#I love discussing stuff like that but it always ends up so rambly and long ahsjjdjr

[minas-linkverse]

Do you have any tips or tricks on how to start a comic like this? Or even just how you got started?? I've had my own au for years that I so badly wanna put out into the world but I've been struggling with finding a good way to start it!!!!

Hm!! Ok!! This is a tough question with many different answers even just from me. I'll do my best to answer tho!! 😮

The main bit of advice I want to give, and which I think is vital to anyone creating anything:

☆ Know yourself.

When looking up advice for creating, people love to tell you that by doing things a specific way is the best and only way to go. Often advice of this sort has solid points, you should plan ahead, you should have easy character designs, buut... You don't have to.

I do not work well with outlines or scripts. I dislike sketching. You'd think that'd make being a long form comic artist impossible for me, but nope.

I know theres things I cannot do, so I've put all my practise to what I can do. My lineart style allows me to almost skip sketching completely, my scripts are more of an A to B structure than law. I improv 90% of the time when making pages. It's kinda like dnd with myself.

I would absolutely not reccomend what I'm doing to others, but I know it works for me. People can tell me I'm doing it wrong but its either wrong or no comic at all, SO. Suck it. 👍

Er. Rambling now.

My point is, figure out what you can and cant do, and do your best to give yourself the ideal work enviorment and process.

☆ Deal with being overwhelmed

Making just a few panels and suddenly realising its gonna take years to get anywhere is SO demoralising. It's gonna happen and its gonna happen again, and again, and—

But continuing with the earlier advice, you gotta ask yourself what would help you. Are you willing to sacrifice quality? Do you just need a break? Maybe you're like me and like to include smth you love in every update so you'll have something to get excited about making.

That feeling of overwhelm is trying to tell you something, so figure out what that is so it wont end the project for you.

☆ Start it

You wont like what you make when starting. I've never heard of an artist who has.

I'm not saying start this instant, not everyone is as into improv and flailing around as me. But I will say you'll never feel ready. Figure out the minimun of what you need to start and do it. Show friends first if youre afraid to post.

Also where to start? Well sure there's lots of good advice online about that, but you can also just doodle random stuff until you feel like diving deeper. That's what LV started with, just Twi and Wild hanging out with animals and some headcanons. It may not be the most tightly written work but theres beauty in the humanity of a mess.

☆ Extras

A "failed project" or "forgotten WIP" is only a failure if you let yourself feel that way. Yea it can be a hauntingly strong feeling thats hard to deal with... But it can be beaten. WIPS are proof you tried and not everyone can say they have.

Lv is far from done and I have no intention of dropping it, but because the journey has been so nice I'd satisfied even if I had to call it here. Its smth that helps me with the overwhelm... What I've made is beautiful even now.

Comparing yourself to others is gonna rip your heart out. I love that theres other links meet aus out there and hope the best for those artists but I caNNot follow any of them or I'll crumble to dust.

So Uhm.

Basically. Have fun and be yourself. 👍

Ps. Readability is basically the most important thing for a comic artist to pay attention to, that and not destroying yourself with details and rendering. 🙌 Good luck out there!

#Ask #I love discussing stuff like that but it always ends up so rambly and long ahsjjdjr #I hope I said at least smth slightly concrete

[sleepyhutcherson]

while we were getting high

“how many special people change? how many lives are living strange? where were you while we were getting high?” — ‘champagne supernova’ by oasis.

pairing: clapton davis x gn!reader

word count: 1.1k words

summary: where clapton and you get high almost every weekend except this time some words are exchanged.

tags: fluff, smoking, underage smoking, marijuana use (not mentioned though), honestly the smoking part isn’t really in detail but they’re high, best friends to lovers, oasis being praised and blur hate (i do not condone!), use of y/n, feelings being confessed sort of?

author’s note: i should be working on requests but i really had to urge to write for clapton since there is barely any content for him. why am i writing a fic about smoking when i have asthma. there’s brief discussion/debate about which of two bands are better (the bands being oasis and blur) but is that worth tw? like i feel like some people (by what ive seen) can take that stuff really seriously but i really don’t mean any hate towards oasis nor especially blur, i simply think that clapton would definitely be the type of guy to get into a debate over bands, or which band is better in this case, but don’t take anything seriously!

Your focus is not on Clapton’s rambling, instead you’re drawn to the familiar glow in the dark stars that stick to his ceiling within the many band posters he stuck up there. You’ve counted these stars several times before as this wasn’t your first time getting high in his bedroom.

You groan when you hear the same song start again from Clapton’s Ipod. He was the type of person that would obsess over a song and play it nonstop until he grew tired of it. His latest victim: ‘Champagne Supernova’ by Oasis. You don’t know how he hasn’t grown tired of listening to it on repeat, I mean, you have already! “Do we really have to listen to it again?” You whine, shifting around uncomfortably in his twin sized bed. The two of you were pressed up against each other, it was incredibly uncomfortable and yet you both always ended up in his bed for some reason.

A dumb smile curls up on his lips that you manage to catch briefly before returning your gaze back at his stupid ceiling. You don’t know why your heart quickens but you blame it on the amount of weed you smoked. I mean, it was probably that. “Yes, come on, Y/N, this is music! Real music.”

“‘Real music’?” You question, only to piss him off. A part of you liked seeing him angry, honestly. And you knew just how to push his buttons.

“Yeah. Unless you can name a better band.” Clapton challenges with an arrogant voice.

You could name so many other bands that have had a better discography than Oasis but you choose to name the band that you knew would rile him up. With a grin on your lips now you answer with what he would consider the worst band to name in this scenario.

“Blur.”

The words strike Clapton. Maybe he was being dramatic but honestly he found your choice offensive. He props himself on his elbows, no longer laying down completely. His face is scrunched up with slight disgust and confusion, an expression that resembles a child who’s just had a taste of a lime. “Blur?” He says with disgust in the word.

“Yeah,” you reply with a calm attitude. “They’re pretty good.” You continue to look up at the ceiling but Christ would you love to see the look on his face. “Better than Oasis.” You add for good measure.

You don’t know what reaction you expected from him, or well you did. You figured he would go on a long rant you wouldn’t be able to escape about how Oasis was in fact better than Blur. You did not, however, expect him to get on top of you, it’s so swift and sudden that you don’t even know how to respond. He pins your hands on either side of your head, your eyes now meeting his dark, mischievous eyes. Was he…grinning?!

Now you’re confused.

“Oh, come on, Y/N,” he teases, his body pressed up against yours. This is…not good. It feels good, sure, but Clapton was on top of you. Clapton, your best friend who you’ve known since grade seven. “We both know you’re just saying that to get a reaction from me.”

His hands grip onto your wrist, holding you in place. It doesn’t hurt, or maybe you just liked how he held you down. “Am I?” You play along, acting dumb.

His grin only deepens, his eyes frantically flickering from your eyes to your lips, your own eyes glued to his pretty pink lips. Fuck this wasn’t good. “You are,” his voice is deep now, a tease in his tone.

Before you know it, he’s inching closer to you. His fucking grin mocking you. “Clapton, we—“ shouldn’t, you think about saying but fuck, fuck, fuck his lips were grazing the skin of your neck now, his warm breath tickling you a bit. And that stupid song was still playing!

His thumb softly traces circles around one of your wrist. A part of you wishes your hands weren’t restrained down so you could tangle one in his hair. “We what?” He asks, his breath hitting your delicate skin.

“We—“ you can’t even finish. He doesn’t let you, his lips gently pressing a soft kiss against your neck, one that makes you tense up. Such an innocent kiss and yet that locked you. He continues to pepper gentle kisses on your neck, it’s so pure and sweet, especially when you feel his smile in each kiss.

“I’ve wanted this for so long now,” he admits before continuing to kiss your neck, his thumb continuing to trace around your wrists.

“You have?” You ask. A part of you thinks about telling him that you’ve secretly wanted this too for a bit now.

He stops to look at you now, his cocky grin replaced by a gentle smile. He nods with such a soft expression on his face. “Mm-hmm. I thought about what it would be like to kiss you every day, even while we were getting high.”

A crimson colour tints your cheeks. Clapton smiles more at that. God, you look so lovely now: flustered and underneath him, his hands wrapped around your wrists, your eyes boring into his. He would gladly count every eyelash, memorise every colour that paints your eyes.

“You’re high.” You giggle trying to play it off, though you don’t try to move away. Not that you could due to how he was holding you down.

“Yeah, you are too,” he says with a soft chuckle. His eyes don’t leave yours, he desperately wants to hold your gaze for as long as he can, honestly. “But even when I’m not high I still adore you.”

Fuck.

Your eyes widen a little, your mouth slightly hanging open due to his words. Clapton grins at that and before you can say anything else, he leans down to kiss you. Your lips move with his, not resisting his lips. You honestly don’t think you’d be capable of resisting him after all of this.

One of his hands laces with yours, the other still pinning you against the mattress. He continues to kiss you and he really doesn’t want to stop. He’s desperately craved this for so long now. He smiles in the kiss then, realising he has the privilege of kissing you.

His smile felt so great against your lips.

After some time you both pull away, a huge dumb smile on Clapton’s face that makes you smile at how adorable he looks. He plops down, laying his head against your chest, wanting to be near you for longer. You don’t even have to kiss, you really don’t have to do anything but be close to him. That’s really all he wants. All he’s ever wanted from you.

taglist: @cancelledkaley @stanheights-boyfriend @ploty-twist @jhutch-bf @laurrrelise @joshfutturman @gryffindorsblog @sofiehutch @obsessivemuso-withnofriends @helen-on-earth @fallingboba @cassiecasluciluce @maticka @jhutchissupercool ♡︎

#clapton davis #josh hutcherson #detention 2011 #josh hutcherson x reader #clapton davis x you #clapton davis x reader #clapton x reader #clapton davis x gn!reader #josh hutcherson fanfic #josh hutcherson fluff #josh hutcherson smut #mike schmidt #mike schmidt x you #clapton davis smut #clapton davis fluff #clapton davis fanfic

[worriedvision]

Here's the first ending to the poly tighnari and Cyno fic, this was the intended ending before the Zhongli discussion was a thing lol! Ill add in the link for the fic here when I can!

--

A few weeks later was when Cyno discovered you were no longer in Sumeru. He believed that you must have had something come up with your work, and the important thing could have waited, but there was something that didn't feel right. The first person he started dating, and this was the first time you hadn't even seen him once in weeks. It's not like he had to try too hard to see you, always finding it endearing when he saw his first love.

But then he overheard a rumour that you left for work in Liyue. He would have dismissed it if it weren't for the fact this was around the same time you had asked to talk to him and presumably Tighnari, the other part of the relationship. He didn't think you would have went to work in the chasm, solely because you were entirely unfamiliar with the area, but from a work point of view the Chasm was really good to work.

Then he finds out that Tighnari looked into it, and found out quickly that you had left.

"Why have you been lying to me?" Cyno asks, hurt evident in his voice. Tighnari winces, this sound being unpleasant. "I've been worried sick for them, and I'm sure you love them as much as I do."

Tighnari doesn't respond for a good few seconds.

"To put it simply, it looks like they must have had a change of heart." Tighnari responds, hoping Cyno would understand his perspective. From his point of view, you weren't able to keep up with him and Cyno, and you never looked happy especially when your boyfriend had changed how he was with you.

"...You saw them leave, didn't you?" Cynos voice cracks, Tighnari nodding. Cyno takes a deep breath, slowly processing the fact that you were now gone from his life, and Cyno scolds himself for treating Tighnari like an exciting new boyfriend and you like the safe lover that he 'always' had.

