#I probably spend too much time thinking about the logistics of all this but really

[zahri-melitor]

One of the many tragedies of Jack Drake is that not only was he bad at being a parent, but that he had the perfect person to discuss how hard the experience was for him right there and yet the only conversation they ever have about parenting Tim is conducted at gunpoint.

Because look at Jack Drake. As far as he was concerned, he had everything under control until Janet died and his world fell apart.

Tim was a Good Kid™ as a kid. He was well behaved and polite and not a difficult child and that's obvious from the fact that many of his memories of his parents together are of being taken out in public. Jack and Janet had one kid and they clearly wanted that kid to enjoy the same things they did, so they took him with them to restaurants and museums and art galleries and the opera. And he enjoyed it and enjoyed that time with them.

Jack however clearly saw his role as a father and a husband in the very traditional position as the main provider. It was his job to work and bring in the income that supported their lifestyle (his depressive episode after losing the company and their having to move makes it very clear how much of his self-worth was tied up in that role). He had a son, but his time with Tim was pretty clearly about taking Tim out with him on a Saturday afternoon to watch sport, or play tennis with his friends, or go to the monster trucks, or go fishing: being able to spend a few hours with Tim and show him off to his friends and then return home and someone else took over looking after Tim. And in his mind, he clearly thought he was a good parent! He spent time with his son! His son was a credit who was worth showing off! He could take Tim with him when he and Janet went out for the evening, and Tim could be relied upon to behave. He was winning at being a father!

The part Jack never realised, of course, was that like many men in his position, he'd handed the day to day logistics of raising a kid over to his wife (Janet) and to people he paid to do it for him (Tim's boarding school). He wasn't the disciplinarian parent. He was the 'fun' parent, who got to have the good times with his child.

If Jack was ever actually involved in decisions about discipline and consequences of actions, it was probably at the ultimate stage: the 'wait til your father gets home' sort of threat. The nuclear option. He didn't handle the everyday stuff - he probably never SAW the everyday stuff.

So, Jack thinks he's a great parent. He can brag to his friends about how well behaved HIS child is, unlike those little ruffians you see screaming in public or whose parents can't take them anywhere because they're disruptive.

Then his world falls apart. He's injured and disabled and grieving. He's a single dad. And the kid he's got is suddenly not the child he remembers. Tim frequently acts out, lies, runs away and comes home with bruises and notes from school saying they’re worried something is going on. He also starts dating and possibly trying to have sex ‘too young’ (being caught with Ariana sleeping over and the couch situation, Steph being pregnant even if Tim insisted it wasn't his).

Jack Drake has to suddenly step up to be the main parent of a 14 year old who he's probably never had that dynamic with. He doesn't have the years of experience in how Tim reacts to various forms of boundaries and punishments, because he's never been the one who set them or enforced them. He's probably never sat down and talked to Tim about his feelings in his life. And Tim, I repeat, is fourteen years old, possibly one of the most difficult ages for a kid. Everyone's 14 year olds are suddenly more difficult than usual and pushing boundaries.

On top of that, he's got to learn this all on the fly, in circumstances where he basically has no support. "Help, I'm a new single father to a teenager' isn't really a genre of self help book or parenting group that gets a lot of love - most people who are single parents aren't men, and most people looking for advice on dealing with problems with raising their kids are talking about under-5s, because by the time kids are out of the toddler stage most parents have a reasonable idea of what works and what doesn't, have networks set up, and are usually reaching out for a bit of advice or support about a specific situation, not Dealing With It All.

What Jack really needs is a buddy or two who are also single fathers to teenage boys, who have experience navigating this, maybe who also acquired responsibility for their son in his teen years. Wow. I mean that's a big ask, but funnily enough, there's someone who lives right next door who exactly fits that description...

(The tragedy that Bruce and Jack only ever have the one discussion about parenting Tim, the kid they've been effectively co-parenting since Tim was 13 years old, and that that discussion took place with Jack holding a gun on Bruce).

So of course Jack is terrible at being a parent to Tim. He's inexperienced, he doesn't have any support, he doesn't SEEK support outside of marrying Dana (and Dana clearly while lovely is both ineffective and reluctant to interfere in Jack and Tim's relationship). Now, he fails on very specific axes, in ways that are both understandable and also signs that Jack has a bad handle on his temper.

His go-to threat is sending Tim back to boarding school, because: when Tim was at boarding school, Jack didn't have any discipline issues with Tim! It clearly worked!; Tim doesn't want to go back to boarding school, making it a threat to hold over him; again, Jack's seeing a kid who is sneaking around, lying, running away and he's at his wits end - there's a narrative in the circles he lives in that such kids DO need to be taught to behave and sending them to boarding school is a way to do that.

He runs hot and cold on paying attention to Tim because up until Tim was 14 that was...what he did! And it wasn't such an issue then, as he wasn't a single parent. And when he pays attention, he does tend to be focused (laser focused, in fact), in getting Tim out of No Man's Land, of the dramas at school during Cry of the Huntress when Jack's getting outraged over Tim's bruises and getting into fights, when he's arguing with Ariana's uncle over whether Tim and Ariana's relationship was going too far.

It's just that he never developed the day to day, in between level of parenting and boundary setting and discipline. He's got a temper, and he swings between "it'll be fine, Tim's a smart kid, I trust him" laid back permissiveness, and getting mad and going immediately to the nuclear option: "You are going back to boarding school!" and so on.

He doesn't know how to walk away and calm himself down when he's worked up. He's not particularly good at redirecting his aggression. And he gets easily frustrated, because in his mind everything went smoothly for years...until it was all his responsibility.

And the thing is, there are so many ways Jack could have tried harder to be a good parent, that were available to him. But because of his background and the culture he lived in and the demands of storytelling he never reached out for any of them.

(And Bruce was right there! They knew each other socially! Everyone knew Bruce had worked through having two teenage sons on his own! He could have asked for advice, and he even knew Bruce knew Tim, given Bruce had officially fostered Tim while Jack was in a coma and in hospital. If you were putting together a specific support group you'd kick yourself over how perfect this was)

It's just such a part of the tragedy of Jack Drake.

#dc meta #jack drake

[priincekin]

My All-In Interpretation in regards to Hyuluka and Hyun-woo

Summary : Hyuna, the extrovert, adopted Luka, the introvert, as her friend, and did her best to include him. However, Luka became jealous, and decided that the best thing to do was to kiss Hyuna. Hyun-woo, being a protective younger brother, approaches Luka about it and it ends in a fight; Luka, in the chaos and trying to defend himself with no arm strength, accidentally pushes Hyun-woo onto a rock and killing him before ultimately falling down due to injuries.

