugh at for his failures and hardships? How we depict and see people is utterly fascinating because it reflects in real life, too.

You can take the exact same person and show them to different groups of people, and they will all see the same person differently. They don't have to be artists, but they tend to vary if you ask their opinions. For example, I think the actor Mads Mikkelsen is very attractive, but I know many who wouldn't understand why. A guy I've had a crush on for years is one of the hottest men ever to me, but a friend of mine called him "just a guy."

I fully understand that some people find the way I draw him stupid. It is what it is. I can't force you to like it.

I'm simply trying to point out my reasonings for why I draw him this way, and I would like others to think about their methods, too, and NOT to bash other people outright or go "ewww Yaoi tumblr sexyman" just because someone doesn't depict him with stereotypical traits or as "100% canon style" (which is mostly just copying the game's sprite style.)

#musings #character analysis #character design analysis #spamton #essay #spamton g spamton #deltarune #big shot spamton #spamton neo #sneo #cw long post #long post #art style study #art style

[feartoxinjelloshot]

SURPRISE! a shiny new relationship chart for (mostly) all of the current cv members! needless to say it is much... MUCH bigger than the old one i made back in 2022. i'm not even sure i put that one on tumblr. i've also included a handy key image for clarity.

some important notes:

A. this chart is not exhaustive - as unfortunately i am constrained by 1. my memory and 2. the amount of colored lines i can put in there without it getting incomprehensible. if you think something important/obvious is missing i probably either forgot, or it just wasn't physically possible to get into the image. take it with a grain of salt!

B. the "domains" aren't necessarily literal - it's more of an arbitrary mental categorization system and less of a guarantee that two characters are directly positively associated with one another. a shared domain can mean that characters either 1. share overarching narrative involvement (i.e. harley and the joker), 2. are involved in a significant conflict of interest (i.e. the al ghuls vs the court of owls), or 3. have spent significant time within or dwelling upon a particular part of the overworld (the sewers, arkham hospital).

this chart is also not set in stone! i change and develop details of this au all the time and that includes the interpersonal relationships of various characters.

also, the plaintext of the heads, and the old chart (circa 2022) for posterity:

#scribbles #clipsverse #batman au #gotham rogues #batman rogues #dc fanart #relationship chart

[bohemian-nights]

How do Targies unironically praise T@rgaryen blood purity like legit white supremacists and then deny there's any racism there?? Please make it make sense

Honestly liking the Targaryens isn’t the problem(and at this point, I'm pretty sure we all like a Targaryen or two).

Yeah, they undoubtedly have some bad views as a whole, but as long as you acknowledge that their views are an allegory for real issues that’s fine.

We aren’t necessarily defined by the fiction we consume.

However, these fans outright taking on white supremacist talking points about blood supremacy and blood purity with 100% sincerity and then being confused as to why people are calling them racist is a mind trip.

If all you are getting from the books is how special and magical the Targaryen’s are and how they must keep the bloodline pure, how outsiders dirty the blood, and then use that to degrade and mock characters(and harass their fans) who aren’t silver-haired with purple eyes then yeah, you’re a fucking racist.

GRRM is admittedly not the best at handling race(or even certain female characters). He’s an old white man and it shows, but even he didn’t create this universe for you guys to spout out this crap. You are supposed to question things like feudalism and Targaryen exceptionalism not uphold it.

Nettles is a prime example of this, but they want to say she’s Daemon’s kid, or unquestionably Valyrian, and how she’s irrelevant since she’s Black(not to mention deny the racism she faces in the text as well as outside of it) rather than admit that maybe your blood, your gender(she’s a woman too but they always seem to forget that), your social economic status, your race does not define you. You and your actions do.

That all being said, I do think the Targaryen ideology is what attracts people to the house in the first place, but they won’t admit this because that means they have to confront their own biases.

If Targaryen ideology is harmful and you agree with it wholeheartedly what does that make you? How do you view people who are different than you? Who do you view as beneath you? How do you treat people who you view as lesser than you?

Yes this is all fictional, but the language being used is very much based on how they feel about certain groups in real life.

Look I’ve seen people straight up say things like there are too many Black people on HOTD and that the only in-canon Black character should be cut because they’ve met their quota and then cry that they are being (rightfully) called racists.

I’ve seen people say that since Daemon rejected a white woman(Alys) who they view as better than her(Nettles) he would for sure never touch Nettles’ with a ten-foot pole much less love her in a romantic capacity and then cry that they are now being called a racist.

I’ve seen people purposely reduce characters solely down to their race and then cry that they are now being called a racist.

I’ve seen people harass and stalk actual Black fans and then cry and say that they are being bullied when we call them out for it.

I’ve seen people outright use racial slurs then the fanbase brushes that aside to say that the racism is limited to just a few individuals when many of these same people are using the previous arguments and treat real-life fans like crap.

Racism isn't limited to saying I hate n-words and wanting to commit acts of violence upon us.

It’s easier to say you aren’t a racist than to deal with the very real possibility that you are a part of the problem. That you treat people(including fictional characters) who don’t look like you like absolute shit because of something as stupid as the color of their skin. That you view them as so beneath you that we don’t deserve basic respect.

It should be noted that Targaryren fans aren't the only racists in this fandom especially when it comes to Black characters/fans, but they are the most outright hostile to the point where it is utterly ridiculous when they say they aren't racist.

But what do I know? I’m just a crazy hating ass bitch who’s out of her depth and who should shut her trap…

#bnask #bnasks #ASOIAF #I see them trying to hide their hands now but it really is too late #y’all talked too much and showed your whole ass #house of the dragon #hotd #got #ASOIAF fandom #anti asoiaf fandom #fire & blood

[leohamatoblog]

Headcanon: Type of Uncle They Are

note: Happy Autism Awareness Month! To anyone who is on the spectrum, I see you. You are valued, you are smart, and you are worthy. Your Autism does not define you. A healthy reminder to those who are not on the spectrum, they call it a spectrum for a reason because it presents differently in everyone.

This is a safe space. 💙

Leo: Third Parent

It's in Leo's nature to be a more authoritative and more strict. Doesn't mean he isn't fun, he just prefers order over chaos. This also applies to any nieces or nephews he may end up with. That being said, even if he's more authoritative and strict, the children trust him wholeheartedly.

If it's his turn to babysit, yes there's a bed time, but there's always a story. He will read or tell any story the kids want to hear and he even does different voices for each character. He also will sit with them until they fall asleep. One has a nightmare? Yes, you can sleep in his bed (just this once....for the 10th time).