Tighnari watches as his boyfriend walks away, a tight feeling in his chest. He knew Cyno wouldn't be able to stay mad, but he didn't feel right about it. He should have actually tried to get to know you, past the stuff everyone knew, but he shut you out when you tried to talk to him.

--

You had been joining a new team of miners that were older and more experienced, and when you were first there, they did quiz you. It was nothing malicious, just for them to check you had a good enough head on your shoulders to navigate through the caves until they went too deep. Satisfied with your answers, they treat you like the 'kid' of the group.

A hobby you had back in Sumeru was stone carving. Sometimes, you had carved small patterns into stones to pass the time when a rock had to be merged with some other material for identification purposes before completing a job. One you always carved to signify where you had been was a four leaf sigil, similar to those ones that hovered. Sure, you didn't have a vision, but this allowed you to at least see the stone carving.

It's like a ritual for you - you had stones ready to deploy, and the miners you worked with found it endearing and cute so they teased you, but they left the stones where they were.

The cavern you were exploring started to show signs of instability, and everyone with exception of the oldest member of the group wanted to leave. When the others go to move back, you see that the bloke wasn't going to leave.

"I'm staying, you guys go ahead." You call out, the man turning to you and placing a hand on his hip.

"Kid, you got a long life ahead of you if you leave." He scolds you. Seeing your gaze not falter, he shakes his head. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

You both walk along, him showing you the picture of his loving wife and his adorable son. The way both of them have genuine smiles, it tells you that this man had people who loved him. You ignore the pain in your heart, listening as he starts rambling about the achievements his 5 year old had done already and a hearty laugh when he finishes his chat, putting his wallet away before he looks over.

"You must have someone yourself." He pokes your side, you realising he was asking about who you had close to you.

"...Promise you won't judge?" The man nods, encouraging you to continue. "Well, back in Sumeru I did have a boyfriend. At first it was really nice, he had his work as a Ma-" you clear your throat, stopping yourself from telling this man about Cynos work. "Well, I can't exactly explain what he does. A really incredible guy."

"I'm feeling a big but in the air." The man says, you nodding your head.

"At one point, he got interested in another guy. It wasn't cheating, it was only that I saw the way he looked at Tighnari. I asked him to have the guy join the relationship, thinking maybe it would be nice." You think to yourself, unsure what else to say. "I tried to get closer to him myself, to know my 'other boyfriend' better, but he couldn't stand my job. My lover stopped giving me the affection he once did, and well I knew that I lost him the moment that man came along." You say. "And that's what brought me to the Chasm."

The man across from you nods, silently agreeing to keep this to himself. You both walk on, and he asks you to tell him when you want to start dating again. It was almost like he himself knew how painful this stuff could be. You keep placing the rocks, your mind screaming at you that these were going to be especially important.

The man falls through the ground, and you instinctively grab him, not following safety guidelines as you grab his side. He understands what you're doing, but not why, simply deciding to hold onto your side as you both fall. You close your eyes, praying that someone could figure out how to get enough elemental energy into the stones of yours to get enough four leaf clovers to get out.

--

Tighnari gets an urgent request to run along to the opening of the Chasm, and he rushes along with the fear in his mind that you were hurt somehow.

The sound is overwhelming for Tighnari, and he almost turns back until he realises people are calling for two names, one of which being yours. Tighnari picks up his pace, grabbing his bow as one stone in particular stands out. It does sound silly in hind sight, but Tighnari got an idea. He infused a bow with dendro, aiming and taking a shot.

His mouth falls open, gasping as he watches four leaf clovers spawning in. His ears pick up on someone using the device, and he keeps aiming and shooting at the rock as he jogs along to get to where the first leaf spawned. Chances are, neither you nor the guy had a vision, so he would have to be the elemental source. He spots the line that implies someone is using the teleporting device, and he expects to see a second one despite not hearing it. When he realises you're holding onto someone, he can't stop himself from dropping everything and sprinting towards you.

You drop to the ground the moment you see the surface, your older colleague pulling you safely away from the edge. Hearing footsteps, your eyes close out of exhaustion after the prior events, thinking it was simply your colleagues.

--

"Sweetheart?" Tighnari hushes out, not able to ignore how the man you had saved with you glared at him "Can you hear me?" Tighnari doesn't even realise he's just given you a pet name, simply administering the best care he could.

"You." He hears someone say. Reluctantly, his head looks up, regretting his actions when he makes direct eye contact with the guy. "So you're the one they were talking about." Tighnari's head tilts, him not understanding the question. "Haven't you done enough?"

Tighnari feels you stir in his grasp, and he turns his attention to you.

"Honey, I'm here." Tighnari hushes out, you not leaning away. "Are you feeling okay?" You groan out, clearly not wanting to stay awake for now.

"I'll be taking them back to Sumeru." Tighnari states, holding you in his arms as he stands up. "Rest assured, I willy take care of them."

"Stop playing with their heart, you twerp." The man growls, his wife reprimanding him before she gets Tighnari to stop for a moment.

"My husband told me about that stone, something about them carving those personally." His wife starts. "Please, I want to thank the both of you. Them for somehow carving those stones to be effective, and you for uh... Doing what that was." She laughs lightly, Tighnari nodding before leaving.

--

You wake up in Tighnaris bed, and you already knew you were back in Sumeru, specifically the region where Tighnari stayed. You get up, holding back the gasp out of the immense pain you got, before you try to sneak out.

"And where do you think youre going?" You hear Tighnari tease, before he gets up and lightly places you back onto bed. "Morning, sleepyhead."

"I need to go back to the Chasm. I have work there, and I need to move on." You explain, crossing your arms before wincing. Tighnari can't help but smirk, him handing you some medication to take for pain relief.

"No you don't." Tighnari states. "After a discussion, your boss and I came to an agreement. You'd create those stones, and I'll even let you get the stone samples from Sumeru yourself, and these would be shipped to them for their own uses." Tighnari explains.

"That solves one problem, but it doesn't change the fact I can't get over Cyno." You explain, Tighnari nodding.

"Well, I did shut you out." Tighnari admits, sitting next to your bed before continuing. "Let's give this a real chance, I think we have more in common that we've thought." He smiles, you nodding before starting to talk.

--

Cyno visits Tighnari a week after the incident, and he wasn't mentally ready to hear your voice. He hears it, and he fails to ground himself before he runs over to the source of the noise, that being laughter from Tighnaris place. Opening the door, there you both are. Tighnari looking rather happy with himself, successfully making you laugh and you leaning into his embrace.

Cyno enters the room, and the both of you look up. Cyno feels like he's in a dream, he had been trying to stop thinking of you but nothing worked. He reaches out, touching you to make sure you weren't an illusion as he stares blankly. After he pauses, he wraps his arms around Tighnari, crushing you in between the both of them. Hearing you yelp, he pulls away apologising before he holds you closely.

"You won't believe what happened" Tighnari stated, him starting to explain what happened while you held Cyno in your arms. Cyno doesn't seem to want to let go, he still think you must not actually be here, especially so close to Tighnari. It felt like he was on cloud nine, both of his lovers finally realising they were also compatible.

#gender neutral reader #genshin impact imagines #angst #tighnari #tighnari x gender neutral reader #tighnari x reader #cyno #cyno x gender neutral reader #cyno x reader #cyno x reader x tighnari #cyno x gender neutral reader x tighnari

[starlightshadowsworld]

Sorry if I ended up spamming your notifs but I looked through your dashboard cuz of that Fukuzawa post- how he could feel the bond snapping if the people he consider his subordinates died, and... never in my life have I considered that bond could've applied to Fukuchi when the guy left---

(But then it crossed my mind as I write this that idk if it's fortunate or devastating for Fukuzawa if something life-threatening happened to Ranpo because Ranpo doesn't have an ability that bonded with All Men Are Equal.)

Anyways, I love your post about Atsushi being in the mafia as part of the exchange cuz I love seeing Mori suffer.

I always define Atsushi as "light in the darkness" because in Beast, that's how he was for Kyouka (he'll always be her light).

Sorry for rambling, I should've sent you this as a message but idk if you'd feel comfy about some random acc popping in your inbox.

First off, ramble away.

I love having discussions and stuff about the stuff I talk about.

You're good, I don't mind. If you or someone else was spamming my inbox, I'd let ya know.

I do generally prefer people message me thro the asks, especially if I don't know you.

That aside and onto ur message.

I just can't get over that line of Fukuzawa saying he'd know if Kunikida had died.

That in some way he would've felt it. And I see it as a connection, as an almost physical bond between them that would've been cut.

And the idea of his connection with Fukuchi breaking. What was possibly one of the oldest connections Fukuzawa had, dissolving over time.

Fukuzawa trying to hold onto it because he still sees him as his friend. But it's broken and there's nothing he can do to get it back.

And it being so sad because Fukuzawa is used to these bonds breaking at death, but Fukuchi was lost to him long before he died.

I didn't think about Ranpo.

I think Fukuzawa sees it as both a blessing and a curse that he can't feel if Ranpo is okay.

But it's a testament to their bond that it isn't required. They trust each other so much, that it's like a sixth sense for Fukuzawa to know what Ranpo's up too.

While also knowing that if he wasn't grey before he met Ranpo, he would've definitely gone grey after meeting him.

Agreed.

Atsushi is the beast beneath the moonlight. He is the literal light in the darkness.

The idea of Kyouka envisioning the light with Atsushi as a apart of that, is gonna make me cry I love them both.

Atsushi in the Port Mafia to me is Mori being like I'm gonna corrupt you and Atsushi's like power of friendship motherfucker.

Atsushi won't go to therapy but you bet your ass he's giving everyone in the Port Mafia therapy.

Atsushi met Mori as werid ex doctor who gave him good but advice once. I think he'd be a bit... Skeptical this man is the head of the Port Mafia.

I think he'd listen to him but would think through and use that advice while following his own morals.

Like he did before.

Which is infuriating and fascinating to Mori because clearly Atsushi gets where he's coming from... He just won't do it.

Quite a juxtaposition from everyone else in the Port Mafia follows Mori without question.

But Atsushi does not.

I love the idea of his interactions with Mori are him being mostly maliciously compliant.

Like he's not outright doing something wrong but he's still pissing him off.

Something Dazai and Kunikida would've definitely taught him.

Like Mori's going on a whole spiel and Atsushi is just colouring on the floor with Elise paying him no attention.

And Mori can't say anything because Elise is so happy so he's just silently seething.

That whole Anne's Room episode and seeing these two interact for the first time, with Atsushi not knowing Mori's identity

Is just so intresting to me. More interactions between them is something I want.

That and I'd be curious to see if there was any information to do with the Port Mafia getting the bounty for Atsushi from the Guild and Fyodor.

Because yeah it could've just been for the reward, but was there more to it than that?

Or if the Headmaster had connections to the Port Mafia.

Because however small it may be, the Headmaster still made contact with the Port Mafia to sell a gun.

He's not from the area, but somehow arranged a meeting with them.

And in my opinion died very suspiciously.

I mean I personally hc that the injections the Headmaster was giving Atsushi were obtained from Mori when he was an underground doctor.

Whether that's true or not, idk but it would be intresting if Mori knew more about Atsushi than we realise.

But yeah that's just some of my thoughts.

#atsushi nakajima #bsd atsushi #bsd mori #bsd fukuzawa #fukuzawa yukichi #mori ougai #bsd fukuchi #bsd ranpo #bungou stray dogs #Bsd #long post

[akfamilyhome]

YouTube 2023 Year in Review

Welp! Guess it's that time of year again. I'm sure 2023 has been a...pretty interesting year to say for quite a few people. And for me personally, it's also been a weird little year that's great in some parts and could be better in others.

What have I been up to?