The Hyuluka dynamic pre-death isn’t too complex. In the Anakt Garden art book, Hyuna is shown as being popular, while Luka often watches the crowd from afar. She was an extrovert who probably felt bad for the supposed outcast and started to spend time with him out of pity.

While ultimately less than important to the chain of events, I think it’s likely that Luka’s kiss wasn’t necessarily borne of bad intentions. Instead, I think it was caused by a lack of social understanding.

In the MV, there’s a couple small moments with young Luka that point to some form of neurodivergency. These small details are also present in other forms, such as his interview. There’s a good chance he didn’t quite grasp the social cue of “hey, you can’t go and kiss her” and after a moment of jealousy, he figured it was a good time and just did it. I’m not trying to say he did nothing wrong, though, he absolutely did.

What exactly led to the fight is very much up for debate. There’s no way of knowing without dialogue. The most common interpretation I’ve seen is Luka confronting Hyun-woo about how much time Hyun-woo spends with his sister. That hardly makes sense. Instead, I propose that maybe Hyuna told Hyun-woo about the kiss, and he took it upon himself to confront Luka about it. Obviously, it went horribly wrong.

Logistics, in a case like this, are very important. The Hyun-woo killing is the most up for debate here. Running through a couple important factors:

Blood Splatter: In the case that Luka picked up the rock and bludgeoned him to death with it, the blood would be splattered across the whole surface instead of dripping down from where his head laid.

Physical Dynamics: Imagine trying to push someone taller than you in a way so that their head hits a very, very small rock. It would be difficult to not only get the person to stand in the right place, but also make sure they don’t move aside as they fall.

That’s what Luka would’ve had to do in order to kill Hyun-woo on purpose. In addition to that, Luka is likely to have very little arm strength, so pushing Hyun-woo over would’ve had to have been when he let his guard down; all in all, it would’ve been nearly impossible to plan the incident. As it stands, it’s fairly evident that it was just a freak accident.

Self-Defense: Throughout the coarse of Alien Stage, Luka has been shown to be extremely logical and aloof, not one to show emotions openly. Especially not those unbefitting to an Alien Stage victor. While there is a fair chance that he had less control over his emotions at that age, it’s still hard to believe that he would go to Hyun-woo looking for a fight, or that he would ever initiate one in the first place.

If Hyun-woo attacked first, it makes sense why Luka would’ve chosen to push him over; for someone with low upper-body strength, it would be easier to push Hyun-woo over rather than try to throw a solid punch. He’d be able to use his back and torso to put more weight behind it, and ultimately shove him over. If he was being hit, repeatedly, it’s all he really could do.

Assuming that everything above is correct, this smile could take on a new context. If he hasn’t seen Hyun-woo yet, he could very well be assuming that he had just succeeded in getting him off of him, or that he had ran away.

And here is where he sees the body. Yes, he could be looking at his purple fingers. But he could also be looking past that and realizing just what he’s done to Hyun-woo, and to me, that seems more likely.

#alien stage #alien stage hyuna #alien stage luka #alien stage hyuluka

[creatingnikki]

When you love yourself enough, meaning when you understand your needs enough and believe that they are worthy, you will no longer find attractive people who cannot fulfill those things for you.

— Mayim Bialik

Over 50% of those in my life do not fulfill my needs. What does this say about them? What does this say about me? Why do I find them attractive? Do I really not love myself? Do I really not understand myself? Think my needs are not worthy of being met?

Why was I obsessing over the possibility of this new friend when he is so flaky and bad at basic texting? What about him did I find so attractive? The idea of the kind of friend he could be and the idea of the kind of friendship we could nurture. But that's the thing — if I keep being attracted to the idea of what can be, falling in love with the potential of people I meet, that's not seeing the glass as half full. That is seeing a mirage in a desert. I may think it's an oasis but it's only an illusion. It will not even leave me thirsty but dehydrated. And we all know that can be fatal.

What are my needs? My basic needs in relation to another person are consistency, communication, effort, and sincerity. And whether or not a person is capable of meeting these needs...time is the only way to know. You have to give people time. You have to give yourself time. Haven't you learned this lesson time and again?

Time is the best revealer of a person's personality and intentions. Not your intuition, not the spark you may feel with them, not their words, not even isolated actions. Only time.

Also take some time to understand your needs better, to understand yourself better. You are someone who wants to be seen, understood, and loved. You are someone who wants to feel safe. You are someone who wants to be taken care of. You are someone who wants to spend quality time on a regular basis with those you like.

You are someone who wants to hear the other person express how much they like you, what makes them think of you, the things they want to do with you, how they felt about spending time with you. You are someone who wants the other person to remember the little things about you like how you don't eat mushrooms and how you get when you drink wine vs vodka vs whisky. You are someone who wants them to plan things to do together and to be proactive and exert themselves and not put the headache of all the logistics on you.

You are someone who wants long hugs and reassurance. You are someone who wants to feel wanted and needed and desired and devoured.

I don't know if this is all just the bare minimum or if it's all too much. I don't care. All I know is these are my needs. And I know for a fact that they are worthy of being met because I am.

And there are no double standards here right. These are things I do and will do for those who mean something to me. And take the effort of understanding their needs and seeing how I can fulfill them.

I know it probably can never get to 100%. I cannot have 100% of the people in my life who fulfil most of my needs. But I at least want 20% of the people to meet 80% of my needs. Because those 20% of the people will mean the most to me. My friends, family, and partner.

But right now it feels like 80% of the people in my life don't even manage to meet 20% of my needs. And that's a very horrible feeling. And a sure shot recipe of feeling lonely, dissatisfied, and jaded. And 26 is too young to feel this way.

#notes to self #writerscreed #poeticstories #twc poetry #writers on tumblr #poets on tumblr #spilled ink #mayim bialik #notes to me #things to remember #self love #self awareness #self development #friends and lovers #i am worthy #creatingnikki

[thefuzzzz]

Ranking Nico Di Angelo ships as a multishipper with a crazy imagination, a Nico hyperfixation of 3 years, and the willpower of a god:

1. Solangelo - 8/10 I love them!! I adore Will in TSATS and he’s easily one of my favorite characters. I wish Rick had let us get to know Will separately before he was immediately made Nico’s boyfriend, but I love him anyway. I think they’re good for each other and very supportive. I think I spend too much time consuming media of them than their actual book interactions, because in media I hate their fanon portrayals, but I adore them in cannon. I only had the chance to read half of TSATS, but I thought it was cute!