Homework is always the first thing done at his place if he's babysitting. The kids don't feel like it? He'll find something to do at the table with them so they feel more motivated to get it done. He's also very patient, so if it's frustrating to the kids, he'll even learn it with them to make them feel better.

He's also the one the kids know they can go to for guidance. He remains unbiased so if one of them needs an honest opinion, he's willing to give it. While emotions aren't necessarily his thing, nothing cheers the kids up more than a hug from their uncle Leo.

Even if the kids trust him wholeheartedly, they don't always like him. They don't like that he gives stricter punishments or is a harder teacher than their actual parents. Don't be fooled by the pressure he gives, the first sight of the children crying and he's off putting on cartoons.

Raph: The Protector

You know those mafia uncles, the ones with the thick accents? That's him. Raph is, by default, the family bodyguard. When he has nieces and nephews, he keeps a very close eye on them. Where they're at, who they're with, and when they're supposed to return. It's not to be controlling, the kids know he means it kindly.

That being said, he's also the most interesting. He's been through a lot, he's got a lot of stories, and he loves to boast. The kids find him cool and are always eager to hear about his life. He also hides hidden messages in his stories about being a good person and watching out for others (mostly because 5 years olds shouldn't be hearing about murder), he has good intentions.

He's also very good at comforting the kids. Usually it's Mikey's job to be the family sounding board, but Raph is a very good listener. The kids know they can vent to him about anything with no judgement. He'll even make them a late night snack if they can't sleep because they're upset.

Babysitting usually consists of him putting the TV on and letting the kids do whatever, within reason, of course. He lets the kids pick what they want to do and is known to join them. He's usually the referee if the kids are wrestling or the supervisor when playing board games. He's a master at uno.

His protectiveness can be overbearing but he backs off if he knows he's in the wrong. The kids know he just wants them safe and they love him for it, but they're comfortable enough to speak their mind. The first sign of danger, Raph's usually one of the first to jump in.

Donnie: Teacher Friend

While he loves to educate and spread his knowledge, Donnie also enjoys bonding. He doesn't impose his knowledge on his nieces and nephews, but he teaches them enough for them to be dangerous. This is also the time he takes to create connections with them without them really knowing. He's very sneaky about what he does.

He's always the one to help with homework but he won't do it for them. Instead, he pays close attention to learning styles and teach accordingly. More patience than Leo ever thought of having when the kids get frustrated. He's always calm and willing to explain a million ways until the kids pick up what he's putting down.

His babysitting is the best (i don't make the rules) because he can multitask like it's no one's business. He can be doing a project, help with homework, and discipline all at the same time. He's also always doing something and if the kids want to help, great! If not, he'll find something he knows they'll like and they'll do it together.

He also just always knows when something isn't right. The kids don't even have to tell him if they're sad or angry, he just knows. He doesn't push but instead, he offers them to come sit while he does work or invites them to join him. He knows they'll open up to him if they want.

Sometimes his knowledge clouds his brain so the kids have to remind him they aren't as smart as him at times. They also have to remind him that they're children and no kid needs to know how to blow up mount everest in one big boom for a 5th grade science fair project.

Mikey: Comforting Therapist

Where the others lack, Mikey brings to the table. He's always been the most emotionally intelligent and level headed of all his brothers in that department. Even with his ADHD, his observance is through the roof when he has nieces and nephews. He takes interest in every aspect he can of their lives. He just likes to be involved and listen to whatever it is they're up to these days.

His babysitting is chaotic but also very practical. He's strict and fun all at the same time. The kids are definitely a wake up call on his maturity. He makes up games for them and does activities with them. He also caters to each of their likes and they all take turns picking the activity or game. It teaches them patience and sharing, as well as having fun, it's a win win!

The kids know education is not his strongest suite by default, however he's always the first to know their grades. He never gets mad if it's not good, instead he assures them it's just a grade and not the end of the world. If the grade is good, then he gets very loud and overly excited over it. He just wants the kids to feel good about themselves.

Speaking of feeling good about themselves, the kids trust only him to help with big events where they need to dress up. He has the best fashion taste and makes sure the clothes are just right and flatter what should be flattered. He's also the kids' number one hype man and if they go clothes shopping, he very much would like a fashion show.

Mikey's ADHD can be overbearing to the kids at times, but they feel comfortable enough to tell him he's pushing boundaries. He always apologizes and listens when this happens. The kids know he means well, but sometimes it does get a bit too overstimulating, so boundaries are pre-established.

#rise of the tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt ask blog #tmnt bayverse #tmnt donatello #tmnt leonardo #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt raphael #ask blog #tmnt 2003 #tmnt headcanons

[frazzledsoul]

The thing about S6 Jess Mariano is that there is simultaneously too much of him and not enough.

I've been watching old episodes recently because of a story I've been writing on and off for a week, and I don't think people truly appreciate the amount of set-up that went into Jess's scenes in The Real Paul Anka. In this show, there are supporting cast members who almost never get scenes of their own outside of interacting with the girls and various townies. I think Paris has exactly one scene that doesn't involve Lorelai or Rory. Dean has a handful. Sookie has just one off the top of my head. I believe Logan has one as well. All of these people were on the show far, far longer than Jess was. It seems only Luke, Lane, and Jess have a lot of scenes with characters other than Lorelai and Rory...and in season 6, Jess has not been seen for two years and has not been a main cast member for three. We get an introduction to his place of work, he has interactions ALONE (!) with his friends/coworkers, we get an extended sequence where he explains to Luke how exactly his job works and where he lives, he has significant interactions with both Luke, April, and Rory, and closes out the last we see of his relationship with Luke in the OS on a good note. None of the other love interests get this, because while we spend more time with them, they are not developed as individuals outside of Rory. Dean is the good boyfriend who unexpectedly leads Rory into an affair and who we last see chafing at her desire to leave him behind, while Logan is the rich, dangerous boyfriend who entices Rory into the elitist world that Lorelai sought to escape from and who will eventually lead her astray because he is unable to escape from his father's expectations, forcing Rory to repeat the life patterns of her mother (God, I hate the AYITL ending. It blows). Jess is his own person, whose existence is not completely defined by Rory, but who eventually inspires her to seek out the path that she wants by virtue of his own example. And at the end of the story, he is the one door left open, the one person who is working with her on her goals and is still involved with her life.

(This is why I chafe when people say Jess wasn't endgame, even after all of these years. One of the last things ASP said about a follow-up is that she was going to chase Milo and Alexis down and make them do it. Her intentions were pretty obvious, even for those of us like me who don't necessarily hate Logan).