My life right now is kinda divided into three parts:

A) the "IRL" stuff, as in working on my editing day job and spending time with family.

B) working on YouTube videos which I still have the passion for,

and C) playing video games, collecting cool things and socializing with my online friends.

I've always felt that it's difficult for me to put equal attention to all three, and lately, it definitely feels like I'm focusing on 'A' and 'C' more. Of course, my day job is kinda how I make a living at the moment so that obviously gets priority, but that doesn't mean I want to ignore my YouTube stuff! It's just hard to sneak in a few lines of script-writing while multitasking at a day job, and only being able to freely spend time on 'B' and 'C' during night isn't the most productive way to go about things, especially with other things that aren't YouTube production. I also have games I want to play, art I want to draw, folks I'd like to hang out with etc.

And that's a fine, healthy way of going about things online for regular folks! But I don't want my YouTube channel to stagnate as a result of this, because I still love making videos! I have support from folks on Patreon, and I still hope to continue growing the channel so that it becomes more sustainable to do frequent updates.

Part of me has always thought about just quitting my day job once I have a decent amount of money saved up and just try doing YouTube full-time and rely on Patreon, even if there's a very low chance it'd be sustainable. Of course, that's a big gamble, and I'm not truly sure if that's really the best way to go about things. But those are just my inner thoughts and I've rambled long enough...

So, I apologize for the above situation sort of being the root cause of the recent slower pace of my YouTube channel! The pace of the channel this year is about the same as in 2022, if not a little slower. I didn't really get a lot of dormant scripts from 2020-2021 off the ground, but being true to what I said in last year's Year in Review, I did end up working on a lot of spontaneous ideas even if there wasn't a "big" core video! In fact, I think almost every video released in 2023 that we'll discuss below were spontaneous ideas.

I'll talk more about what's to come for the channel in the end of the post, but for now, as usual, we'll take a look at each video I made during 2023 and I'll share my thoughts and some fun facts about each!

A Trip to the Hong Kong Kirby Pop-Up Store

Various things were put up on the channel from January to March, including a funny little short for Mario Day and a new trailer for a revamped Patreon, but the major thing I put out was a look at the Kirby Pop-Up Store in Hong Kong! This was my first time doing a scripted documentation of an in-person event, and Nintendo Hong Kong would eventually do more events like Nintendo Live 2023 Hong Kong, and I'll definitely be talking about them on my channel eventually!

As for fun facts...uhh...I suppose Patreon patrons get to see the full unedited raw footage I took from the event lol

Top 10 Nintendo Trivia You NEVER Knew

This year's April Fools video...was also a last-minute sort of idea, if I recall correctly! The concept is simple: it's a parody of generic Top 10 trivia videos in terms of presentation, but the curveball is instead of just doing other blatantly obvious fun facts, the facts would actually be super obscure, inconsequential Nintendo facts that barely anyone would've known about, so in the end it's kind of a legit trivia video in a twisted way. The facts in the video were sourced from new research, me asking friends for suggestions and some of my old posts on Twitter, so there were a few 'fun' facts that were left on the cutting room floor, and here's a good place to share them!

In an early version of the GameCube instruction manual, Mario 64 was used as a placeholder game

The infamous 'black box' in Super Mario 64 DS is not a visual glitch as commonly believed, and briefly appears in E3 2004 footage

Prototype screenshots of Mario 64 have appeared in an early print of the game's box art...and on a Nintendo Monopoly board in 2006 (next to the ? Block on the right side of the board if you're looking)

The Onion in Hey! Pikmin has white and purple in its colors, even though white and purple Pikmin never appear in the game

The original 3DS had two separate sets of black & white colors, for some reason

And to finally come clean...yes, around 30% of the video's script was generated using ChatGPT, as part of the joke. Mostly the introductory bits at the beginning of each segment, since it definitely did not give me the results I wanted when I asked it to describe the specific details of each fact, so y'know, hopefully that's a sign it's not coming for my job of talking about obscure Nintendo things! And don't worry, this will probably be the only time I ever use AI in my videos.

The Better N64 Wavebird Experience

This is a follow-up to a 2021 video where I also used the N64 Switch Online controller on an original N64, albeit with a different adapter! This actually isn't a case where I received a free product to do a review on, I just happened to read about a better alternative, pre-ordered it online, it arrived in April and I decided to knock out a quick review/comparison video in 2 days!

As such, this is more of standard informative review video, but in all honesty, I still really like this setup, and it's in my opinion still one of the best controller options for original N64 games. So much so, that I recently completed my NSO controller collection by picking up a Sega Mega Drive 6-button NSO controller to eventually use with my original Mega Drive! I'm still looking for the compatible 8bitDo adapter though, so maybe when I eventually do, that can be a quick little video on the Plus channel for patrons!

The Most Expensive amiibo

This is my favorite video I put out this year! The Qbby amiibo has always been in my sights for a while, and I've gone on record saying that I'd make a video on it if I got my hands on one.

Back in 2019, I once saw a Qbby amiibo being offered on Yahoo Auctions for a relatively cheap price, but to afford it I asked for extra donations via Ko-fi. Looking back on it now there were probably better options I could've taken, but either way the listing got cancelled and I refunded everyone who donated for that. Then sometime later I saw another relatively cheap BOXBOY package in a local listing, but then the seller never replied and deleted the listing, so the amiibo has eluded me until now, and there seems to be no signs of Qbby stock going down any time soon. My hope for a Qbby reprint continues, and hopefully this video still serve as a little awareness boost for folks who are wondering why he's one of the most expensive amiibo around!

Some of the gag editing on this one got spruced up a little bit which I enjoyed doing, but you also probably noticed that I got a turntable specifically for those glamour shots! ...yeah, I'll probably get more use of that thing later on as well.

The Kirby Battle Royale online joke wasn't exaggeration: I couldn't find anyone to play online with! I suppose that is to be expected for, y'know, playing a mid 3DS game in 2023, but it's a shame that Kirby Battle Royale doesn't at least offer a option to play with friends, and from some experimentation, it seems that two of my US-based friends were able to match with each other online while I couldn't, which also suggested some region-based matchmaking was at play. Oh well! There are some better 3DS games out there that I'd still like to play online one last time before their servers shut down this April.

Tetris...on a McDonald's Nugget

Continuing the trend of 'make video on a recent find' for the third video in a row, it's the China-exclusive McDonald's Tetris Chicken McNugget! For an unscripted Things of Interest video, it turned out pretty well, kinda like the Rhythm Tengoku arcade video in 2022! Compared to the first unscripted TOI back in like 2018, I've definitely gotten a bit better at rambling since.

I was kind of a few days late to the party, and some other videos about the Tetris Nugget from larger channels have racked up more views since, but that's not really the point! As a casual Tetris fan that happens to be in proximity to mainland China, something as bizarre as this is totally right up my alley. Covering China-exclusive gaming stuff just kinda reminds me that I have yet to do a video on the iQue Player though, which I really want to...

FlashBoy Plus: The $95 Virtual Boy Flashcart

I haven't really taken a YouTube sponsorship deal yet, but I do get emails about doing reviews or ad reads of items on occasion, like new Switch gaming accessories from different third parties and whatnot. Unfortunately, that's not really the type of stuff I do regularly on the channel unless I find a great angle to tackle it from, so the only review offer I've done on the channel until now is a limited Switch physical release in 2020.

When I was offered to review the FlashBoy Plus, I was definitely intrigued despite having already previously covered the HyperFlash 32, a technically better option! Virtual Boy flashcarts are already a very niche thing, so I gladly took the opportunity to take a look at any new option out there, and even if it's not a mainstream topic at all it does kinda appeal to me specifically.

In the video, I mentioned the (very cool looking) clear cartridge shell was not a publicly available option yet at the time of the review, but looking at the order site now, it has been added since! So hey, good for them! It is honestly pretty sick to have a transparent Virtual Boy cartridge.

Playing PC Games with the SNES Mouse & Famicom Keyboard

I started work on the next core video right after the FlashBoy Plus video (more on that in the last section), but getting sick during early December forced me to delay it, so for that month I decided to do one last spontaneous idea: a followup to the 2021 video where I used the Famicom keyboard and SNES Mouse on a computer...but this time on a proper PC!

A thing that was brought up in the comments was one setting in particular: when I was changing the mouse settings in the Control Panel, there was a 'Enhance pointer precision' option that I didn't uncheck, which presumably slows down the mouse for precise movements. There wasn't a super noticeable difference when I unchecked it during further testing, but when I coupled it with further increasing the mouse sensitivity in games that allow you to change it in-game, I was actually able to get the SNES Mouse to move at a decent pace in some games! Of course, that requires tweaking with additional settings that would normally be overkill for a regular mouse, so it's still not practical, but at least there was a setup that would alleviate some of my complaints in the video.

Akfamilyhome Plus videos

Over on my second channel Akfamilyhome Plus, once again there's a variety of stuff! There's Mario Wonder memes, a new high quality video game rip album, archival footage and more. If there's one thing you should check out though, it's the supercuts of me playing Everybody 1-2-Switch with my Discord server. It's the best kind of chaos. Long live Kitchen Timer 4.

This year, 8 new unscripted bonus videos were released publicly! You can enjoy watching me:

Visit the 3DS eShop on its final day of operation

Check out the Nintendo DSi XL Demo Video carts

Look through gaming goodies on a Chinese second-hand market

Unseal Captain Toad Treasure Tracker for the 3DS

Read through the 2010 Nintendo Anti-Piracy Manual

Unbox a complete copy of the original GBA Play-Yan

Compare the two popular 3DS capture card models

And check out the Nintendo Power...rewritable cartridge!

And over on Patreon, 8 more exclusive videos are also available, featuring things like a slew of Nintendo cleaning kits, iQue DS games, the Chinese Mario Movie DVD and more! As always if you don't want to wait till some of them rotate into public availability, they're all available on Patreon for just $1 USD a month!

The fuuuuture

Okay, so what's next for 2023?

I mean 2024. Oh god the typos are already starting.

Right before the FlashBoy Plus video came out, in late June 2023, I did a video topic poll on Patreon, asking what idea I should do next. Out of the four options given, one of them is a continuation of a limbo project from 2021, and the other three were spontaneous new core video ideas I came up with and wanted to do.

Well, one of the spontaneous new ideas won the poll, so the next core video is...

A look at the camera and sound apps on both the Nintendo DSi and 3DS! I originally wanted to get this out in December, and you all know what happened to that plan, BUT the script is done, the VO recording is done, footage recording is well underway and I am confident I'll be able to get it out this January. I really like how the script for this one shaped up and am commissioning some banger thumbnail art for it (🐦), so I REALLY hope you'll look forward to it!

Afterwards, there are a few in-progress ideas that I also want to work on for quick videos afterwards. As mentioned above, I visited Nintendo Live 2023 Hong Kong which was hosted on November, and ALSO the Nintendo Hong Kong Pop-Up Store which is running from December to January, so both of those would make for a perfect video in a similar vein as the Kirby Pop-Up Store video last year!

I also went on a trip to Japan last August, and took quite a bit of photos and footage. I still want to share my findings and experiences of being in Tokyo for the first time that I could remember, so there will be a fun little piece about that going on the Plus channel in the future!

And don't forget, I'm making a video about every game I beat during 2023, continuing the thing I started last year!

And after ALL of the above is done, I still have the remaining core video ideas from the June Patreon poll I did, since I did say I'd eventually love to do all of them, and that desire still hasn't gone away. I don't know how the rest of 2024 will go for this channel but I'd say this is a fantastic starting point, and I hope it'll all go up from there, since I'd really love to be more productive on here, while trying to keep that A-B-C balance in check!