2. Jasico - 10/10 I love them for the same reasons I love Solangelo, but Jason got character development and Will didn’t. Also, they had a cool moment with Cupid that I think about once a week at least. Jason is constantly someone Nico trusts and (I may be wrong) hugs at some point in the series. The only people Nico has shown direct physical affection to within the series (to my knowledge) are Will, Jason, Hazel, and Reyna. This proves how much Nico trusts Jason, even after Cupid. Also they’re silly and dumb and I love them so I’m right always

3. Nico x Conner - 10/10 I FUCKING LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Lemme explain. So when Nico came to camp he stayed with the Hermes cabin, but Luke was already fucked off (I think) so Conner and Travis were probably in charge of the cabin. Conner’s age changes several times, so I headcannon him to be just a tad older than Nico. I think since he knew Nico when he was a kid he can make present day Nico less doom and gloom and know when he’s truly happy. Also, Nico went to a notably strict military school before coming to camp, yk what they say, strict conditions raise sneaky kids. Thats right, these two are fucking nuts. They are little thieves. And I don’t even wanna mention the implications of Conner’s dad (Lin Manuel Miranda) being the god of travelers and Nico essentially being an eternal traveller. They make me so sick I love them

4. Nico x Clovis - 7/10 they were mentioned as friends MAYBE once and I took that shit and ran with it tbh. I don’t even remember if it’s cannon. I just love them. I THINK it was mentioned that Clovis helps Nico with his nightmares, but atp this shit might just be my imagination or a fic I read once. Anyways, Nico is noted as a very anxious person, and Clovis is very laid back. I really like that duo and the idea that Clovis can help to ground him a lot and help him relax

5. Valdengelo - 6/10 while I do adore them, they have hardly any time together or any bonding moments at all (Note: I am a hypocrite over Clovis let’s fight abt it) I do love media about them and consume it at rates not comprehendible by mankind though. Aside from no time together, I think they’re epic. Nico experiences a lot of the same things as Leo, such as losing his mother and general sadness, but they cope in wildly different ways (neither of which are healthy). Also, Nico grew up in the lotus casino. I’m sick of us all acting like he doesn’t understand technology. Let them be engineer boyfriends PLEASE

6. Pernico. - no.

Keep in mind this is just my opinion please don’t take anything too personal!! I love all ships (almost. Lookin at you Pernico.) equally and if you have any fic recommendations for any of these please give them to me I’m desperate

(Also, this doesn’t represent my FAVORITE Nico ship, just a ranking based on how much I giggle when I see them. It does not take many logistics into account)

#percy jackson #pjo #hoo #pjo hoo toa #nico do angelo #Solangelo #valdangelo #jasico #Nico x Clovis #clovico #connico #RAHHHH #IM SO CRAZY AHIUT ALL OF THEM #ships #ship rant #ship ranking #any fic recs are greatly appreciated #also tell me ships you like #because I will probably also like them #Nico x Conner #nico x Conner stoll

[forestlingincorporated]

Tim Drake's Relationship To Wealth In New Earth

I’ve talked about the Drake’s wealth before, based on this slightly out of place scene in A Lonely Place of Dying where Tim zeros in on an Erte statue of Bruce’s, mentioning his father purchased a litho the year before. 

To summarize, this scene is establishing the wealth gap between the rich Drake family and the rich Wayne family. Tim is impressed with Bruce’s Erte statue, which suggests the Drakes can’t really reasonably afford one. While there are Erte lithographs more expensive than some Erte statues, I’ve only seen statues price down to about $1800, while I’ve seen lithos price in the hundreds. 

Basically, this implies the Drakes don’t have enough money to spend willynilly while also maintaining their prefered lifestyle. Based on other comic panels scattered around, I’d say the Drakes’ money primarily goes to real estate, travel, boarding schools, and staff. (We only see Mrs. Mac as far as I’m aware, unless you count their work assistant, but the Drakes will sometimes reference former staff, like an old driver mentioned in Robin #116.) 

Strictly speaking, Tim is only refered to as “new money” once, which interestingly occurs after the Drakes drop an economic bracket. [Robin #100] 

However, Jack specifically gives off the impression he’s probably new money. He prides himself on being a red blooded american man (read: “normal,” down to earth) and he’s blatantly incapable of playing politics. He’s not good at maintaining an image for reputation and status, and he doesn’t respect people that do. 

He’s also shows little interest in networking, allowing his insecurities to get in the way of what would appear to be a rather beneficial opportunity for his son and his business - developing and maintaining friendships with people like Bruce Wayne opens doors. 

Jack seems to view himself as seperate from what he sees as the uppity elite, but also sees himself as deserving of respect and status stemming from his wealth without the desire to actively cultivate it, all the while harboring some deep insecurities around the topic. This doesn’t garantee he was new money, but it does imply he doesn’t really fit in with the ins and outs of wealthy society the way someone like Bruce does. 

To be old money, Jack would have to have come from wealth, and we’re just not given that impression. We know very little about Tim’s ancestry, except that Jack’s father, Charles, was a teenaged soldier in World War II, but in general, other characters don’t react to the Drake name the way they react to the Wayne or Luthor or Queen names. Hell, Dinah Lance’s mother’s maiden name was Drake. 

We don’t really have anything to go off of if Janet was or wasn’t wealthy prior to her marriage to Jack, and if so, how much. 

When Jack’s bad investments cause the Drakes to “go broke” - as Jack refers to it - Tim describes their situation as going from “upper-upper-class” to “upper-middle” class, living off of the proceeds of the sales of their assets and Dana’s middle class job. Tim isn’t too bothered by this, having worked in war zones and areas of abject poverty, and doesn’t think very charitably about his dad acting like they’re starving. Neither does Dana for that matter, who understands they still have a very good life and is bearing the brunt of the work supporting their family and liquidating Jack’s assets. 

This is where Tim’s relationship to money gets interesting to me. Tim’s very comfortable with his living situation, but he becomes very AWARE of how expensive crime fighting is. He has an itemized list of how much EVERYTHING batman related costs. 