What's so great about S6 Jess is that almost all of the stuff that made him a terrible boyfriend and such a damaged, tortured character during his original run on the show has been smoothed over. He meets Rory on her terms and makes plans at her convenience: he acknowledges her discomfort: he is far more concerned with her than busting the chops of her boyfriend (although that part is clearly fun, too). He's considerate, social, a person who makes plans and follows up on them. He's confident yet self-effacing: when Rory is found to be using him, he reminds her of the boundary she's crossed yet doesn't lash out. It doesn't change his feelings overall: she isn't choosing him at the time being, but he still cares about her. Even though we leave him with a broken heart, we know he's got a life beyond her, something he didn't have when we last saw him in season 3 and season 4. He has friends, a purpose, a respected place in his community: he will be okay. It's a better place than we leave Dean and likely a better place than we leave Logan in AYITL. He will be okay.

I'm of the mind that Jess's participation in the last season of the OS has less to do with the writing team changing (although I don't think Milo was particularly keen on working with the new guys, either) and more to do with what else Milo was working on at the time. Heroes was a huge, huge deal when it first came out and networks aren't always amenable to lending out their actors to work for their competitors. I just don't think it was possible for Jess to show up no matter who was writing that season. I do occasionally wonder what the S7 writers would have done with him. It doesn't escape my scrutiny that the show skips the actual Christmas holiday because Rory was in London, because Jess almost certainly would have traveled to Stars Hollow to visit his mom and newborn sister and comfort his depressed uncle. There certainly were a lot of uses for him that had nothing to do with Rory.

AYITL Jess is of course more or less the same, only with bigger arm muscles and some of the edges smoothed out: the main difference is that we see he's been more or less accepted into the Gilmore/Danes clan and is a more active support system for Luke and his mother.

At this late stage in the game, I'm not expecting or wanting a follow-up and I think odds are very much against there ever being one. I do wish that knowing that AYITL was all there was that they had given us more time with Jess (if possible) and that there was some sort of definitive end for him and Rory instead of the door just being swung wide open and an indication of a future (and of course, Jess being a total dreamboat). However, as with all things ASP, you take what you can get and what was given to us here wasn't that bad.

Those last four words still suck, though.

#meta #gilmore girls #jess mariano #literati

[notbecauseofvictories]

Halloween Week of Horror (Games)

It’s that most horrible time of year, and I've decided to explore the spooky world of text-based games. My list of games is cribbed from this post and this post.

GAMEIFY HORROR // DAY 1

DAY 2: 13 laurel road, unbecoming, what girls do in the dark, the open house, return

13 laurel road 

an interactive fiction game about the relationships we have with places and reconciling with trauma. You play as a young man named Noah who has been tasked with picking up some things from his cousin’s old house.

This one was surprisingly affective, given that there is no objective horror—no jumpscares, no mysterious noises, no ghosts beyond the perfectly ordinary ones that plague all of us.

Still, the set up (a young man, tasked with grabbing some things from the old family house) and the conclusion (coming to terms with the intergenerational cycles we fall into, giving you the chance to break free from them) worked wonderfully for me. In particular, I liked the way the game conveyed Noah's internal conflict---the refrain of "I won't think about that," and the way that you as a player aren't quite clear who is still alive as you move through the abandoned family home.

...I am a little disappointed that there weren't ghosts though.

SPOOKY LEVEL: 1/10, mostly for ambient horror and decay

OVERALL GRADE: B-

unbecoming

a sonically-textured interactive horror fiction exploring cycles of trauma and unspeakable forces of nature in a mythic rural American landscape.

Well, damn. I think that’s the second time I’ve put that in my notes, but also—damn. Damn does this game deserve it. Despite the lack of images (just text, white and sharp except when bleeding into red) it felt extremely well-realized, lived in. Maybe it's just because I know these places, have been to these farms, have looked at Dust Bowl photographs of children on buckling front porches, but the scenery was its own character---which is amazing when there's no actual scenery.

Not to mention that the story gets into one of my soft places and digs---the fraught ritual and cycles of repeated harm; the kind of blurry boundaries that make such effective horror. Family as obligation and a horror story you can't always escape. Not to mention how the gameplay makes you complicit in continuing that horror...

SPOOKY LEVEL: 5/10, not necessarily overtly, but uh. There is a giant hungering pit, and corpses in beds.

OVERALL GRADE: A-

what girls do in the dark

This little game is based off one of the greatest fears they had as a teenage girl: showing up late to a stranger’s slumber party.

Of all the games on this list, this was the first one that—as soon as the credits rolled—I immediately wanted to play again. I wanted to see if I could get a different ending, if I could somehow "win." There’s just something about those haunting scraps of “maybe you could have saved yourself...” that tantalize you, and make you want to try for a happier ending.

....not to mention that I have a well-documented weakness for deals with the devil.

I'll also add that the almost MS DOS style prompts ("TAKE [ITEM]" "OPEN DOOR") were devastatingly effective; a way of narrowing your choices while also giving you the illusion of choice.

SPOOKY LEVEL: 3/10, given the blood and the creeping horror

OVERALL GRADE: A-

the open house

We at Northtree Real Estate (in partnership with Optix Dynamix Labs) are proud to present our new, state-of-the-art, open house simulator!  Come and take a quick tour of 15615 Hollow Oak Lane, a familiar and comfortable showcase home in one of our premier developments!

This particular game is just cool as hell. As someone who (like many millennials) has been addicted to Zillow and other house-hunting websites, this landed with immediate effect. What if scrolling through virtual walkthroughs on your local house hunting website opened up a portal to the unknown? What if it showed murders immediately after they were committed? What if, as you go further and further into this virtual house, you were going out---into something vast, unknown, and chilling?

Amazing, clever, wonderful.

SPOOKY LEVEL: 5/10, largely for unreality and a couple creepy images that still linger with me.

OVERALL GRADE: A

return

a text-based horror game about coming home

The more of these games I play, the more it becomes clear that what I like is horror that verges on the inexplicable—dream logic and images that refuse to resolve into reasonableness. I loved that here: the static, the mycelium, the pier with its strange dead-already fish, the self that guides you through the next cycle. What does it say about our horror stories if there is no going home? If it's just cycles of returning and rebirth and horror we can't escape?

(Sidenote, I am in love with Carver, and the little bit woven in about cybernetic/android assistive devices was tantalizing.)

Again, it's amazing how these text-based games manage to convey so much, so richly, with just words. Or maybe I just have an overactive imagination.