So yeah! That's it for the 2023 Year in Review. If you've made it all the way to the bottom, thank you for reading! Here's a 25-use invite link to my Discord server as a little something! Thank you to all of you who've supported me this past year, whether you're a viewer or a patron, and I hope to keep up the work this year and try to strive for better!

#akfamilyhome words #year in review #Youtube

[benny-the-spaceman]

smthn ive been thinking about a lot more recently is how much symbolism not just tlm 1 but tlm 2 have in relations to outliers or ppl who are different in society and how theyre treated or how they treat others. this has been explained to death by ppl much more eloquent than me for tlm 1, but i don't see it get discussed as much with tlm 2, which is probably just me not looking as hard as i could but i still feel like talking about it because it means a lot to me (more under the cut bc it's a rambling kinda night)

one thing with tlm 2 that i noticed pretty recently (like earlier today recently) is how "the oppressed" in a sense become "the oppressor" and, from personal experience, that feels a lot like how older generations of oppressed groups treat younger generations when they dont assimilate. im only going to speak from my own experience, because i know how often this type of stuff can vary from person to person but as someone with mental disabilities and as someone who's japanese-american, there's so many similarities between how the other master builders treated emmet in tlm 2 and how older generations have treated me and other people I know. like when emmet was being cheery and, well, himself, the other master builders and townspeople shunned him, because they learned that acting like themselves was bad and would hurt them. Similarly, i always learned that idea of "being yourself" or "embracing your culture", but as i got older all of a sudden the same people tell me i cant, or that it's dangerous, or weak, or dumb, or lazy, etc etc because they were taught that through their experiences. And as much as it can be understood why theyd want to do that, most of the time they feel like it's protecting you, just like how the master builders felt telling emmet to toughen up was protecting him, it often just hurts you. In my case, it created a huge disconnect between me and my culture that I'm still working to fix and it's made me only very recently realize how much of myself ive hidden or dont understand because of the disorders I have. I think it's all part of why emmet as a character resonates with so many people, myself included. He's really the best example of how suppressing individuality can hurt someone, and him going against that and showing that being himself is ok is something that's almost healing in a way. It rly feels like he's telling us that we can do that too! that being ourselves isnt something to be ashamed of or hidden and that hiding those parts of ourselves hurts us more than it helps!!

Long story short, emmet's character, in the 1st movie of course but in 2nd movie especially, really resonates with me, both as someone with mental disorders/disabilities and as a 2nd generation japanese immigrant. those themes of suppressing yourself to fit in and being told constantly that was the only way to be safe really hits different when youve been told similar things your whole life. It's part of why i cry when i watch both movies, because emmet's character understands that in a way i could never articulate before. He's rly a masterfully written character, and he deserves all the love he gets for being such

Anyways that's the end of my little ramble, have a cookie for making it this far 🍪 and have a good day/night 🫶

#the lego movie #the lego movie 2

[viviennevermillion]

Things to do with Vil

notes: reposting bc I’m deleting my archived sideblogs. can be read as platonic or romantic.

contains: vil schoenheit x gn!reader

warnings: none

Sipping tea and eating cake tbh. I mean, have you read his lab coat story? This man is overworked and constantly trying to hold an appearance, he’ll be glad to just sit down with you and drink a cup of his favorite tea in a dim lit room, preferably in the evening. I headcanon Vil as one of those people who can’t relax during daytime because he’d feel like he should be productive instead so just bring him a cup once the sun has set and he’ll comply a lot easier. He’ll refuse to eat the cake at first because of the calories so he will just longingly stare at it for a solid 15 minutes until you convince him to try it.

Let him do your hair and make up and pick an outfit for you. This one’s pretty obvious. You can always rely on his beauty skills and when Vil takes care of your looks you can guarantee it’ll look fabulous in the end! Additionally Vil just loves showing off said skills and being creative. Just let his brain work its magic. He’ll be very considerate of what qualities, passions and unique characteristics you have and will try his best to make you radiate those on the outside. It’ll be like making art for him. Especially if he knows you well it’s like a challenge for him: “How can I portray the identity of this person through their appearance?” And we all know Vil loves a good challenge. Make sure to compliment the final result too! Because in the end showing off fashion is a lot like serving a dinner you cooked; you just want the people you made it for to enjoy it and to acknowledge you!

As I’ve said Vil loves a good challenge and some friendly competitions! Got a huge wardrobe? Access to a large shop full of clothes? Drawing skills? A website where you can put outfits together? Take turns giving eachother prompts! Whether it’s Halloween or afternoon at the beach or dark academia, just try to work with the topic and portray it with fashion. Vil enjoys comparing the final results and seeing how your result and interpretation of the motto differs from his own, even though he’ll be highly critical (forgive him, he means well).

Go to a restaurant together. Let Vil pick the restaurant. And for the sake of Azul and the tweels make sure it’s not Mostro Lounge. Because Vil is a Gordon Ramsey level of critical. But if he does like the food it’ll be a calm and enjoyable atmosphere.

Major headcanon of mine is that Vil just loves deep conversations and long debates. As long as it’s not one of his fields of expertise he’s actually really considerate of your opinions and arguments. He doesn’t mind having his perspectives challenged once in a while. Despite being slightly superficial at first glance, Vil is more than capable of appreciating an innovative mind and some casual critical thinking. Give him your thoughts on beauty standards in our society! Discuss the education at NRC! Debate Epels views on gender roles! Pick a topic you like and know stuff about. Vil’s gonna talk and he’s gonna like it. I feel like he gets those types of conversations rarely and as much as he loves his career, he’s around superficiality way too much and some balance will do him good!

Go to the theatre! Theatre kid Vil is lowkey canon by now. I bet he loves dressing fancy in the evening and watching an interesting play with you. Will quote it later on. And ofc discuss all the behind the scenes stuff and how the script was portrayed and the costumes etc. Rambles about this for 2 hours.

Same goes for the cinema. Hell, he’s in the Movie Appreciation Club. He’s an actor. Out of respect for you and the other customers he won’t comment on anything during the movie but you can bet he’s going to hold you a presentation about it right after.

If you play an instrument or can sing, perform a duet together. Just the two of you when no people are around. Let Vil pick a song he vibes with. If you two are dating and get a good recording it’ll be his ringtone but psst~

Vil’s aesthetic sense is so strong, he can’t help but project onto things like poetry, art, landscapes, symbolism etc. constantly. Vibes and atmospheres have a bigger impact on his mood than he would like to. Chances are there are some of those things he associates with you. Go to art museums. Take a walk in the beautiful nature. Sit down in the library and read something together. This is also how you get him to be emotional. Vil is a very private person usually but sit in front of the Pomefiore dorm at night, look at the stars and read the legend of the Beautiful Queen together and chances are he’s going to offhandedly mention childhood memories or his father. Especially when it’s night time and he’s tired. He’s gonna regret this in the morning but you won’t soooo

If you’re close enough and he’s comfortable letting his guard down around you honestly just let him be silly and chaotic once in a while. He needs it and he also deserves it. Have a pillow fight. Make some stupid puns. Look at memes on Magicam. Gossip about the teachers. Vil’s honest, natural laugh is beautiful and he’s doing it way less than he probably should.

Study sessions! Vil will help you out in subjects you struggle. He’ll ask for your feedback in subjects you’re good at. Both of you will be more calm and motivated in each other’s presence while studying.

Believe it or not - cooking. Don’t get me wrong, Vil won’t get his hands dirty. He’ll wear gloves the entire time and the maximum he’s willing to touch anything messy is when he’s seperating an egg. Want him to make dough? No chance. Doesn’t touch flour. Or wash the dishes. Or cut onions because the crying would ruin his makeup yk? But he’ll cut the vegetables for you and stir the pot and decorate the plate and then he’ll look at the final result like “I made this” with a neutral smile but you can see the pride in his eyes.

Honestly just let this man relax and be a normal 18 year old once in a while.

#twisted wonderland #vil schoenheit headcanons #vil schoenheit x reader #vil schoenheit x you #twst x reader

[ruthlesslistener]

Honestly your analysis on Wyrm culture and PK gave me a lot of inspiration on how view him. I don’t mind him woobified if that’s how some fans like him, but really breaking him down, I can’t ignore the facts with him. I find myself enjoying viewing him in a more antagonistic role with how views himself and others. By Wym merits—regardless of how neurodivergent he is compared to most of his kind—he is a conqueror. His function is to build a kingdom and build it well.

I also love how you view him hating his Wyrm instincts and suppressing them, but at the end of the day, you can only fight your instincts so long.

I don’t want to ramble too much as I would probably just go on discussing Herrah and Lurien as well.

Very glad you enjoy my interpretation of him, anon! I've been writing stuff with him in it since like, November 2019 so it means a lot to hear that people like how I write him given the time I've put into trying to understand and flesh out his character from the hints we get in canon. He's a conquerer and he has some pretty terrible ideas about self-worth, but he loves so deeply and the results of that love are what make him truely monsterous. Very fun guy to play around with, esp. with the added 'dragon in man's clothing' deal he has going on.

Personally I dislike the more recent trend of woobifying him just bc he canonically felt super guilty about mass murder, but that's based entirely on the fact that I like him BECAUSE he's tragic and a deeply flawed, fucked up, terrible person, so it's more just not my thing. But I will take woobified PK ANY day over how the fandom was when I first joined, where people seemed to unanimously think he was the epitome of misogynistic evil intentionally abusive straight white male capitalist who kicked the vessels into the Abyss as well as being a colonizer of Hallownest, and if you liked him you'd have to list all his faults and say you don't support him every other breath and if you contradicted the fanon idea of him you'd get slammed for it (people thought that him being 'The Pale King' and his wife 'The White Lady' was direct proof that he was a colonizer who genocided the moths....when the reality is that they're just both literally white. I have seen only one person deal with this take with any sort of nuance, the rest was...oh boy it was bad). They're probably still out there and just have me blocked, but the trend of people viewing PK as a pathetic little man has increased to the point where I think they're in the minority now. Which is a relief, because while I can understand hating PK, you at least should get his character right. And he canonically IS a pathetic little man. I just want to kick him down a flight of stairs and set him on fire with a blowtorch rather than swing him around like a stinky little ferret

I'm ALWAYS down for hearing rambles about Herrah and Lurien though!!! Especially Lurien. Please god the Lurien fanclub is like 2.5 people we're dying like flies out here scoob

#hollow knight #that i project all my worst parts heavily onto pk probs has a lot to do with me not liking the woobifying #but at its core? its harmless. and is usually a different way of making fun of how he was in canon. so ive got no beef with it #i just want more legitimatly awful pk except his awfulness is born in love and he doesnt realize its harmful bc its a perpetualization of #the cycle of abuse he did to *himself* #the pale king #anon #reply #but yeah all the more power to y'all i just dont understand the appeal of him outside of him being terrible

[larrylimericks]

27Sep22

Lou on Sang was one hell of a ride: Loves Zayn’s vocals, Li hate was denied; Weed’s good, ass tat’s bad; mesonfreddiemelad; Said he didn’t leak Home (but he lied).

Breaking the poetry wall to ramble about this interview (which was just too much for a few dozen syllables, but I tried). I like and respect Zach Sang as an interviewer. He listens to his subject, and while he has his questions and prompts prepared, he lets the conversation flow organically. And he doesn’t talk over people like fucking Zane Lowe. Louis thrives in those free-flowing, long-format discussions about music and creative process. I could listen to him endlessly. Which is why the forced babygate stuff stands out so sharply. The interview went hard on it. And here’s what I found especially sus:

Zach brings up seeing Louis perform in L.A. and is in the middle of waxing poetic about how Louis commands the room, when Louis very inorganically derails him specifically to bring up the kid (and goes all oBViOuSLy big-eyed). Stoner-brain Louis sure was quick with the knowledge that it was the Saturday night show where Zach and the kid would have overlapped. (I highly doubt Louis would be able to recall the day of the week for any other show on tour. He was prepared to get that in.) He goes on to mention very specific things to prove he knows dad details (like the kid’s bedtime). And he plays up the hero image thing again, which he did with the surfboard Christmas gift story, so now it’s a narrative. He goes into unnecessary detail to over-explain things (we locked eyes, which we could do because the venue is big but not too big ... ).