With Bruce out of the picture for an unknown length of time, Tim has a lot of financial anxiety. Steph, who grew up middle class (at least she is now, her mom being a nurse, living in a two story house - unclear on their financial situation when she was a small child), has much more of a “it’ll work itself out” attitude, while Tim can’t stop thinking about the logistics. 

This is honestly a very stark contrast to the fandom idea that Tim is of the “how much can a banana cost? $10?” persuation. 

Once Bruce is back and the monatary situation with Robin is solved, Tim is content to live an upper middle class life style. 

After Jack dies, however, Tim’s money situation becomes... fuzzy. 

Tim ends up reliant on Bruce’s money. They don’t really get into it, but as a child with no living relatives and Dana in a clinic, Tim SHOULD be in the foster system right now, without access to his inheritance. He’s comfortable making promises in Bruce’s name, but Tim’s reasons for not wanting Bruce to adopt him in the upcoming arc are... quesionable. They don’t really say WHY Tim doesn’t want Bruce to adopt him, nor do they explain HOW Tim pays for his hired fake uncle. Did he actively steal Bruce’s money, or was the deal access to Tim’s inheritance? Was this whole thing a ploy for Tim to gain access to his own inheritance and not rely on Bruce for everything? 

They don’t... talk about it. 

They especially don’t talk about it AFTER Bruce adopts Tim. He seems to foster him for a bit after “Uncle Eddie” bites it, Tim is living on the manor grounds, but his legal and financial status isn’t really brought up. Then Bruce adopts him, but money just kind of becomes a nonissue, we all just kinda assume Tim has access to Bruce’s money and call it a day. 

But I do think, when talking about Tim’s relationship to money, skipping over Tim’s temporary downward financial mobility over simplifies him. Tim is aware of the cost of things and the transience of wealth and status. There’s additional things we can speculate on, like if a young Tim had access to his parents’ money while they’re abroad, and what it would mean if he didn’t - my brain goes back to that anxiety about “re-supplying.” I can picture an 11-year-old Tim in worn out shoes counting down the days his parents pick him up from boarding school so he can ask to buy new ones - you know, things you need to shop for in person, rather than have something shipped to the school - but feeling like he can’t really complain because, well, his parents CAN afford to buy him nice things, he just has to wait. 

I think that’s just overall more interesting and unique to Tim, rather than the default Rich Kids Don’t Understand Money trope. 

#just some thoughts #characterization things #Tim Drake

[uwublorbos]

Blorbo Spotlight: Trynnt

Howdy gamers! In today's spotlight we have a character from Pip/Pyppyn (he/they) @pyppyn. Go check out their blog!

Who do we have the pleasure of speaking with today?

Excelsior! I'm Trynnt! That's Explorer or Artificer Trynnt if we're using titles, but I just like my name.

What's your background? Where do you come from?

I'm from a smaller settlement on the Tarnished Coast called Rata Kasus. It's a good way away from Rata Sum but there are just as many krewes and labs at work out there. Fishing too, your regular coastal town. I graduated from the College of Synergetics and apprenticed with a few different krewes before making my own way in the world. These days I live in Lion's Arch with my family!

What are some important relationships in your life? (romantic, platonic, familial, etc)

I'm lucky to have two romantic partners - my wife Seffi and our other partner Welxx. His name may not be on our marriage contract but he's every bit important to us. They both mean the world to me and I'm glad to have made a life with them.

My other closest relationship would have to be my older brother Czoll. He and Seffi always looked out for me when we were little and to this day he's the kindest, most caring person I know. I love 'ya, big guy.

I have some great friends as well! i could talk to Zexx for hours about jewelcraft and chronomancy and the same goes for Neffh's understanding of the magitechnical use of necromancy. It's been a delight to work and learn with them and I'll always enjoy the time we spend together. True geniuses and great people, both of them.

This ah- this list would get really long if I kept going, so I'll move on!

Have you done anything you'd like to brag about?

You're giving an Asura an opportunity to brag? You're either very brave or very foolish and will regret this by the time I'm done!

I'm an elementalist - a weaver specifically - and I've always been fascinated by the way different kinds of magic interact. It all exists in a kind of balance across a broad spectrum. Not just the four elements, but everything! It's always changing, working in harmony at one point or total dissonance at another. That kind of ordered chaos got me thinking.

I'm also an artificer - an inventor. I make machines and technologies that I hope to use to better the world around us. Tyria's changed a lot in the past decade, and now more than ever is it important that we rebuild and we've been given an amazing opportunity to do that thanks to Aurene and Her unique fusion of different magics that should react violently - but don't!

-ah bolts, I'm rambling. I made a machine that uses prismaticite to alter the state of magic from one input to another! I call it the Prismatic Aetherconverter. Turns out if you cut those crystals in the precise way, you can alter their output of magic. Put that assembly in a channel and feed magic through the whole system, you get a means of shifting its attunement to your exact specifications.

I use this for my other craftwork. It's a great way to speed up enchanting or charging magitech and it's a great source of magic for study in lab environments! I hope to improve its scalability and introduce a number of different form factors in the coming years, make magic more accessible to the masses.

What's your profession? What does a typical day look like for you?

I'm an explorer with the Durmand Priory. I joined almost ten years ago now and my responsibilities there vary from day to day.

If I'm out in the field it probably means I'm part of an expedition or a Pact taskforce looking to discover something or solve a problem. For me that often means I'm a small part of a much bigger team. Excavation, ruins-delving, anomalous materials handling. Everybody's important and everybody's got their role to fill. What we uncover tends to end up in my lab for analysis and adaptation into artifice.

If I'm working back at the Priory proper, I serve a logistics role. Any equipment requests for advanced technology, enchanted items, and specialized tools flow through me and artificers like me - a golem suit for hazardous environments, a camera designed to look into the Mists, or special munitions for use against dragon minions, for instance.

I find the work to be quite fulfilling!

What are some hobbies you enjoy?

I like to collect and restore old technology for starters! Really old - stuff my grandparents would have used. Datapads, audio devices, communicators, golems and golemites, that sort of thing. A lot of it doesn't work but it has a history all the same. We Asura don't have many connections to our past because of the Elder Dragons, so it feels like a way to look back on where we came from.

I play Polymock too. I was never good enough for the pro leagues but what could be more fun than some simulated holographic violence between Tyria's deadliest monsters? There's a card game variant too that makes for good entertainment on longer expeditions.