SPOOKY LEVEL: 7/10, just because the sense of unreality is so strong, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who doesn't enjoy that

OVERALL GRADE: B

#gameify horror #the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind

[alicentes]

Why do you like Gale? No hate, I’m honestly glad because I feel like we’re a minority because everyone seems to detest him. What is it specifically about his character that draws you in? For me it’s his endurance despite loss, his devotion to the cause, he’s the flawed rebel that isn’t pure because the system doesn’t allow him to be.

I like him for the reasons you just listed too. His growing hatred towards the capitol and his commitment to ending the oppressive situation is relatable and REAL. He is willing to make the hard choices that aren't always morally right but under the circumstances I can understand why he is willing to use violence, why he accepts that they aren't going to win this rebellion without a few civilian casualties. He was fully committed to the rebellion and was willing to die for Panem to be free and wasn't naive to how that was going to be achieved. I can respect that. Especially given his life circumstances and how much trauma he's been through (something that fans ignore because he wasn't in the horror that is the games, therefore, his trauma doesn't count). We get insight into his view on the people in the capital, the privileged, early on, Before the reaping he says "if they all stopped watching, there wouldn't be any games." in his eyes they are all complicit, which isn't necessarily true for every single peson but you can understand his point. The people in the capitol could at the very least all boycott the games and this would put an end to them because then no one would be profiting off them. We know this to be true as well because the games were not successful and barely anyone watched them in TBOSAS and they were likely going to stop them.

Another reason I like him is because of how loyal he is to his family, the everdeens (he would have taken care of them if Katniss had died and was taking care of them when she wasn't around) and his loyalty to his district. He saved as many people as he possibly could from 12 during the genocide and yet, he still felt guilty that he couldn't do more. It is important to note that it was AFTER witnessing the genocide that he fully became involved in the rebellion and the creation of weapons and was willing to make the tough calls that would've got people killed. He was still a rebel in the making before then but who can blame him? his father is killed in the mines and he has to take care of his mother and siblings and make sure they don't starve to death (yes people in district 12 were literally dying of starvation if anyone is forgetting that fact) and Katniss was the only person who understood this. He resents the fact that some people are living in luxury when his people are suffering so much, he hated the class system and wealth disparity which separates the districts and that is something most of us can understand in todays world. In catching fire, when more people started hating him, he's working 12 hour shifts in the mines that killed his father and yet, his family still don't have enough food to get by, he has siblings who are now getting old enough to enter the games and there's nothing he can do to help them if they get reaped because he's aged out and can't volunteer on his behalf. He acted like a dick at times but he was also suffering and lets not forget that moment when he was TORTURED by peacekeepers and could have been killed had Katniss not stepped in.

I don't agree with all of his decisions but when this war started there was no going back, they either win and create a better Panem or they die, their loved ones die or worse, they suffer fates worse than death and worse than the lives they had before. The first rebellion resulted in the games and further oppression of the districts, imagine how it would've ended if this rebellion was lost? When you're fighting a leader as brutal as Snow you have to fight dirty and be prepared to make terrible moves that Snow thinks you haven't got it in you to make.

Gale is resilient, passionate, a fighter, loyal, smart (disagree with his strategies but they were good and pragmatic war strategies) and just as flawed as any other complex character. It is a shame people hate him so much, and mainly because of a love triangle that Suzanne never intended to write in the first place.

Sidenote: the way the fandom hated on him just made me analyse his character more closely and like him MORE which is a bit of pattern with me and unfairly hated characters.

#sorry this is such a long post and turned into kind of a character analysis and sorry I took so long to reply #I also wish Katniss and Gale were written as having a brother/sister relationship instead of a trauma bond romance #gale hawthorne #the hunger games #thg meta #it is pretty funny that most of this generation is all like eat the rich tear down capitalism overthrow the government and yet #they hate on fictional characters who do just that because they can't do it morally or aren't badass enough or smth

[thatonebirdwrites]

Fandom creators tag game

1. What sort of content do you create, and what is the thing you’ve made that you’re most proud of?

I write stories. Usually original science fiction, but in the past two years, I've branched into fanfiction. I also create art and music.

I'm damn proud of my rewrite of Book 2 of Legend of Korra in my Shared Moments series.

I wish I could find a publisher for my original fiction; then I could share what I'm most proud of but alas. The publishing market is incredibly hard to get into and I don't have the health to self-publish, so we'll go with the Korrasami tales for now. For art, I'm damn proud of this piece I did of Lena.

2. What fandom(s) do you create for?

Korrasami from Legend of Korra.

Supercorp from CW's Supergirl

Rojarias from CW's Supergirl.

3. What is your current favourite ship (or brotp if you prefer), and how controversial is it?

Korrasami. Not controversial much at all. (As a side note, Supercorp feels like an angstier Korrasami. Might be why I like that ship equally well. Supercorp doesn't seem controversial?)

4. For your answer to question 3, are they canon?

Yes, Korrasami is canon. (Supercorp isn't necessarily canon, but there's so much evidence of it in the show that it might as well be.)

5. What was your first fandom, and how old were you?

First fandom I created something for? Or first fandom where I dived into and read everything I could? Because if it's read everything I could, then it's Star Wars before Disney threw out the old Canon (still salty about that). I'd have been pretty young -- still a kid when I was devouring all the Star Wars books. I didn't have any favorite ship though while I did this.

For something I created, Korrasami was the first one I wanted to create art and writing for to be honest. That was three years ago when I started writing Korrasami.

6. What is your most unhinged fandom creation to date?

Oh, that's a Supercorp one. I was inspired by a weird camera glitch, and wrote an unhinged horror set after season 6. The first part of it is in tumblr. I have yet to publish to AO3 mostly because I want to finish more of it before I do. Sort of loosely based on Lovecraft's Color out of Space.

7. Do you remember what started you off creating fandom content, and if so, what was it?

Three years ago I first started drawing and writing Korrasami. Then I branched out into Supercorp.

8. Do you let people you know in real life see your fandom creations?

Only my trusted friends and siblings.

9. How do you feel about fanworks of fanworks? Has anyone ever made something based on a thing you made?

If anyone did, they have never shared it with me. I would love to see it, and I'd treasure it always!

Though if I'm being honest. I doubt I'll ever get fanworks. Why would anyone go to that much trouble for something I wrote? I doubt anything I write is worth that much.

10. What feeling do you most often try to evoke with your creations?

I want to show possible healing journeys that aren't the most painful angstfest known to humanity. I want people to feel the journey too, to capture the world within the character's senses so that their tale feels real.