But what I can’t synthesize is that he says it’s the first time “me son’s gonna see me perform” (I get that he means live, but he makes it sound like the kid has no concept of what he does. His grandparents aren’t showing him videos? They didn’t let him watch the London livestream? For which his dad set a Guinness record? They didn’t crack him up with 800 plays of the fookin’-chicken-nugget clip?) and then that having seen a show, the kid now understands what he does (and that not everyone’s dad does what he does) ... But then he goes on to talk about how, like with his little sisters, his rock star life has always been normal to the kid. And those seem like contradictory statements.

And the very specific mention of taking the kid to the park with Oli, and then an unseen of that very occurrence turning up the same day the interview publishes?? It’s never not weird. I have no idea why they’re going so hard, or how they’ll ever end this mess, but it’s apparent that Louis will take the route of “He’ll always be a son to me.” And no mention whatsoever of megirlfriendeleanor. The ass-tat discussion sure would have been a convenient place for that, with all the talk of who sees it and “it’s not sexy” and “someone’s gonna love you for you.” ... Louis’ discussion of it was that of a man unattached. (Has anyone heard Chicago yet? Does he reference it in that song, or summat? Was this ass-tat knowledge seeding? Or was it just because Zach combed fan tweets and it’s a point of curiosity? It was an hour-long interview and I’m left with more questions than answers.)

Anyway ... back to five lines.

#larry #louis #louis tomlinson #stunts #babygate #zach sang #louis definitely lurks on stan twitter or other socials #lilo #zouis #louis' ass tattoo #i don't even know what to put in the tags #it's never not weird #the husbands are promoting too many things simultaneously and it's exhausting #limerick-lt #september 27 #2022

[unleashthegoats]

Hey y'all! Loved the new episode, and wanted to chip in on one of the later points - videogames, especially in relation to the "Grey" Jedi concept. Knights of the Old Republic II really did some irreversible damage in that regard, as much as I love the game (though I prefer the first one). Kreia is one of the most central characters in regard to shifting morality debates in Star Wars (in universe and from fans alike) imo, and I'd honestly be super interested in hearing you three cover either or both of the games in the podcast, although I understand that's highly unlikely since none of you have played them. But she is extremely relevant to this topic because she preaches about neutrality and that there's more than just ~dogmatic thinkings of light and dark~, and your relationship with her suffers if you are kind and altruistic and get too rooted in the light side and she's like...one of *the* characters that kind of gets credited with developing a "grey" philosophy in-universe? But people always bring her up as if she's this great point of sensible consideration and not actually, as it turns out, a master manipulator trying to purge the Force from the galaxy (or something like that at least? It's been a while since my last playthrough lol) that lies to you all the time to get you to do what she wants (because she was so crazy bananas both the Jedi and the Sith said "no thank u :)" - well, with a bit more nuance but you get the gist). Really, it's a bit like people falling for Palpatine's anti-Jedi points all over how they talk about her philosophic arguments without bringing that up. But yeah, I thought you might be interested in that. Also, I think KotOR might be what people meant with being able to unlock Dark Side powers as a Light sider but you are absolutely correct that it's a mechanics vs story issue (especially since some powers are indeed alignment-locked AND making dark side choices does impact the character (apart from story, ending and relationships to your party members). It's a bit of a simplistic gimmick, of course, but the further you get into the Dark Side on the alignment, the more it's visible - sickly skin colour, cracks in the skin and flesh, your eyes change...stuff like that. I don't think using Dark Side powers actually pushes you further down the alignment, but the intent is obviously not for Light Siders to mix and match however they like).

Anyway, I'm so sorry for rambling on for so long, but I thought you (or someone, at least :D ) might appreciate that additional info. Keep up the good podcasting! :)

OUR FIRST ASK! I'm so glad you're enjoying the podcast, thank-you so much for listening to us ramble on for an hour once a month!

This is all really interesting! I've read a few metas about the Star Wars video games and the characters within them which is partly why I chose to briefly include them in the episode (and also because I am familiar with Jedi: Survivor which has its own "dark side" mechanic for the main character that was relevant to the discussion). Aside from Jedi: Survivor, I wasn't necessarily referencing any one specific video game, I assume it's probably a thing that's come up more than once.

As far as my reaction to Kreia goes, just based on your description of her, the idea of there being "too much light" just isn't how Lucas's own worldbuilding worked. It's clearly trying to hit on the idea of "balance" being equal amounts of light and dark usage, as opposed to balance being acknowledging darkness EXISTS (in yourself and in the universe) in order to keep yourself from acting on it. There just isn't a way to be "too light" or something like that, there's never "too much" kindness and compassion and selflessness in the world. In this sense, the video games are just going to fall into the same category as the rest of legends and EU stuff, in that they often just do their own thing based on their own interpretations of Star Wars, but it doesn't mean it actually fits with what Lucas himself was trying to get across about the philosophy of the Force and the Jedi in his own stories, and that's primarily what we're using as a base to discuss Star Wars from.

If any of us ends up playing KOTOR, we can certainly try to bring it up more often. I don't think we have any plans of doing more video game stuff currently, but if the KOTOR remake ever comes to pass, maybe I will!

-Mod Sugar

#star wars #kotor #kreia #utg asks

[estbela]

Just saw your post and was wondering if you have any SerbRo headcanons?

Yes. A lot. I'm so normal about them (lying). Although they might change and stuff, since I'm still working on my Serbia OC and stuff. At the moment he's mostly just vibes (and not that different from other serbia OCs anyway). Also the moment anyone asks me about anything I tend to forget anything Ive ever thought but I'll try.

Prepare for a lot of rambling. And for possibly regretting asking me this haha. Im also sleep deprived, as usual, so hopefully everything makes sense.

They're childhood best friends. I don't know exactly when they met, but they definitely met when they were children, and so they were best friends ever since.

Serbia was like...I think one of Ro's first friends? Besides Bulgaria. I think, in a way, they were both lonely wild children who were considered outcasts. In part for being nations, in part because they were both often disobedient and stuff, and thus were "bad kids".

They were such troublemakers as kids, and tbh, they still are. Whenever theyre together you gotta prepare for trouble.

they were both huge francophiles during the 19th century, I think. Idk I just picture them bonding about that.

They get along like a house on fire. They also might have lit up a couple of houses on fire together. What's a little arson between friends? :)

They're both animal lovers! It's also one of the things they bonded about when they first met(I can just imagine them being kids and telling eachoter all the animal facts they know). If they lived together it'd be them and a house full of animals I'm guessing.

They bully Bulgaria together. <3

Anyway more about their relationship.

they...understand eachoter. Understand eachoter so deeply. They know things about eachoter that almost no one else does. They talk about anything(like their interests and such), and about shit they would never be brave enough to discuss with anyone else. Show sides of themselves they didn't even know they had.

Yet they've never truly discussed...the fact that they might be more than friends. Or well, it took them a really long time of knowing eachoter to do so.

They're kindred souls. Also slightly codependent in the way, that they've grew up together, and went through so many things together, and even when they were alone, they still had eachoter. They're kind of inseparable at this point.

Yet, they can go on pretty long times of not talking to eachoter, but then they meet again and it's like...nothing really happened. They immediately pick where they left off. Thought, if they were to ever truly lose eachoter they would not deal with it well At All.

Anyway they both eventually have The Realisation, when theyre like teenagers. For Serb, I think it's maybe in the 16th century. I think...it's not exactly one moment that makes him realise it, but rather, multiple moments of just. Not wanting to be anywhere else in the world than with Ro. Just softly looking at him and having so much fun together.

For Ro...it's much of the same, although more reluctant, in some way. He doesn't really wanna fall in love. Something she learns early on in his life is that love between nations is tricky and often ends badly, and she's already got A Thing going on with Bulgaria.

They actually have their first kiss earlier thought. They're young teens, like maybe 13, or a little more, or less. It's the 14th century and theyre both curious about that kinda thing, and wanna practice for when they'll have a relationship.

And so they do eventually figure if out as I said, and they never talk about it, never say it aloud, but they Know. They know, and even if the both of them act so brave and confident most of the time, like they always know what they're doing, in things such as battle and in general facing enemies, they are afraid. Cause at the end of the day they are young and terrified that if they admit their love aloud it might twist and burn, or worse, it might be used against them, and then they'd lose their best friend.

But I think they do things that some ppl might consider to be of a romantic nature, like kissing and making out and cuddling and holding hands. Theyre both so touch starved, and even if Serb doesn't wanna admit it, he's even more clingy than Ro is. And everyone is kinda used to it cause thats just how Ro & Serb are like.

And like. Realising they love eachoter romantically, does not really change their dynamic cause they were already doing all of this stuff before.

Also, from the outside it might look like they make eachoter worse, but somehow, they manage to make eachoter better.

Their first kiss as teens, after The Realisation, was initiated by Ro.

and theyre not really children anymore but sometimes it feels like theyre two kids again, staring at the stars, talking about nothing in particular, as if they were the only things they mattered. They weren't nations, or well, they were, but sometimes they could almost forget that.

I think they do eventually talk about It. They're both shit at feelings, with Ro being slightly more emotionally intelligent i guess. In the 19th century, because their thing that's neither nothing or something was driving both of them a little insane. And they kinda get in an on and off relationship, but they dont use that word.

As far as anyone is concerned, theyre best friends. Best friends who perhaps aren't simply platonic, who have shared more than just friends ought to. But the fact is, calling eachoter best friends is not untrue, because that's what they are, thought they are also lovers.

And they have loved other people, and still continue to do so.

I guess they might try to not be too close, at least nto in public, when one of them is in a relationship of the monogamous kind, and theyre also the first person they go to after a break up.

Back to the understanding eachoter thing. I think they'd be willing to forgive eachoter for a lot of things, even if both of them are usually really petty(especially Serb). They'd also be willing to do things for eachoter they'd rarely do for others. Theyd kill for eachoter tbh.

I know this is very random and very different in tone after everything Ive talked about but they have a height difference and it's so cute. Serbia is like. 180 something centimeters while Ro is barely 170 cms shdhdhdhs. Anyway it's adorable.

Songs that make me think of them: Bad Idea from the musical Waitress, You don't need to love me from If/Then, Across the Overpass by the Solids...and way more that I cant remember.

And that's...not all. But all that I can remember at the moment cause my memory is shit. And woah, I talked so much about them dhdjddjdj. It's like the first time i ever get to ramble about them to anyone (besides one of my friends)

#just talking recreationally #hetalia #aph #hws #romania #serbia #serbro #I stg they live rent free in my head.

[1800-fight-me]

ok but sitting on eddie’s lap pls as a request 😌✌🏻muah <3

Scary Movie Night

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader (No Y/N)

Rating: T (though as a general rule my blog is 18+)

Warnings: None other than maybe some cursing? This is pure fluff! Also, the reader is about the same age as Eddie (so at least 18!) but otherwise has no description 

Word count: 2.7k

Synopsis: Movie night with the gang is exciting and all but what happens when there's not enough seats in the car and you end up on Eddie's lap?

Author’s note: I hope you like this!! Sorry it took me so long to finish this! It turned out wayyyy longer than planned but I had fun writing it!