If all of that wasn't enough, Seffi's good at keeping me active! We swim or go on hikes or head out to Tyria's different mountain ranges for rock climbing. We don't bother with climbing back down though - that's what gliders are for! She calls me a cheater for using earth magic to speed my way up the cliffs, but she sure doesn't complain about more airtime after the fact. The Festival of the Four Winds is the best time for it - tall rocks, strong currents, and the summer sun? Alchemy, that's just perfect.

-

That's all for today! If you're an UWU guild member and would like to put your character in the spotlight, use this form!

#uwu blorbo posting #spotlight #scheduled post

[tameila]

y’all wanna hear about my pikelan au where pike, keyleth, and vex own a bakery and, to celebrate their first big year, go on a girl’s trip to dalen’s closet or somewhere equally tropical. while hanging out at the resort’s lounge the first night, pike immediately strikes up a playful rapport with the lounge singer, scanlan. she spends every subsequent night staying up long after her friends have gone to sleep so that she can hang out with him after his sets. they get drinks and talk and walk along the moonlit beaches. probably go skinny dipping once or twice. it’s flirty. it’s playful. it’s very quickly something, but neither of them want to be the first to acknowledge it.

after all, what’s there to do?

swap numbers and socials and continue to play at something that can never really be anything when they’re oceans apart until it peters out and they’re both disappointed?

or, y’know...

it takes pike until the last day and numerous pep talks from her girls, but she gathers her courage and comes to scanlan with a proposition: one night, no regretting or lamenting, just enjoying that they even got this time together.

it’s magical, to say the least.

the next morning, scanlan wakes up alone, and he does his best to swallow his disappointment that she didn’t wake him to say goodbye. didn’t even leave a note. until, pike reappears in his room, still bare and beautiful, carrying a plate of toast and complaining about the lack of food in his apartment. she snuggles up in bed with him. she drapes her body all over his as if they’d done it for years. and scanlan knows he’s ruined. he’s fuckin’ gone for this woman. cupid’s arrow never felt more like a curse.

but, pike said no regrets and no laments, so he cobbles together a proper breakfast for her and enjoys the way she gleefully takes up space in his space and touches him as if he is and will always be hers. then, he delivers her to her friends at the airport and (painfully, regretfully, privately lamenting the whole damn time) lets her go.

pike is far more at peace with it.

or so she adamantly proclaims.

she humors her friend’s jokes about “her vacation boyfriend” and “tropical true love” and pretends that her new habit of daydreaming and wistful sighs as she stands behind the bakery counter is only a temporary side effect.

after all, what’s there to do?

they both agreed that it was better to have one perfect night than try to complicate it with logistics and expectations.

that was the right choice.

she made the right choice...right?

a couple months later, while in the bread aisle at the grocery store, who should she run into but scanlan fuckin’ shorthalt. her vacation boyfriend. her tropical true love. both of them reaching for the same loaf of bread. hands touching. gazes meeting.

her first reaction is anger. to jump to the conclusion that scanlan lied to her and led her on with some sob story about an estranged daughter so that she’d think he was a good guy and fall into bed with him.

it doesn’t help that, while staring at her, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, scanlan stutters out,”you said you were from westruun”.

when their arguing pulls a crowd, pike storms out of the store, and scanlan follows. with the initial shock gone, he explains that, not long after pike left, sybil got in contact with him and told him that -- fine, if he wants to be in kaylie’s life, he better come be in it and prove it. he’d thought about pike every day since that night. wanted to contact her as soon as he came to tal’dorei. but pike had told him that she was from westruun; she never told him that she lived in emon. so he figured that he would still be asking for long distance, still be putting too much pressure on something that pike had only wanted to be one night.

“i didn’t want one night!” pike snaps. “i thought that’s all we had! you made me believe that’s all we had!”

they stare at each other in tense, charged silence.

“can i take you out to dinner?” scanlan asks, breathlessly.

and, well, it’s a start.

[tldr; what if the pikelan slow burn but they already resolved the sexual tension so all that’s left are the messy, complicated feelings?]

#Critical Role #Pikelan #back at it again with my long-winded pikelan ideas #would you believe that this whole idea was inspired by that one text post #about that banana bread that the baker called 'better than sex' #until one day the name was changed to 'almost better than sex' #and op was like either the banana bread got worse or girlie got some good dick #and i saw that and went ''i can make this about pikelan'' #and then i did in the most overly dramatic way possible #i also reblogged that post into my pikelan tag almost two years ago #in case you were wondering how long i've been sitting on this lil daydream material #at any given moment i am daydreaming up some windswept romcom pikelan idea #and that's all you need to know about me #pikelan au

[tennessoui]

hi kit! long time no see lol jk I spend so much time on your blog and ko-fi its not even funny (in a nice non-stalkerish way I promise) I subscribed to your kofi and was wondering if you planned on continuing any of those AUs or were they meant to be sorta one shots? because I *literally* cannot stop thinking about healer anakin going about this day with that brightest blue silk blindfold?? oh all the potential for pining and hurt/comfort and ALL THE ANGST here?? ooof pls I need more - 🦊

hiii kit it's 🦊 again I am back because I just had an epiphany about the healer anakin AU I am obsessed with currently. so is the blindfold like a hijab where your close family (so other healer peers in private I suppose?) and your significant other is able to see you with the blindfold off? I started thinking that keeping it on 24/7 is probably not ideal and there has to be some time that it comes off, and who gets to see you then.. I am south asian so I kinda dig this tbh! 😊 (2/2)

hello hello this is such an interesting ask!! for the first part, i'm really not sure - i think there are fics on ko-fi that i would love to expand and write more for (the healer anakin au being one of them) but at the same time, i think while i am running the ko-fi fic thing, then those stories need to exist only on there - or i need to talk to everyone who supports me monthly on there and see if they would be ok with me posting those stories somewhere else (like on ao3 or tumblr) and expanding on them more. as of right now, they're really just one shots that act a bit like slices of life in the au - just enough information that the characterizations are apparent and just enough setting and premise that it feels like a story but overall stand alone

but yes i too am sorta obsessed with the idea of healer skywalker showing up to healer functions with a bright blue silk bandana over his eyes while everyone else has the standard issue gray or white cloth. of course they wouldn't know, but just imagine like. mace windu attends to give a debrief of the next few battle plans and anakin is just...sticking out like a sore thumb lol