Whether I achieve this, I have no idea. Some people have written very kind comments stating that I have, and I am delighted by those comments.

11. Has someone ever paid your work a compliment (in any form) that has stuck with you, and what was it?

Two people have said I made a place feel alive through the storytelling and worldbuilding I did. That compliment haunts me in all the best ways, and I have done my best to try to keep that tradition going.

12. What’s your favourite thing someone else has made that you’ve seen in the last 24 hours (and link it if you can find it again!)

It was a Supercorp art piece, but after searching, I can't seem to find it again. It was Lena leaning backwards into Kara's arms, while Kara gently holds her. Colored piece, digitally drawn I think. They look almost like they were swaying back and forth.

13. Give a small sneak preview of something you’re working on right now (eg a couple of sentences of fic from a WIP, a gif set theme, a small piece of a larger picture, whatever you feel happy to share)

Korrasami:

Korra looked at their entangled hands. “Yeah, yeah, it’s just some stitching.”

“And yet, that ‘some stitching’ made something wonderful.” Asami was determined to remind Korra of what she could do. It’d been her mantra for the past six months. She wanted Korra to regain her confidence, but it'd been difficult. Thanks to Asami's foolishness they'd both backslid.

Korra had called it Asami’s paranoia.

Maybe they were both right.

Supercorp:

Lena rises before dawn, prepares her corporate armor, and heads to her full-time job as CEO of L-Corp. Today’s agenda includes four meetings, one of them with the board, an hour of lab time, a brief lunch, and a visit to Florence in late afternoon.

It’s the visit with Florence that troubles her the most. The exposure to the strange artifact gave her unsettling dreams, and she woke in a cold sweat after a particularly gruesome one. In that one, she’d had no control over her body, only watched in horror as another person used her abilities to harm all she loved.

Kara had woken too, and her gentle reassurances had helped Lena fall back asleep, this time with no dreams.

Diving into work to escape the nightmares is how she copes. Perhaps not the healthiest, but undoing all her bad coping mechanisms will take far longer than just admitting they exist.

Rojarias:

Tomorrow morning? Sam reeled from the news. That gave her very little time to pack and prepare Ruby for Sam being gone a week or two.

Yet here she was again, unable to say no. Especially not when two beautiful women were looking at her expectantly.

Damn, Sam was too gay for this. “All right. Tomorrow it is.”

14. Have you ever seen/read anything made by the person who tagged you? If so, what was it and what was your favourite thing about it? (pick a favourite if there are several)

Yes, I have. I'm not entirely sure what exactly they published on AO3 however. I found the tiny Kara piece absolutely hilarious.

15. Do you leave comments on fandom works, and if so how would you describe your comment style?

I do leave comments, yes. I share my enjoyment of the piece, sections that really stood out to me, and/or an overall feeling I got from the piece. I'm trying to be more consistent about it since I know how much comments mean to me as a writer, and I know other writers enjoy them too!

16. How many works in progress do you currently have? Will you finish them all?

Original fiction: (on hiatus but I do plan on finishing) 3

Korrasami: 2 (plan on finishing them, yes).

Supercorp: 3 (yes, plan on finishing them.)

Rojarias: 1 (yes, I need to get on this as it's due next month actually).

Art for Supercorp: 1 (I also need to work on finishing this before the due date next month. I got the rough sketch and need to run it by the author to make sure it's what they want, before I go to town inking it).

17. what’s the longest it’s ever taken you to finish a fandom project?

Shared Moments: Books 1 through 3 (the finished ones) took me a year. A million words no less. Whew. I'm working on Book 3.5 now. I tend toward longer works, which takes a few months to complete.

My shorter fiction (the ficlets) take less than an hour usually.

For art, it takes me one to three weeks.

18. Describe the thing you made most recently in a way that is technically true, but also completely misleading. Link the thing if it’s published!

These paralleled kisses shake their world. (A chapter for Unraveling Realities)

19. Do you ever engage with fanworks for a fandom you’re not in? Which one(s) and how did you get into it?

I'm not really sure what counts as being "in" a fandom or not. If I enjoy something, I'll engage with it, but does the engagement mean I'm "in" the fandom now? Or do I have to create something and talk with others in the fandom to be considered "in?" How does this work?

20. Recommend a fan work from your fandom to your followers

I absolutely adore Make this your home by pcrtifacts so much I even made fanart for it. It's not finished, but it's regularly updated and so, so good.

Suggested tag list, but there are no rules here, follow your heart.

A mutual you have never actually spoken to but think seems cool -- All my mutuals are really cool! And I'd love to read more of their stuff. Thanks all of you for sharing your stuff!!

The most recent person whose content you engaged with (eg read a fic, reblogged art, whatever form you feel best fits) -- I'm not sure? Maybe the person I reblogged this from?

Someone whose content you saw via tags/reblogs and you followed them because of it @luthordamnvers (I honestly love the indepth knowledge of the show nic has, how willing to share that knowledge, nic's kindness, the fics they write. Honestly, all around wonderful person.)

Someone in your fandom that you think makes cool things @ekingston (Shape of Soup being my favorite plus the art is amazing.)

Someone in a different fandom that you think makes cool things (this is hard. I really only seem to follow or find Korrasami, Supercorp, and on rarer occasions Rojarias or Dansen. There's some Star Wars folks that do fun things, but I can't remember their usernames tho.)

Someone you always tag on things like this @nottawriter

Someone you have never tagged before (I can't remember who I tagged before, so I guess whoever wants to play this game?)

Someone you would like to get to know better @pcrtifacts (love, love their make this place your home fic. And chatting in comments with pcrtifacts has been lovely.)

Someone who makes art you like -- @snazzy-korra (honestly, she's an all around amazing person, and Iove all her art and chatting with her. So grateful for our chats too.)

Someone who writes fics you like: @fazedlight (I seriously love everything mel writes. It's all so damn good. I even wrote a fanfic continuation of a piece I really liked of mel's ficlets. First and only time I've ever done that.)

I suspect some of these people have been tagged multiple times. My apologies if so. But I did want y'all to know how you're appreciated and how much I enjoy your content too. :)

#korrasami #supercorp #writing #writer #fandom questions #just for fun

[tendo-64]

Remade my Claus headcanon sheet because I made the old one when I first started thinking about my postgame Claus, and I think I characterize him a bit differently now that I've spent so much time making doodles and whatnot actually trying to flesh him and his brother out

It's still a lot of projection on my part tho lol

mild tw, but this sheet is uplifting and mentions the unfortunate in passing

My Claus interpretation takes a heavy focus on his mental health and how he heals--I value characters in fiction a lot that deal with mental illness but aren't just one-note Sad Characters, and yet their struggles don't necessarily feel sugar-coated or downplayed. They just are able to smile and laugh and joke, genuinely and not as just a mask, despite the pain they had to go through. It's my reality and I feel seen by those characters a lot. So I make an effort to make that balance apparent with how I portray him.