P.S. Here’s a link to my masterlist if you’d like to check out my other writing! Also! My taglist is always open- leave me a comment or an ask if you’d like to be added!

It was movie night with the gang. The new gang, you supposed, the unexpected group of people you’d come to know and love. 

Eddie, your best friend in the whole world, you’d known and loved for years. 

But, the rest of the group were all people you’d never expected to spend time with. 

Nancy and Robin were so sweet and you became fast friends through your misadventures in the upside down and with clearing Eddie’s name. You knew your best friend wasn’t a murderer and you vehemently stood up to anyone who thought he was. 

You were still unsure about Steve though. 

Robin had assured you that the ‘dingus’ had changed, but you were wary. You’d been on the receiving end of his so-called friend’s harassment at school a few years back and it left a bad taste in your mouth. 

So far, though, he was fairly nice to you and Eddie so you were slowly letting go of your reservations about him. 

However, when he said he wanted to pick everyone up for movie night you were slightly confused. 

Nancy and Eddie both have vehicles, why did you all need to ride together? And why in Steve’s car when it was the smallest? And why did he invite a girl? 

As his fancy car pulled up you stared dumbfounded at the lack of space for you in it. 

Eddie was sitting in the front seat and Nancy, Robin, and a girl you didn’t know filled up the backseat. 

“Hey sweetheart!” Eddie called out to you as he opened the passenger side door he was sitting in. 

“Hey Eds, uh where am I supposed to sit?” 

Steve smirked at you and the girls in the back seat giggled. 

“Here,” Eddie reached his hand out to you. 

You took it and your eyes widened as you realized he was guiding you to sit on his lap. 

So, here’s the thing about Eddie Munson. He’s funny, sweet, and you’ve been secretly in love with him since you were fifteen. You couldn't help it, and yeah you knew it was a cliche to be in love with your best friend, but he’s everything you’ve ever wanted in a boyfriend and bestfriend all wrapped in one. 

Despite the two of you being as thick as thieves, you’d never sat on his lap before. That was girlfriend stuff, right? Sure, sometimes Eddie would flirt with you, but you were sure he was always joking, there was no way he was into you the way you were into him. 

So every touch, every hug, every flirtatious smile, you brushed off with the surety that he was not desperately in love with you the way you were with him. You didn’t want to get your hopes up and then be crushed when you found out the truth. 

He placed a hand on your waist to help guide you to sit on his lap and your breath caught. He shut the door once you were seated and Steve started the drive once again. 

“Um, is this even safe?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be your seatbelt,” Eddie said, his breath warmed the back of your neck and caused you to shiver. He wrapped both of his arms around your middle and held you tightly. 

“Best seatbelt ever,” you joked and he squeezed you. 

Luckily, the subject changed quickly and your lack of focus on the topic of discussion went relatively unnoticed with Robin’s rambling, Steve and Nancy’s borderline flirtatious bickering, Eddie being a sarcastic asshole, and Steve’s date, who’s name you now know is Vicki, giggling at everyone’s ridiculousness. 

You were far too distracted by the feel of Eddie’s body under you to focus on the conversation. His thighs under yours were warm, his arms around you were strong, and his chest against your back made it hard for you to form thoughts. 

You were distracted by his hands, they weren’t just sitting on your waist, they were tracing patterns on the skin that was bared by your crop top. 

And everytime he turned his head to talk to the girls in the backseat, or look out the window, or say something to Steve, his hair tickled you as it swung about. 

You wanted to run your fingers through it. You knew it was soft, a few weeks ago he let you put it up in a bun for him when he was frustrated by it getting in the way. 

You couldn’t think straight with Eddie’s warm scent surrounding you and his breath on your neck and your ear each time he whispered a joke for only you to giggle to. 

Sure, you laughed at Eddie’s stupid jokes, but other than that you struggled to participate in the conversation. 

“Hey, you okay?” He asked you as Steve parked the car. 

“Mmmhmm,” was your response as you were worried that the unsteadiness of your voice would clue him in on how much you were affected by just sitting on his lap.

When getting out of the car, Eddie had both hands on your hips to help guide you out and you thought you were going to pass out at the feeling of his large hands gripping you. 

Evidently, the group had decided on the movie before you were picked up. Unfortunately, your complaints about watching a scary movie went unheard.

Eddie wrapped an arm around your shoulders and squeezed you into his side as he assured you the movie wouldn’t be too scary, and if it was he would be there with you. 

You smiled and rolled your eyes at him, but secretly reveled in his comfort. 

In the theater Eddie sat to your right, Robin on your left, then Vicki, then Steve, then Nancy. 

Eddie pushed up the arm rest between your chairs so there was no border between the two of you. 

“For when you need protection,” he whispered to you with a wink. 

You were lucky it was already so dark in the room and he couldn’t see how flustered you were. 

The movie was legitimately terrifying and you didn’t understand how Eddie kept laughing at the jumpscares and gore as you hid your face in his shoulder. 

Your grip on his arm didn’t loosen for the majority of the time, though after a while he wrapped his arm around your shoulder and pulled you flush to his side. His hand rubbed up and down your arm and you hid your face in his chest everytime you were scared. 

“Is it over?” you whispered as you missed the last two minutes due to your terror and maybe also distraction by how good Eddie smelled. Did he get a new cologne? 

“Yeah baby, it’s over you can come out of your hiding spot now,” he teased and you pulled your head back to glare at him. 

He laughed loudly and everyone turned to look at the two of you. You felt self conscious with so many eyes on you and wanted to wiggle out of his embrace but thankfully the subject changed quickly to everyone’s opinions of the movie. 

Everyone walked out of the theater together as the movie was discussed. 

Steve, Nancy, and Eddie all apparently loved the gore in it. Robin and Vicki both had equally nerdy analyses of the plot. 

“What did you think of the movie?” Steve asked you when it was clear that you hadn’t offered any opinion. 

“I’m not sure she watched any of the movie,” Robin teased. 

“Yeah, she was too busy cuddling up to Eddie,” Nancy muttered and you elbowed her. 

“Uh, it was very scary. Not really my thing,” you said. 

“Aw, was it really that awful?” Eddie asked teasingly and you rolled your eyes with a smile. 

“Maybe not totally awful,” you mumbled and he grinned. 

Everyone was once again piling into Steve’s car and Eddie gently tugged you into his lap once again in the front seat. 

You were legitimately concerned you were going to pass out from all of the physical contact with Eddie you’d already had this evening. 

Your crush on him was becoming unmanageable and you were worried about your self control, or lack thereof. 

All you wanted to do was turn around in his lap and kiss his pretty lips. 

How were you supposed to deal with his hands on you, his warmth wrapped around you? You felt like you were drowning in his smell. 

“You’ve been uncharacteristically quiet tonight,” Eddie whispered to you. 

“Hm? Oh uh I’ve just been a little distracted,” you said as you turned your head back to see him. 

His face was so close to yours. 

“Distracted by what?” he asked, voice low and gravely in a way that made you want to melt into his lap. 

You. You desperately wanted to say. Honestly you couldn’t really remember your carefully thought out list of reasons why you shouldn’t go for it with Eddie. All of it was fading with the feel of his body under yours. 

Rejection, you reminded yourself. That’s your biggest fear. You can’t handle it if your best friend rejects you. 

“Nothing important,” you say back, lost in his pretty brown eyes. 

Steve pulled the car up to the local diner and as everyone got out of the car you were saved from the question you could see in Eddie’s eyes. 

______________________

“Stop stealing my fries,” Eddie said, dragging out the syllables in the second word as he batted your hand away from his food. 

You pouted at him and gave him your best puppy dog eyes. 

With a dramatic sigh he relented and pushed his container of fries closer to you. 

You beamed at him and kissed him on the cheek before you ate another fry. 

You missed the blush on his cheeks at your display of affection, but Robin raised her eyebrows at him and gave him an all knowing stare. 

He stole a few sips of your milkshake, which you allowed. 

“Eddie’s band is playing tomorrow night. Who’s coming with me?” you asked excitedly as you looked at your friends seated around the booth. 

Robin agreed and with a prompting to Vicki, she agreed as well. Steve and Nancy both had prior obligations but you were still excited. 

You found out earlier in the night that Vicki was in fact not Steve’s date, but someone Robin had a crush on so Steve invited her to try and set the two of them up. That revelation, whispered to you by Nancy, clarified all of your confusion from the night of watching Robin and Vicki awkwardly flirt. You were a little embarrassed that you were so slow on the uptake, but you blamed Eddie for being so distracting and handsome all night.

Eddie looked excited but embarrassed at the attention being on him and his band as you made plans with the girls on meeting at the bar the next night. 

He left to go to the bathroom and you couldn’t rip your eyes from his retreating figure. At least until Vicki said, “You two are such a cute couple.” 

You whipped your head towards her and saw she was looking at you. 

“What?” you squeaked. 

“D-did I misspeak?” she asked and everyone else laughed. 

You glared at your friends before turning back to Vicki. 

“Eddie and I are just friends,” you said fervently. 

“Totally platonic friends who just so happen to be all over each other all the time in a totally non-gross way,” Nancy said sarcastically and you point a finger at her. 

“I don’t want to hear it from you. Or do you want me to comment on whatever is going on between you two,” you gestured between her and Steve and they both looked down at the table in embarrassment. 

“Sorry, I just thought that you two were dating. What with you sitting on his lap, and cuddling with him during the movie, and all the flirting and staring lovingly at each other…” Vicki finally trailed off her rambling as everyone stared at her. 

Robin placed her hand on Vicki’s comfortingly as she hid her smile with her other hand on her face. 

After a few beats of awkward silence in which you stared at Vicki shell shocked, Nancy and Steve burst into laughter. 

Robin and Vicki soon joined them and you hid your face in your hands in embarrassment. 

“Oh my god,” you muttered. 

“What’s so funny?” Eddie asked as he slid into the booth beside you and laid his arm on the seat behind you. 

“Nothing. They’re being idiots,” you said as you tried to keep your voice nonchalant but it came out rather strangled. 

Eddie shot you a confused look but you ignored him and thankfully Steve changed the subject. 

You got lost in your thoughts as you played through the events of the night. Vicki was right, wasn’t she? 

Eddie had initiated a ton of physical contact with you tonight and his teasing, though you and he always teased each other, but his teasing tonight had an edge of flirtatiousness to it. 

Could it be possible that Eddie liked you? 

God, for two graduates this seemed so high school as you stressed over whether or not your best friend returned your feelings. 

Nancy and Robin had urged you to share your feelings with him and told you that they thought he liked you too, but that hadn’t reassured you enough for you to put your heart on the line. 

But maybe everyone was right. Shit, were you actually going to do this? You had to say something to him before you lost the nerve. 

As everyone got up to leave you grabbed Eddie’s arm to keep him sitting there in the booth with you. 

“We’ll be there in just a second,” you told Robin and she nodded and herded the rest of the group outside. 

“Eds, I wanted to talk to you about something, without the gang of idiots around.” 

He grinned at your attempt at a joke. 

“I just, I’ve noticed that… No, that’s not how I want to say it.” you sighed in frustration as you struggled to find the words. 

Eddie placed a finger under your chin and tipped your head up to meet his eyes instead of the table where you had been staring. 

“What’s wrong, sweetheart? It’s me, you know you can tell me anything,” he said in a tone as soft and loving as the look in his pretty brown eyes. 

You loved the color of his eyes. You always felt like you could stare into them for hours if he’d let you. 

“I know,” you took a deep breath and braced yourself. 

“I have feelings for you Eddie, stronger than just friendship and I have for a long time a-and I think you might feel that way about me too and-” 

Your rambling was cut short by the feeling of his lips on yours. 