as for the second part, in my mind i'm sort of waving the logistics of keeping the blindfold on for long stretches of time because im leaning more into the fantasy side of star wars tbh - i think it's more angsty as a concept if healers sort of...give their eyes away forever/until they retire and never open them. they change the bandages and shower without them on, but the force is supposed to act as their eyes for menial daily tasks like telling apart shampoo from conditioner and cooking (and they just get used to it)

like that feels so much more angsty because obi-wan will never ever get to see anakin's eyes again and he has to just. make his peace with that which he's obviously struggling to do in the ficlet on ko-fi. he has to figure out how to love anakin as he is, with his vows, or he won't get him at all and obi-wan wrestling with that is a key part of the ficlet. im not sure how strongly that angst would hit if they could reach a certain point of closeness and then he could get anakin the way he had him when they were in the creche, sight and all you know? he needs to accept who anakin is to really have a chance at loving him without getting some other version of him back

but that being said i also do dig the idea of the blindfolds being taken off in the company of one's family or loved ones and am open to it--it explains a lot of logistical questions for sure lol

i just also really like the angst and acceptance that comes from the idea that obi-wan must become ok with never seeing anakin's eyes again....only for anakin, who loves him so much, to break his vows because obi-wan is dying and needs him or obi-wan is dying and asks to see his eyes one last time (only for obi-wan to categorically survive)

#asks #jedi healer anakin au #healer anakin au #? cant remember which tag ive used for tumblr posts about this #anyway now im torn haha!! #but you know i love some angst .... #obikin

[stormblessed95]

Heya Stormy! (Hope it's okay to call you like that😅)

This is my first ask on Tumblr, so I hope i'm not doing anything wrong, i'm understandable (english isn't my first language, unfortunately) and i'm not breaking any of your rules.

First of all, I really want to tell you that I really appreciate your blog and love how you always support everything with comparisons from your own life (or others) and how you provide us with original content and support us to see them and form our own opinions. 💜

I'd love to ask you some questions and get your thoughts about it. I hope you haven't answered them before and I just missed it (otherwise please link them again!). And I'm hard at work going through your masterlist and your other posts (that's really a lot, respect! And I'm probably still counting as a Baby Army (October 2021) and young Jikook supporter, so it'll take me a while to get through). So...

1. Who do you think is on Jimin's lock screen during the Sunshine-line Wlive in Busan? It looks like the pics from the Vminkook outing in LA so maybe Jimin, Tae or JK? Do you think Jimin would take himself as lock screen? And I heard that Hobi might have been there too, or am I just mixing it up? As far as I know there aren't any pictures of him...

2. I would like to hear your thoughts about the timeline while they were in Busan and about the Taekook beach debate. Simply because I am confused by the different statements and times and your posts and replies often help me to understand. Also, you often point out things or views that I would have missed. And I just enjoy your thought processes and your writing. So first I heard that there were rumors that JK and Tae arrived early (on 13.10?) and that they were on the Busan beach at night (around 3 o’clock?) with staff and there is a video of them (please JK, if you were there with Tae, please show us the pictures, they must be mega cute!🥺🥰) and that they shared a hotel room. And that Koo was in Busan at the time of the video recording for Jimin's birthday. For that another question: do you think Jimin and Jungkook didn't sleep with their parents to protect them or because it was too far away or something? Or maybe there are guidelines from Hybe that all their idols have to share the same hotel for logistics and security reasons? When do you think JK and Jimin visited their parents, the 13th or the 14th? And Tae was out to dinner with his parents and his friend Seo-Joon on the 15th (I'm so happy for him that they were there and he got to spend time with them) and Hobi was also out once (?). Did I miss something?

I recently stumbled across the Jikook timeline by jiminieloved and was extremely pleased with the great sorting and lots of content that was unfamiliar to me. Since Tumblr confuses me and I don't really know who you know and who you don't, I thought I'd mention it. If you know and can recommend other great in-depth Jikook or OT7 blogs I would be very happy. Same goes for non-shipper (but also Jikook or other pairings) translators who gives background on language, expression and culture. And since you responded to a Taekook account the other day (thetaekookcloset), I took a look at that one and liked it. While I don't agree with her/his/their (?) opinion, blogs like this still give me a different perspective, which I think is important and interesting. Plus they often have cute new gifs and pictures. If you know any good blogs about other pairings I'd really appreciate it too.

And now I stop rambling and apologize for this long question text and wish a good night (is it 1 o'clock for me)

P.S. the new pics from today and the dance practice video from Run... 😶😵‍💫🥺 they all look so great, I love Yoongi's hairstyle and Hobi's outfit and who destroyed Jimin's sweater? XD I just love them so much <3

Hi! Sorry it took me so long to answer this. I'll do my best. Lol as for your first question, who's Jimins photo background? I mean, people DO post themselves as their background, especially when at cool places and its a more artistic photo and not just a selfie all the time. Jimin even shared back in 2015 that his phone background was a photo of him and Yoongi together. SO I do personally think its himself at beach. Otherwise the possibilities are that it's either JK, Tae or Hobi. Hobi DID go to beach. There is some speculation on if he was there with the maknae line or by himself at an earlier time, but they all posted photos there and were all 4 there. Maknae line defintely there together, Hobi maybe (probably?) With them too. The 4 of them were all attached at the hip in LA and going on little dates all together the whole time. Lol it was so cute. And it's such a blurry blob from what we can see, it's hard to make any kind of reasonable guess lol

The 4 of them with their beach photos in LA (Hobi, Jimin, Jikook, Tae in order):

2) Busan Timeline! Lol not easy, and nothing is definitive honestly either. But we can try to piece it together in a way that makes sense. Honestly this just feels like the nicest phrased can you debunk tkkr rumors for me ask. Lol No, Tae and JK didn't show up to Busan early. They were in Rehersals with the rest of the members up until they all left for Busan at the same time. Jimin during his WLive stated that they had all just got done rehearsaling together before he went and started his birthday live. But let's timeline it.

October 12th

BTS members all together in rehearsals and practice and filmed the RUN BTS practice video. He was in the same outfit when Hobi caught him in the company building after filming said dance practice (above) and said he just wanted to wish him a happy birthday. Before assuming they went to get ready to travel to Busan.

Jimin then changed his clothes and started his Wlive at 11:49 PM on the 12th. His Wlive ended around 1 AM on the 13th KST time. Link to the live below too

October 13

Jimin ends his live (above) around 1 am and then at some point, presumably all 7 members and their staff get ready to go. They all leave for Busan after this Wlive and then get settled into their hotel. We know they all left then too and not early becayse not only do we see footage of them all there at Hybe on the 12th and not in Busan on the 10th... but they also told us during rhe after concert Wlive that they all came down 2 days before the concert on Jimins bday.