#tw: sui mention #mother 3 #earthbound #mother series #claus mother 3 #mother 3 claus #mother 3 spoilers #mother 3 fanart #earthbound fanart

[lokavisi]

Hail and welcome!

I've made enough posts that aren't reblogs that I figure I should have a proper introduction post. I have a tendency to write small novels for things like this, so buckle up!

Hello! My name is Rory, aka Lokavísi. From what I can tell, Lokavísi is Old Icelandic for "Loki's prince." (Here is my explanation for choosing the name if you're curious.) I've been working with Loki since 2020, and shortly thereafter He welcomed me into his family. I view Their children as my siblings (Loki's referred to them as such), especially Their "monster" children. For that reason, I feel close to Angrboða as well. She's very much my Wolf Mother. I've recently started referring to them all as Team Jarnviðr (or Team Ironwood.) That isn't to say Sigyn or Her and Loki's children together are not a part of my practice. I hold them in high esteem and have had my moments with them. My UPG just leans a bit more into Jötunheim, shall we say. At least at the moment of this typing.

Other useful disclaimers:

As you may have noticed, I tend to refer to Loki with he/they pronouns. This is just based on how He tends to appear to me, but I fully understand and respect anyone else using any other pronouns to refer to Them. Loki is most definitely one to challenge gender norms and we all have our own experiences with Them. Whatever is right for you in your relationship to Loki is valid and awesome.

- I may make or reblog posts about deities outside of Team Ironwood. I have at least loose ties with many of the deities in the Norse pantheon. Frey, Freya, Njörð, þor, Oðin, and Frigg are ones that I spend the most time with outside of our little Jötun family. They're sort of like the aunts/uncles/cousins from Vanaheim and Ásgard, respectively. Like they're their own family units that when I seek a connection with Vanir or Æsir, I can go to them. (That said Vanir, Æsir, and Jötun intermingle all the damn time, so those distinctions are being made here in the broadest of senses.) I'll note again here that this is my UPG, and that is why I honor deity beyond Loki's family both on this blog and in my personal practice.

- Any original posts of mine are my own thoughts and UPG stories. It's absolutely ok if your UPG or opinions are different from mine. I love to hear about other people's experiences with Loki, His family, or any other Norse deities. My experience, or your own, is no more or less "correct" than anyone else's.

- I identify as Lokean and Heathen. As a neurodivergent queer person, I am all about making Heathenry inclusive. Gods call to who They call to, regardless of one's origins, abilities, or personal identity. You are welcome in this space. I will do everything I can to make my little corner of the internet here as safe a space as possible. I understand Loki to care so deeply for humanity, especially the most marginalized of us. If there is anything I post that is problematic or rubs you the wrong way, do not hesitate to message me and talk about it. I want to grow in my understanding and foster community. I take such call outs in good faith, and trust that my posts and responses will be taken in good faith, too. I'm not going to engage with personal attacks or attempts to discredit my personal spiritual experiences. Nazi punks fuck off. ✌️

- I think it's also worth noting that I did find my way to this path through my interest in the Marvel characterizations of the gods. It really shouldn't have to be said, but Tom Hiddleston is not Loki in any way, shape, or form. That said, given that so many people like myself came to the gods through those stories, it is worth noting that the gods can and do still speak to us through things like the Marvel characters. I have personally found watching the Loki series to be a surprisingly devotional act. There are so many moments throughout it that resonate with my real life experiences with Loki that are just too much to ignore. (Not necessarily in how they characterize Loki, but in the general themes and in certain moments. I could honestly write a giant master post of such moments, but I'll do that another day if the spirit moves me.) I say all this for two reasons. 1: We are not equating Marvel's versions of the gods to the Gods, or Tom Hiddleston to Loki here on this blog. That is simply just not a thing. And 2: we are respectful of people who engage with and enjoy Marvel content, and affirm that said content can still be important to some people's practice. If I use a gif of Hiddleston-Loki in a post, I do so because we associate his visage with the name "Loki" and thus use it to denote a ~vibe~ I'm getting from the Trickster; or it just generally feels like the most appropriate gif to express my point.

Thanks for reading this novel of an introduction. Enjoy the blog!

#lokean #inclusive heathenry #loki #norse loki #heathen #heathenry #Lokavisi #team ironwood #team jarnvidr #loki deity #norse pagan

[the-ocean-in-motion]

A post for publicly sharing the products of my Drawfee Lalafell idol project!

(if u don't know what the fuck I'm saying just scroll on)

NOTE: I am not affliated with Drawfee I just stole their logo for that edit. I'm not making money Julia pls don't sue me

FAQ

Q: Why do this? A: Fatal case of brainworms

Q: How long did you spend on making these? A: Too long. Enough questions

Jokes aside, here's a proper intro to what this is for people who aren't in that one very specific discord: As a creative project of sorts, I decided to make 4 Lalafells in FFXIV based on the Drawfee crew (youtubers). SPECIFICALLY these are based on their Newsday Comic Designs, because there's only so much staring at real people's faces really zoomed in I can do before I start feeling like a creep.

So, No, these are not "lifelike" or even "as close to life like as i can make potato people in a 10 year old video game". They're based on stylized ideas of people, warped by my creative liberty. That left me more space to make them cute instead of uncanny valley, which I'm sure any drawfee members that see this post might appreciate too.

They're also all heavily modded. It's more fun for dressup.

With that said! Onwards to the pictures (and design notes)!

Nathan: I actually "made" the beard for this myself - or, rather, I refitted it from a modded beard for Roegadyn. I even made an effort to mold it into a rough flower shape, but I'm afraid it doesn't show up that well. Still, remembering that there is no full beard for Lalafell in the vanilla game, I think it actually looks quite cute! For this "casual" fit I made an effort not to make Nathan look too fashion-y. Of course, they're idol photoshoot style pics, so I still had to dress him up a bit! With this sporty fit with the fun big red boots reminiscent of early video game character designs, I think I landed in a pretty nice middle ground.