Your brain stopped working as your best friend kissed you and you kissed him back. 

His soft lips slid against yours as you pulled him closer. Your fingers tangled in his hair as he deepened the kiss and you groaned. 

The sound of whooping and hollering caused the two of you to pull back from each other. 

You friends were not waiting for you in Steve’s car, they were standing on the other side of the window of the diner watching you and Eddie kiss. 

Eddie laughed and flipped them off before he pulled you up out of the booth with him. 

“We’ll talk more about this later, beautiful, but rest assured I feel the same way about you,” he said as he nudged his nose against yours and pressed one more kiss to your wanting lips. 

He intertwined his fingers through yours and led you out of the diner and towards your friends. 

“Thank god you finally did something about the tension between the two of you. And to think, all it took was a little bit of my meddling,” Steve said with entirely too much satisfaction. 

You rolled your eyes at their jeering and teasing but couldn’t manage to wipe the smile off your face. 

Especially since you had to sit in Eddie’s lap again on the way home. 

It was safe to say that tonight’s movie night had been a roaring success. 

Everything taglist:

@spideysimpossiblegirl @dinandgone @ohpedromypedro @littlemisspascal @tombraider42017 @kirsteng42 @just-here-for-the-moment

Eddie taglist:

@bunnywritesmarvel @crazycookiecrumbles @kindnonny23-2 @kaqua @ali-r3n​ @maskedmistressed @prettylestrange @gatewaytohenna

#eddie munson #stranger things #stranger things 4 #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x female!reader #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fluff #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson stranger things #eddie stranger things

[cissyenthusiast010155]

Having the Hard Conversations… ~Mentor!Soft!Jeri Hogarth xFem Plutonic!CollegeStudent!Reader

Summary— Established plutonic relationship between Jeri and Reader, the two have tea and fancy pastry cakes together every Sunday. Reader is in college, Jeri took Reader under her wing and is a kind of mentor/aunt/mother to Reader. Then Jeri was diagnosed with ALS, and now Reader does her best to take care of Jeri…

Mommy… Master List

Requests & Prompt-List

Warnings: talk of death, talk of ALS, denial, angst, little fluff, plutonic relationship, soft relationships, comforting, caring and loving, ignorance, deflection, unhappy ending, etc.

Enjoy (:

You poured the herbal tea in the two respective tea cups for herself and for Jeri. As she did so, the older woman pulled out her fancy bag of ordered pastries. It was tradition for the two of them to have tea and cakes every Sunday at 2pm at Jeri’s classy apartment. You sat down at the dining table with a light sigh, handing the other woman her hot tea cup.

“So… How was your week…?”

“Oh it was… the usual…”

“Mmmmm… How did you spend it…? Get enough rest…?”

“Spent the better portion of it cleaning and meal prepping, when I wasn’t working that is... What about you, sweetheart?”

You smiled. You always appreciated her little pet names, but that’s not what you had meant. You wanted to know how Jeri was feeling, how she was doing healthwise. Jeri had recently been under the weather, more than was expected. But you would never outright call the older woman out for evading your question like that. Jeri took a sip of her tea, her eyes and nose crinkling lightly as she gave you a tight and slightly warm smile, a smile that was only reserved to those closest to the ruthless lawyer.

“That is good to hear. I’m alright…”

“Busy with college I’d imagine, you busy bee…!”

You smiled lightly, sipping her hot tea a little.

“Mmmmmm busy busy… But really, you’re doing well…? Not overworking yourself? You’ve got your birthday coming up…”

“Yes, next weekend… And I am just thriving…!” Jeri exclaimed with a sarcastic smile.

“That’s good.” You chuckled dryly.

You eyed Jeri, then took a sip of your tea and a small bite of a cake. The lengthened gaze spoke volumes, the said unsaid. So much so that Jeri sighed, finally getting to the topic which you had been prompting the older woman to discuss.

“Wel…l I had my three month check in with the doctor this past Monday…”

You sat up fully at these words, putting your tea cup down on the lavish, stone table. Your eyes and ears were wide open.

“And…?”

“He said… I’m doing well considering…”

Yeah, you’re alive, obviously… you thought but chose not to say.

“but he didn’t say anything timewise…”

“He didn’t say anything…?” You breathed out slowly, trying to remain calm and gentle in your expression and tone, as the lump in your throat and the pit in your stomach grew.

“Yea, I didn’t want to hear it. All that negative energy and stuff… Oh and we got the results of the bloodwork and the scans… He said that it spread… to a couple places, I won’t bore you with the details…” the older woman rambled, while waving off the last as if it were nothing.

Silence took the room for a beat. Jeri couldn’t meet your gaze. Suddenly the deep purple walls of her apartment and the intricate designs on her tea cup looked particularly fascinating to the older woman. It had been two years since Jeri had been disgnosed… Honestly, it was a miracle that the older woman was alive at all, let alone sitting with you in her lavish and expansive apartment, having tea and cakes. You drew a breath, trying to stuff down the nausea and unease, and asked the dreaded question,

“But he didn’t tell you how long you have…?”

“Well no… But he did say that I’d have bloodwork and more x-rays soon…!”Jeri chirped, glossing over her answer as her face swiftly and lightly brightened at the positive note.

You couldn’t stop the sigh which erupted from her chest, but she did stop and formulate her next words carefully.

“That’s good… It’s nice to have a plan forward. More bloodwork and x-rays sound good. What are the x-rays supposed to help see exactly…? Did your doctor mention when you’ll have your next scan…?”

“Yea! So I get bloodwork done in another two weeks, and then the x-rays in a month… The blood results should show how the new treatment that he’s gonna put me on is gonna work… and the x-rays…” Jeri took a pause, “the x-rays are kinda useless… but he said that they will determine whether I get any future scans.”

You couldn’t understand how Jeri was saying all of this with such a positive disposition. The older woman was not a naturally positive person… This new disposition felt forced, and that broke your heart. Jeri was just babbling along about her impending death, giggling and eating cakes as if she was planning a party. You fidgeted with her tea cup, taking an anxious sip.

“I see… and he mentioned a new treatment plan…? That makes sense, if the chemo didn’t do enough to stop it, exploring new avenues and treatments could be fruitful…” You breathed out, not even bothering to attempt to touch upon the absurdity of the x-rays being useless yet also determining any future scans.

You took a sip of her tea, nodding with a hum in response. A shaky sigh slipped past your lips as you were having to restrain yourself from rolling your eyes.

“Mhmmmm yes. He said that he’s going to take me off of chemo and on this new, experimental gene treatment therapy”

You visibly cringed a little too much for your liking at the sound of new and experimental.

“Well I am glad to hear that you are putting such a positive spin on this. I think that’s very mature of you, and I support you no matter what.” You partially lied through her teeth, except for the last statement, That was a fundamental truth.

Jeri smiled, her eyes twinkling in the afternoon sun with a shimmer of vulnerability, and reached out to lovingly squeeze your shoulder.

“And this is why I told you. Everyone else whom I attempt to talk to about this… All they do is freak out… or they get all emotional on me or they cry…or all of the above…” Jeri breathed out, her loving gaze meeting your faltering one.

You bit her tongue and merely nodded lightly.

“Of course…” you said through gritted teeth.