It only takes an hour to fly from Seoul to Busan, it only takes 4 hours to drive. If they left after 1 am, that gave them all plently of time to get into their hotel, settle in, and go to sleep before waking up to rehearse for the concert. Jungkook probably filmed his birthday video for Jimin after getting settled in/before going to sleep right before 5am KST. Almost 5 hours of time between the 2 events (JMs live ending and JK posting) is more than enough time for them to travel there and get settled into their rooms.

They probably rested and then all went to rehearsals later that evening where again, they were all together. Hobi posted again a HBD to Jimin with a video of him FROM rehearsals and Jin posted with him a photo they took after rehearsals

October 14

They spent the next day in rehearsals and practice and setting things up for the concert, that would be the 14th. Jimin and JK probably went to see their parents either on the 13th or 14th to see their families while in town and celebrate Jimins birthday. Sometime when they weren't in rehearsals for odd hours. And as for your side question over why they didn't sleep at their family homes, probably because they were keeping odd practice hours and it was easier and made more sense to stay in the hotel with the rest of their team and all their staff.

October 15

They have their concert! Lol the concert started at 6 PM and ended around 830 PM. Give them some more time to get cleaned up a bit back stage, gather their stuff, leave, get back to the hotel and get resettled in too. And then vhopeminkook do an after concert Wlive for us for just 20 minutes. My Post over that live here. It gets reiterated that they had just all gotten to Busan on the 13th and everything else discussed in the vlive, I basically include in my post linked. JK also mentions having not really gone out to do anything yet while they were there. I'm assuming jikook don't count visiting their family as going to do something. Lol Tae also doesn't eat much of the Ramen snacks, Jikook eat most it. Lol Weverse live link below.

After the Wlive, Tae goes out to dinner with hus family and Hyungshik, his friend from Wooga Squad who all had come to the concert, as well as his manager too. This has been confirmed both by the many fans who saw them there and the restaurant themselves. No other members were there at this dinner.

After the restaurant Tae went to the beach and posted photos to his Instagram that he took while he was out there. Apparently the beach was Haeundae Beach and is quite close to the restaurant that he ate at with his family. So to me, personally, I think it would make more sense to guess that the people at the beach with him were the same people at the restaurant with him. Hyungshik, his manager, maybe a bodygaurd or 2, and maybe his parents too if they decided to come along. Honestly, that just makes more sense to me.

People said it was Jungkook as fact because they claimed the shoe print was birkenstock slipper print of the shoes that JK wore. And that the other shadow who wasn't Tae was wearing a bucket hat and that JK wears bucket hats. (Like no one else owns those shoes, or could make a similar shoe print or wears bucket hats) And someone claimed to have seen them there and posted "proof" which was just a super grainy pixels of what only honestly looked like one person. And for all we know, wasn't even Tae alone but a stranger. Plus that same person was caught lying about other "photo evidence" they had of posting what else they had done that day. Stealing a different armys photo of the line at Magnate. They also proved to be a lowkey sasaeng taking JKs photo after an event where fans werent supposed to really be and posting photos of random motorcycles trying to pass it off as Jungkooks. So clearly their credibility is trash. The evidence just isn't there as proof. And honestly, if JK was there, I'm pretty sure Tae just would've posted him. BUT there also isn't any evidence that JK WASNT there. So it could've been them. Tae could've wanted to go to beach, called up the members and asked if anyone else wanted to go and JK said yes and Taes family all went back to their own hotel instead. So who knows. Passing anything off as fact here is silly. It's likely that it wasn't JK, but it can't be proven one way or the other. Trying to do so is ridiculous.

They claimed Taekook to be sharing a hotel room early (they weren't there early so moot point) or through the rest of their trip because Tae posted the photo above on insta as well in his hotel room bathroom mirror. People found the hotel they were staying at (weirdos) and "proved" taekook were sharing rooms based on how the rooms had the same wall and headboard patterns (they used JKs bday video to Jimin as proof to show his hotel room walls/headboard) and that the bathrobe is the same too (robe you can see is blue/white in the corner of Taes pic).... like hotels don't have a common theme of "things" like walls, headboards, beds, sheets, robes, towels, etc. Lol so again, it's just kind of silly and doesn't make any sense. I'm pretty sure at this point all the members are getting their own rooms as Hybe rents out an entire floor of a hotel for BTS and their staff members when they go places for concerts. Both for comfort and for safety as this is something they can now afford to do. Lol but again, no proof none of the members decided on a hotel room sleepover in any variation. But the "facts" are facts or proof of anything in either direction.

And I think that covers the timeline of the moments you were asking about? Hope that helps some! Thank you for the ask 💜 People fighting about the beach thing was so dumb honestly too. Nobody likes a liar but the weird instance that taekook would never was also so dumb. They are friends who like the beach?? Lol but yeah, the evidence was lacking and it's a weird thing to get so wrapped up in regardless. People need to practice some deep breathing exercises lol If you have more questions or I missed something in this ask, please feel free to come by and ask again!

#jikook #kookmin #because i crush hopes and dreams over here #tkkrs are liars

[lewis-winters]

If Easy Company is in a Zombie Apocalypse, what would be their choice of weapon and how will they fight?

1. Dick Winters

2. Lewis Nixon

3. Harry Welsh

4. Ronald Speirs

5. Carwood Lipton

6. Buck Compton

7. Don Malarkey

8. Joe Toye

9. Joe Liebgott

10. David Webster

Uhhhhhh last zombie media I consumed was Last of Us and there wasn't really much? zombie fighting in it (bc the focus was on the human condition)? so I am... gonna valiantly try.

1) Dick Winters - I mean. The man wants to be in control at all times. He has multiple weapons for sure. Rifle, of course, classic. But he has multiple knives hidden on his person and an emergency pistol in his belt. He probably prefers the knives + stealth, though, especially if zombies are attracted to sound. If he can kill quietly and quickly, he will. But he just strikes me as the kinda person who just. Would avoid places like cities or crowded towns in the first place and be very strategic about where they'd go? Sure, it's inevitable that you'd run into some festering, shambling corpse somewhere while hunting for supplies but if he has a choice, he will look for the road of least resistance. Even if it'll take twice as long.