Julia: This is the only design I paid real life money to make. I spent forever futzing with free hair mods trying to find one I liked, but in the end I forked over a few bucks to an experienced hair modder's online shop and got this hair that comes with all the features I wanted. Can't say I regret the purchase, it's very pretty. For the outfit, I knew what I wanted pretty much immediately. I have had this outfit mod for a long time, but I've never really known what to use it for. It feels very Julia, even if I can't remember necessarily seeing her wear this kind of thing before. Maybe it just feels French, and I associate Julia with France?

Karina: Karina's face sculpt mod was very easy to decide. Looking at the list of the free female Lala faces, I saw one that looked like a little shit - and named "Give Me the Phone" - and immediately knew it was perfect. I had to edit this hair to become hat compatible for later outfits, but overall this one was full of easy picks. Maybe I'm projecting too hard, though? I even dressed her in a top I modded for myself, after all.

Jacob: Jacob's design is one I agonized over, because finding a hair for him was quite hard. Short hair mods are rarer than long ones, and Newsday Jacob's hair is very distinctive. In the end I had to settle for a more realistic style, but I'm told it still reads as him. I wound up putting Jacob in maybe the cutesy-est outfit of the four. I don't think he'd mind, but either way the funny little overalls were too big a temptation for me to resist. Accessorising with bandages is where my weeb roots really shine through, though. Portraits done, here's the additional materials I've made!

Drawfee Kindergarten Field trip! Fun fact, I took this screenshot mere seconds before the dungeon I used as a set kicked me out, which means I spent the entire instance timer just deciding on accessories and posing! Where are they going? To see the big squid at the Aetherfont's center, of course!

The first music video! Motions not by me, I'm not that talented, these are retargeted Project Sekai dances (retargeting also not by me lmao animation modding scares me)

Childish war is such a fun song and dance, never mind the fact that none of the "personalities" really work for drawfee. It's dancing lalas! Who cares!

That's it! I might do more music videos or photo shoots in the future, but that's highly dependent on my brain chemistry, so truly nothing is certain. If you made it this far, I hope my silly little project brought you some joy! (and olive) And hey!

Check this out!

#drawfee #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #lalafell #ffxiv modding

[nhaneh]

One of the things that really get me with this huge "AI" fad is how for all their talk of Artificial General Intelligence and whatnot, they've really only recreated the Chinese Room thought experiment and declared it the solution to all of the world's problems.

The Chinese Room, if you're unfamiliar, is this hypothetical about the difference between understanding and the mere appearance of it, and basically goes like this: imagine a room with a man and a book. The room has a tiny slot on one end where one can communicate with the man via written letters in traditional Chinese*. The man himself does not actually know a single character of any of these languages, but the book contains an exhaustive list of possible messages he can recieve along with appropriate responses and instructions on how to write them. Now imagine that this book is so well constructed that in spite of not understanding any of the communication he is receiving, nor any of the replies he is giving, the man and his book are still able to effectively pass the Turing test and convincingly appear a fluent speaker to anyone knowing a traditional Chinese language: can we realistically say anything within that room has any actual understanding of either Chinese or any of the communication it has participated in? The man clearly has none - does the book? Does the room as a whole system?

While I personally tend to think the thought experiment isn't necessarily all that useful due to underestimating the necessary complexity of the book and also the sheer extents to which humans showcase Competence Without Comprehension, it's not lost on me how the recent proliferation of Large Language Model systems and the forced attempts to insert it into just about anything and everything no matter whether it makes any sense or not is basically a straight up example of the Chinese Room on an industry-wide scale.

We have entire throngs of techbros falling over themselves in praise and wonder of these fancy little rooms they've constructed and the free market capitalism that purportedly has created it - even though OpenAI, the organisation that kicked off the AI gold rush with ChatGPT, is technically a non-profit organization, supposedly with the explicit goal to keep AI research available to the public and not left purely in the hands of grubby venture capitalists and profiteering CEOs.

Honestly it's kind of hard to shake the feeling that the whole AI rush is basically the same hypercapitalist tech cult that previously worshipped the blockchain turned to a new golden cow so they don't have to think about their own culpability in the current late stage capitalism hellhole we find ourselves in, even as their latest toy tech god already indulges freely in misinformation, rampant fraud, and good old racial profiling - just to name a few.

And honestly don't get me wrong - I think LLMs as a technology likely have far more actual practical applications than the blockchain ever did, but it's pretty inescapable that most examples we're being shown aren't particularly practical - if anything, I'd argue most of what I see is just spam, spam, spam.

(* the hypothetical scenario of the Chinese Room was proposed by an English-speaking American, and the choice of traditional Chinese as the example is one made purely on the basis of its perceived illegibility to many westerners. The thought experiment does not depend on any particular characteristics of traditional Chinese languages beyond their distance to English, and can easily be exchanged for any written language you personally find utterly incomprehensible - or even some generic form of encryption if you prefer, so long as the information in the notes exchanged is never presented to the person inside the room in a form that they could possibly understand)

[deusvervewrites]

What I meant, is how should I plan the writing, like reading the manga or looking for inspiration in different stories?

Ah.

Generally, yes, I would suggest being familiar with the source material if you intend on changing it. Whether that's the anime or manga or binging the wiki is up to you--I personally have a the wiki and a fan translation of the manga up at all times for reference.

Now, over time and thanks to asks on this blog and my various projects, I've become extremely familiar with various parts of canon, but an encyclopedic knowledge is not required so long as you can quickly find any information you need.

This is important for a few reasons. Chiefly, many readers will be familiar with canon and will notice discrepancies, which can be both a good and bad thing. For example, I greatly enjoy using canon events as a form of Dramatic Irony, like in Haigha when the Hosu Noumu attack never happens.

Being familiar with canon is also important for characterization purposes. If you really know how a character acts in canon it's easier to know how they'll respond to changes, making their personalities feel more fleshed out.

(Note that something feeling fleshed out is not always the same as it actually being fleshed out. Both is better, but the first is all you strictly need, and you rarely want to only have the second.)

More crucially to this ask, it makes the planning easier.

I'm assuming if you're rewriting canon and asking about planning things out, you aren't strictly following the way that things went in canon, and are doing something closer to my fics, where I cascade a single change into many more. This is the reason I'm personally so acquainted with canon. Knowing how each event in canon led to others makes it easier to see how changing any event will change the rest.

For example, the League attacked the Forest Camp to discredit Heroes, to acquire Search, and to recruit Bakugou. Either the League could have gone after Ragdoll at any time (presumably, it's possible they couldn't find her, though that seems unlikely), but waited until the Training Camp so they could also deal a blow to UA's reputation and acquire Bakugou. And they only wanted Bakugou because of how the Sports Festival ended. In other words, if the League doesn't have a way to find the camp, doesn't want Bakugou, doesn't want Search, and/or doesn't care about UA, there is no Forest Camp Attack.