Jeri really appreciated how you were always so supportive, while remaining reserved and neutral. She didn’t have the energy for those who constantly reminded her of the sadness and of her impending death. Hell, she reminded herself of that enough already.

~~~

Jeri Hogarth Masterlist ~Coming Soon (;

#jeri hogarth #Jeri Hogarth x reader #jeryn Hogarth #jeri hogarth fluff #Jeri Hogarth angst #Jeri Hogarth x you #Jeri Hogarth x y/n #carrie anne moss #marvels defenders #marvels the defenders #jessica jones #Jessica jones fanfiction #the defenders #defenders #the defenders x reader #jessica jones x reader #marvel tv #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel x you #marvel x y/n #marvel fanfiction #marvel fluff #marvel fic #marvel fandom #marvel mcu #marvel fanfic idea #marvel fanfic series #marvel fanfic writer #mcu

[cathalbravecog]

long ramble, haven't had one of these in a while! if you read this, have fun. it's headcanons/thoughts on some stuff. i don't talk about my thoughts on story stuff publicly much anymore especially because 1) i'm shy 2) trust issues 3) bad rsd 4) i forgot the last point

i was writing for oNCE yesterday (some headcanon stuff, for myself, won't be posting that unless i change the wording of some of it to make more sense because i ramble a lot and it's a mess. like i am doing right now. also that turned into being mostly about hr in the end because i am ill. now hopefully this motivation will get me to write my mary and archie stuff.)

and when i went to bed i was thinking about some stuff in toontown, mostly the cogs - and how things work. these are things i ponder on very often and have talked about with my friends many time, throwing ideas back and forth and my headcanons for how things work.

though, there's one thing i really wonder about, and that's where cogs come from in ttcc exactly. in 'that' way though of course to keep things on the same rating as the game is i won't discuss anything explicit so don't worry. (besides they're robots and also are sexless to me, anything related to gender is purely cosmetic to them. you are usually assigned a certain expression when built though, but can change that later on. that's how i explain trans cogs.)

i think about how there are canonical families and children, and that they have "built" dates and places where they've been built. it's obvious as they're robots, they're not born they're built and made.

it's a bit difficult to explore with the limited info we have, which is kind of both an hassle to work with, but also beautiful because you can let your creativity go and make up your own headcanons, without things being set in too much canon. it's also difficult due to how different the suit culture is to us humans and also what we see from the toons which is by nature more familiar to us.

we also do not know much about suitopia, or other possible places where cogs live.

(i, personally, imagine suitopia as essentially a big country where most if not all cogs live. it has it's own regions, cities... all that. where as c.o.g.s. inc has built itself to be essentially it's own small country/community, if that makes sense. though cogs don't always only mention suitopia, at least once 'the whole world' is used. this is irrelevant tho so i won't discuss that but it's still a 'core' headcanon i have - as other things i may hc rely on this personal interpretation / headcanon.

but be aware i do not know everything is canon and can discuss things outside my realm of HCs and interpretations, but if i go deeper into like, let's say, analyzing a cog and imagining their backstory, instantly assume i'm using all these things. sorry for the side ramble, i want to make things clear for possible future reference.)

i wish it will be expanded upon slightly in the future, even a slightest crumb of what it's like out there and i can have a field day with it. i do enjoy the vagueness tho, again, as i've said we do not need to have all the information out there and it's not necessary to the main stories that are being told but MAN my brain itches for MORE. i demand EXPLANATIONS. and so i make up my own lol and i love that i can do that /gen (there's some stuff i do have an issue with that it was not explained better, but again, fixed that with hcs. talking abt atticus but im not getting into that rn)

there also may be things i am missing - i have known of ttcc's existence since it's early days, but i wasn't there for it and missed being there in person for any lore until i started playing for real in early 2023 and became a part of the community. like, there ARE things i have missed AND small details i am missing. that's one criticism i have about some info being more difficult to access now, but the main stuff is on the wiki an all luckily.

anyways that ramble out of the way... how the heck are cogs made? there's a few ways, that seem contradictory in some ways at first but i just see it as different methods.

we know cogs can change their appearances (their shell) and be "upgraded". we know cogs can even choose to be just their skelecogs (Atticus) and i suppose every other skelecog we see.) we know cogs have families and have their own kids. (cathal and bobby jr come to mind, and also belle's own kids and grandkids. not to mention, we have siblings too - thomas and robert. and their whole family drama DOES involve their unseen parents.) we know many cogs, mostly the managers, come into the company as their are - but also new parts are built, at least for the employee cogs in sellbot hq. (recently re-read the dialogue which confirmed this - literally as you're building your sellbot suit.)

we know cogs are more than just some working machines and do have deeper lives and desires and even relationships, though all instances of a parent/child relationship in ttcc have only one parent. makes sense after all they don't reproduce sexually to put it that way, again they're built and they're robots.)

it's easy to conclude, that, cogs are just built. which is true. but it just makes me wonder. we know they age. we have at least 1 cog who is a literal child, and bobby, in human years at least, looks no older than like, 8 years old. (we also don't know how cogs age. we also know cog's don't die like that, due to the whole deal with atticus. i will talk about this one day i have so many thoughts on it)

we know they grow up and even have schools - they're not programmed with everything. they earn experience as they live life and even have?? education systems? like they're more like people than we thought. (ttcc does make cogs more easily sympathized with and gives us INDIVIDUAL cogs and not just... 'The Cogs'. cogs are the focus of ttcc so of course they're developed more and are more 'human' despite being machines.)

so clearly, there's cogs like bobby. who are built young and eventually grow up. we have not seen a cog growing up yet, at least i don't think. but i wonder how that works. through cartoon logic, do they just grow up? their skelecog and perhaps their shell, too? or do they periodically get upgraded to be larger - wouldn't it make sense to built a cog as, well, an adult already? to program all these things? there may be more limits to this than we think, but also just... cultural things possibly.

the only cog CHILD (not just the child of someone - cathal's an adult. also, redd mention, but redd's adopted so he doesn't count) we ever see is bobby and, he is the child of robert, who is known to be very short. we don't know if bobby's going to grow up, or if this height is what he's just going to be like. we have one image where he's way smaller than robert, and other, more recent ones, where they're a similar heights. is that just art inconsistency due to the nature of all the (amazing) artwork being, well, volounteer work and that not everything is (or has to be) perfect? or did bobby really grow up. i'm talking about the wallet picture and the comics featuring bobby, by the way.

though, as things are, i'm sort of assuming that bobby's going to grow up or be upgraded in some way to "grow up"? i don't think we need an clear explanation for that, and in a universe like this 'cartoon logic' would be enough, but it's still something to think about.

like...how do cogs go about having kids, anyways? all instances we see are visually similar as well. cathal has the same gear for his neck as allan's body does, and they have the same head lightbulbs and wires. bobby jr and robert are both furniture.

i've always assumed that it's like in robots (the movie, that i havent watched in years which would be helpful for all this, probably.) if you decide to have a child just for the experience of raising a child, to have a legacy, or due to a bond with a partner - you literally just build one. perhaps not in the same way as in the movie - in here it definitely requires more paperwork and blueprints. but again, it's interesting to think about! hey company i want a CHILD. i look like this build them like me thanks here's some blueprints. (this also explains the amount of single parents. though belle has to have been married/is married as her honorific is listed as mrs. hey fun fact, non native english speaker here. i didnt know 'mrs' means a lady is married until like this year. i've been on this earth for 19 years.)

like the concept of family is possibly just more social there than anything. duh... can't exactly have the same oil and wires inside of you as Robots .

anyways, so that explains kids... but what about the others? some cogs don't have any families mentioned but it's not hard to assume they come from families with parents and siblings as well. what about the employee cogs? who are quite literally very disposable in a way?

we do have to take into account that after all, employee cogs we see just on and about on the streets are mostly a game mechanic, and there are some individual cogs who ARE cogs who would typically be employees cogs. (jennifer comes to mind first, she's a micromanager but also a secretary and counts as a manager. same goes for judy and so forth.)

and y'know, the game won't have a personality and backstory for each random flunky on the streets you fight. but with often they get destroyed and repaired and that there's just... so many of them! of the same model and appearance... makes you think. is that why they were made? are they truly more robotic than the others, more devoid of 'humanity'? or were they different cogs, perhaps more lower class, who's appearances were changed entirely to fit into more easily fixable and replaceable shell forms? something that's less expensive for the company and for them? i swear i am missing some details on this, but that's for me to re read the wiki and cogs ink for on my own later. (i need to have full info n everything and if i dont bring up that i know one small detail i will explode bc someone will bring it up and make me feel dumb and that's the rsd part and it's often physically painful!)

very hard to tell, i'm sort of content with my thoughts on how cogs have kids, but i hope we ever get a bit more clarity on employee cogs - though it is a bit problematic as these are the guys you beat up on the daily who don't have individual personalities.

like i'm just rambling as i go here man, it was gonna be cohesive but i'm just spitting thoughts here now. like, we have 3 seperate skelecog types - all cogs come with a skelecog like we have a skeleton so that also comes into play. it can be adjusted in ways, most notably the head and also in size. though we do have a 4 arm cog. jason please i love you /p we need more jason content. it's wacky, it's tacky - it's toontown!

fun stuff to think about but i just deep fried my brain. tdlr i guess.

how cogs made. how cogs have kids. how cogs work in general. very swag very cool. guzma cathal spades spamtongender goes on 1568854 different tangents while saying they wont aka your swagesty your adhd symptoms are showing

that's it fellas enjoy 2k words of incomprehensible rambles that i am happy to finally get out! you see the way i explain things is precisely why i almost never do it publicly and i need practice shortening things.

#long post #rambles #hcs #its very all over the place its not meant to be streamline but if i made a genuine post about this id never get to it #bc its too much effort and id see it as a chore and not me just autistically rambling about toontown stuff #im prolly forgetting stuff but... dont bring it up at least not for now please - maybe later! #or tell me about it phrased as a question! like yes ask me abt stuff but maybe make it smaller questions/one question at a time bc i wont #know where to start #BUT!! theres stuff i know about but just didnt think to mention or i forgot as i got increasingly more tired writing this because yeag

[f0point5]

I'm back in your asks on this story for one more time bc it just seems fitting 🥹

I remember reading the first part of that story, not knowing where you'll go with this. And then you posted so frequently that I needed to follow the account bc you really got me hooked. You did an amazing job right up from the start and it just got better and better.

After some posts I remember putting in my first ask and for whatever reason I decided to screw it and not go anon about it. So I started my ramblings. And I kept rambling on, even through two weeks of holdidays abroad, until one day or better one night you answered back that maybe after some more champagne I might find you in my DM's sharing all the spoilers. And I answered I'm ready when you are. And there you were.

I'll forever be grateful not only for this smau and the time and love and effort you put in there to share with us, but also for all the talks we had and the late night chats and all things Max and F1 I could gossip about with you.

Thank for everything you've shared with me - I couldn't tell you how much it ment to me if I tried. Thank you for all the sleepless nights our chats gave me that I do not regret at all.

Thank you for letting all of us be a part of that long journey of y/n and Max - it was soo good and soo worth it. And thank you for chickening out - iykyk. I loved every single post of it.

I don't have many people that I can share my love for F1 with. And within the few there are, there's definitely noone as far gone for that sport and Maxy that they'd understand me.

So I really enjoyed our chats and I feel like I've found a mutual. 😂

I know this smau came to an end today. And I'm still looking forward to all the extra bits you'll share with us.

But I hope this won't be the end of everything else. Sooo my DM's will always be open. 🥹

THANK YOU for everything! 🧡

Awww this is the cutest message!

I remember when you first started the rambles and how every time I posted I’d always look forward to them the most because there’s nothing I love more than digging into characters and you were always right there with me. You picked up on so much stuff and made me think so deeply about these characters and helped the story in so many ways you don’t even know.

And the DMs were that but x1000. You were always there for me to share and discuss plot and problems and love practice updates. I don’t have anyone in real life to discuss F1 with and it has been so nice to bond with someone and discuss all the drama and the racing.

You’ve been a bigger part of this fic and this journey than you know so thank you for that! And thank you for coming to the asks to say this 🥹🥹🥹

I’m so emotional now

I don’t want it to end!!! 🧡🧡🧡🧡

[some-pers0n]

infodump about tf2 ships por favor

i am very curious about the silly violent gay old men

You have no idea what you've just unleashed. You just asked me, the person who has to have an opinion on borderline everything, my thoughts and feelings on the ships for the game I've been hyperfixating on for over half a year.

This is gonna be probably a long one full of unhinged and disjointed rambles about Science Party, so click if you wanna see that. I love rambling about TF2 and these guys, which is funny since 99% of this is me being delusional and making stuff up (despite talking about it like it's canon).

Now, I should put something here first and foremost. I don't actually...ship any of the characters romantically that much. Even my OTP is literally a queer-platonic pairing. It's mostly because I see the mercs as all being good buddy chum friends, despite them all being queer as hell. Yes, I love and reblog ship art and ship discussions like a madman, but I think my aro/ace brain just likes thinking of them more as all being pals. Also doesn't help I headcanon a third of them as being aro/ace (though only one is negative/repulsed by romance and sex, the others are neutral and positive respectively).

I suppose let's start off with the ship that's entirely rotted my brain: Science Party, or Engie/Medic. I don't think I've quite been this obsessed over a relationship as I've been with this one. Like,, any other ship I've encountered, I either like or don't like them. If I like them, I feel inclined to make content about it and just have some fun with this.

Not with this. I think this is the only ship I've ever encountered that I actually 'ship' with how passionate and in-love with it I am about it. It's quite fun and has lead me to start writing my newest longfic as well.

Science Party I just...adore. The dynamic of two evil geniuses together already ignites a neuron in my brain, but there's more to it. Medic is an unhinged and impulsive wildcard that does anything that crosses his mind. He's got an extremely inflated ego and a pretty big god complex. Then, you got Engie, who is like Medic in every regard as well. The catch is that he's a bit more controlled. Don't mistake that for him being more sane or anything though. I feel like he admires Medic for just dropping everything and not giving a shit about looks or appearances, instead being his true, uninhibited self.

Then you get to the interactions and just...me little heart... I've always envisioned Medic as being an uncaring and apathetic guy when it comes to others and their concerns. Low empathy, if you will. However, as his relationship grows with Engie, he begins to care about him just a smidge more, which is saying a lot for Mr. The Healing Is Not As Rewarding As The Hurting. He cares about Engie, enough so to be partners with him rather than friends.

Oh, I should also probably explain that a bit. Medic doesn't exactly like being 'friends' with people, so instead he's partners with Engie. I like the word, partners. If you also notice, I only use the word 'partner' in SAR whenever I'm referring to their relationship.

Anyways, Engie helps Medic open up and feel a bit more. But how does Medic help Engie? Well, I feel by being his unhinged and 'he has 57 mental illnesses and is banned in most public spaces' self, Engie sees somebody he wants to be. Medic doesn't care. He is happy and unchained by responsibilities and a commitment to be a functioning member of society. I could go into why Medic feels this way, but I'll probably end up just saying something along the lines of: "SOCIETY! SOCIETY!!!"

So, Engie has got some issues for lack of a better term. Even as a merc, Engie likes keeping up that mask of being a light-hearted good ol' Texan. He likes that persona, not only because it's the one he's always used but it's just a nice, likeable personality, but he also likes the idea of just going 'fuck it, we ball' like Medic. Medic encourages him to be more creative and detach from that sort of mindset. He tells him that he should do what makes him happy as opposed to doing what his family wants him to do.

They're just...really nice together. I don't know how else to put it. I always saw them as really similar in that regard, both being intelligent and highly regarded members of the team for their supportive roles. Beyond that, they're both clearly nuts in a similar way. They're just...the sillies. I love them.

I've got a lot of opinions on a bunch of other ships, but that's a discussion for another time (or until somebody pokes me about them). Science Party is the one I feel the most about by far, though.

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #medic tf2 #science party #engineer tf2 #They're just so fun and silly <3 #astronic #sp-rambles