As for inspiration, it can come from anywhere. Canon, fanfic, other works of media, random things you see in your day-to-day life, literally anywhere. I generally recommend that writers read lots of things--not just fanfic, either, but consume all kinds of media--to see more plots, narrative voices, technical writing, pacing, etc.

You can learn so, so much by reading books or watching tv or movies or playing games that don't even seem related to what you're actually planning on writing.

For example, here's HK47 in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 teaching you how to kill superheroes Jedi

I'm not sure looking for inspiration is necessarily the best way to put it. I find that ideas are fickle things, much like cats. They rarely show themselves when you actively seek them out, but come to you on their own terms.

The more stories you read/watch/play, the more familiar you will be with storytelling and common narrative beats, and the easier it will be to see the connections between ideas. This is as true with fanfic as with any canon material.

Here's a practical example. As of writing this, I'm running a series of polls titled Let's Make A Shonen! where I had various selections of tropes, settings, and plot devices necessary to create the barebones of a hypothetical shonen series. At the end of which, I'll write up the plot synopsis of the resulting series. At this moment, Magic is winning the Power System poll by a landslide at more than twice the second-place option, and in the How Does The Protagonist Learn Their Powers poll, the front-runner is the the powers themselves are sentient.

With about 50 hours left in the poll, I've agonized a bit over how I wanted to combine these plot points, before the answer came to me. Magacite from Final Fantasy 6--where Espers are turned into crystal upon death which can be used as a means of summoning that Esper or to teach magic to the party member equipped with that Magacite. By taking this idea and tweaking it, I can fit it neatly into place as the combination of those two polls, and by extreme coincidence I can tie it into several other polls as well, such as the main antagonist being The Government and the first arc being a Fetch Quest. The protagonist needs to get the Legally-Distinct-Magacite before the government does. Easy.

This is something I'd never have thought of if I hadn't known about the plot of Final Fantasy 6, which, while overlapping, isn't a shonen at all.

#asks #writing advice

[chattegeorgiana]

Hello! Thank you again for always taking the time to respond to any notes I send, can’t wait to see what comes next! On your IG I noticed how Sakura’s Crown of the Sun seal reminds me of Hashiram’s warrior monk sage mode from a cosmetic pov. Which made me think about how you pointed out how Sakura is thematically a Senju or represents them in the overall themes of the story. Which leads to a head cannon I wanted to bounce off you. Shinachiku in other fanfics I have read he’s never written to have Sage mode which would be something that fits his universal traits given to him. From the show/manga I felt that Sage mode you a character who had the physical, mental & spiritual fortitude. Shina fits the bill but if he were to have a Sage mode it would look similar to Hashiram that way he’s not following directly in his father footsteps but it gives Sakura homage as Shina powers align closer to her. Which I like that Shina both in designs and abilities come from Sakura. It makes him unique not just to be another Naruto clone which only really works when you have a tragic backstory like him. My point is that I felt like Shina that warrior monk sage mode shows his duality as a character. He’s universally acknowledged as a skilled medic which implies he has a value and sanctity for life and seeks to prevent death and heal others but at the same time he’s expert hand to hand combatant and wields tanto blades which are specifically made for killing. It’s one of things I love about his character that duality, he’s both the yin and yang. Much like his parents. Sorry for the long paragraph I just enjoy sharing these thoughts!

Hi dear,

Welcome back!

I'll start by saying please stop apologizing for these long asks, I love them! Even if I'm not always able to respond right away to them, do know that I love getting them and reading them and exchange all these headcanons with you.

Makes my heart smile when I see someone is really analyzing Kaika in such a beautiful way. Feels like an honor, tbh.

Now to get to the actual point of the story...

First of all, Sakura's seal... well, there's a reason why I made that seal the way I did it. Those old theories of mine echoes so hard and far away, that nowadays they're used as commercial hook in the franchise.

And it's not the first time that I see in the franchise concepts that have been used that I talked about at some point in my theories.

One of the biggest I've seen is ironically the one theory that I couldn't recover after losing my blog 2 or 3 times already (lost the count tbh cuz when you have to build it from scratch every time, it's so tiresome honestly) called Spiritual Enlightenment: Sakura Haruno, Slug Sage mode and possible genjutsu connection.

Most of what I see in the sequel nowadays in terms of certain power-ups are mechanics that I've laid down in that theory that I lost.

Most will say that eh, I'm talking BS cuz I don't have that theory so I don't have a way to prove it. But the thing is, there are certain residuals/artifacts if you may say so of that theory around the internet.

So then, the reason I had her seal look like Hashirama's is precisely because I'm making use of my own theories in a way that I think Kishimoto wanted to develop Sakura, like I said so many times.

Now, as for Shina, the way I plan on developing him has connections to that and doesn't at the same time. I won't go too much into detail, but I made him that way because I wanted to have something unique to him, in a way, like you said. I don't want him to be a copy of anyone.

That's why some of the power-ups I have in mind for him are and aren't connected to that specific similarity. I have a little twist in mind.

But what I do have prepared for Shina, is the Heaven & Earth symbolism in his power-ups. He's not gonna necessarily fit the warrior monk archetype tbh. If anything, the monk type will fit more for Arashi, the way I have him built.

But, in a way partially, it will also fit with Shina. So you see, that's why I say that it is and it isn't at the same time. But I do get from where you're coming and I agree with you in the sense that Shina has respect for the sanctity of life. After all, he is very laid back and respectable like Katsuyu. That's why she becomes his favorite summon and always has a Katsuyu plushie haha.

The thing is, I built all 3 siblings in a way that fit certain themes and symbolism, but with a unique twist, I'd say.

For example one of Shina's power-ups is going to be tied to Hanami, and through that, Hanami also gets her own power-up. Arashi in a way is the one who's more hermit/monk like so his power-ups aren't tied directly to his siblings per se. But that's because I want Arashi to be more connected with the Uzumakis.

And I did all that because I wanted to have the family theme represented in more ways than one, which is the classic blood relation.

I won't go exactly into too much detail because I don't want to give away the "juicy" parts so to speak, haha. But I hope everyone will find it as interesting as I seem to be finding them in my head, lol.

Once again, thank you very much for your ask, it's really a pleasure to talk all these things with you.

Have an amazing rest of your day/evening/night.

#kaika saisei #kaika kosei #kaika shinsei #kaika au #narusaku #narusaku family #shinachiku #hanami #arashi #naruto fanfiction #naruto fancomic