2) Lewis Nixon - man's still alive? Dude, the boy has no will to live as it is. He barely survived the first wave by the skin of his teeth. Probably missing a hand after he got bit and Dick refused to watch him turn or murder him. Lewis did not fire a single bullet during the war what makes you think he'd be the same now? He has a knife. That's it. He barely knows how to use it, doesn't want to use it. When in the thick of an attack with the group, he's always in the middle, surrounded by the others, or at the back, where he's most protected. It's a group choice, because he's better at logistics and keeping everyone together. His whole mind is a map, he knows where they'd be safest for a time. Really good at sweet talking and trading with other groups too. He spends half the apocalypse drunk as all hell, but he's otherwise useful. When alone vs. zombies, he'd rather take his chances running.

3) Harry Welsh - something you can find in a gardening shed, probably. A machete? Or a pair of gardening sheers? something that, when you look at it, reminds you of home and is in great juxtaposition to all the gore dripping from it. maybe even a kitchen knife. or, if you want something really fun, a fireplace poker? or the body of a lamp. those long thin iron ones with a strong metal base? sans bulb and shade, dripping gore everywhere. he swings things around aimlessly, whatever gets caught in his path is an unlucky son of a bitch. there's a method to the madness, of course, but... well. even he doesn't know what it is just yet.

4) Ronald Speirs - my dude was in a military base when shit went down, buddy's in a TANK. ok, I kid, but yeah. Rifle. and various pistols........ lowkey? could see him as one of those. end-of-the-world conspiracy theorists pre-apocalypse, who was very much vindicated when the dead started to rise. man is THRIVING in this apocalypse, because he's a weirdo like that.

5) Carwood Lipton - huh. probably a repurposed javelin or something? i hesitate to say sword, because he's doesn't strike me as the sword type, but he definitely strikes me as a 'hit something very hard until the head caves in' kinda guy? or tbh just something boring and reliable, like a sawed off shot gun. he has only a limited number of bullets, so he's not gonna be using it a lot. I imagine when it's manageable, he's using the OH I KNOW. HE HAS AN AXE. YES. boy's from virginia he's a lumberjack for SURE. and that was the first thing he picked up the second the hordes started advancing. he uses the axe when it's manageable, but when the going gets tough, he gets everyone behind him and goes to take out as many as he can with his shotgun. but he works best with a team who has multiple other weapons, for sure. i could imagine him taking the forefront, whacking some zombies, and trusting explicitly those behind him who're offering support thru gun power, not to accidentally shoot him with a stray bullet while he's taking down zombies close range. it takes a lot of trust to do this, I feel. and he has a lot of it. maybe too much.

6) Buck Compton - BASEBALL BAT WRAPPED IN BARBED WIRE. NEED I SAY MORE. probably has a few grenades on him as well that he scrounged up. he's got a wicked aim.

7) Don Malarkey - man's still alive? he's barely holding on. he had a gun, but they took it away because they feared he was getting suicidal. he gets something back later on, maybe a revolver, but only a limited amount of bullets. he has a small k-bar knife. but that's about it. sometimes, a very primal rage takes over him, and he can do some damage with just his bare hands, but those moments grow fewer and farther between the more they go on. ya know? life's hard in the apocalypse. before all that of course, he used to be real good at mixing gunpowders and making home made pipe bombs. but ever since skip died. well.

8) Joe Toye - mans has a SWORD and you fucking KNOW IT. it can be anything your heart wants. a katana? sure! a broad sword? whatever you say goes babey! a fucking... claymore? YES!! ALRIGHT!!!! I'm too enthusiastic about this bc I am not above admitting I find Joe's arms hot. all I'm saying is those arms? made to swing around a sword. yes they are. and he's a fucking pro at it too, you just know he is. i dunno if he has his amputation before, or during the end of the world, but both paths have many implications to them, and they'd be interesting to explore.

9) Joe Liebgott - SO FUN FACT ROSS MCCALL WAS ACTUALLY IN FEAR THE WALKING DEAD his character gets shot and killed by Marines and then he turns into a zombie. poor guy got his throat slit. he just wanted to help :((( anyway. Lieb's designated get away driver of the group. his car is the weapon. he's run over HORDES of zombies before, and he'll do it again! he prolly keeps like a small handgun as protection when he's waiting outside for the rest of the group, keeping the engine going in case they need to make a quick getaway.

10) David Webster - a MIRACLE this boy is still alive. he took archery as an extra curicular while he was in Harvard, and he liked it enough to keep up with it until his 3rd year, when it all started. man is constantly picking up arrows after himself. scrounging for new ones. I say... in formation he's definitely at the back, with Nix and Don and they cover for him a lot since he's long distance. but in a pinch he can whack somebody good with his bow. one of those heavy duty hunting ones, too. on his own... well. he probably sticks to high places, or hidden spots where he can get a jump on zombies or anyone else, before they can get a jump on him.

#ask #dick winters #lewis nixon #harry welsh #ronald speirs #carwood lipton #buck compton #don malarkey #joe toye #joe liebgott #david webster #bob aus #bob hcs #zombie apocalypse au #DID I SAY I WAS GOING TO SLEEP I MEANT I'M GONNA STAY UP THINKING ABOUT THIS UNTIL I CAN'T NO MORE

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Mark Henn, loooong time Disney animator who was still with the studio in the recent years, has spoken recently...

He's pretty much kind of done with Walt Disney Animation Studios, feeling that the minimal 2D work he had been doing lately (alongside veterans Eric Goldberg and Randy Haycock) wasn't very "meaningful". He is open to going back to finish a short of his own, that he was working with producer Clark Spencer on, but that's just about it. As the Brew notes, his full-time career there is over. He started on THE FOX AND THE HOUND, which released in 1981, to give you an idea of how long he's been there.

It's quite telling how many of the greats departed or were laid off under both John Lasseter and Jennifer Lee's leaderships. Glen Keane, Chris Sanders, Nik Ranieri, Ron Clements, John Musker, the list goes on... I know a lot of animation fans desperately want Disney to do 2D features again, but I don't see it happening. I haven't seen it happening in years. Whenever a piece of 2D for a short or a promo or a commercial surfaces, twitter goes gaga and says "See Disney?? You can do 2D! No excuses!"

It's not about excuses, they simply DO NOT WANT TO. For whatever reason, no matter how silly it may seem to us.

Henn said it best:

"Since then, I think it’s just too difficult for the studio to justify essentially creating a second studio within this current studio in order to do 2D, which is what you had when we had Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh. We essentially had literally two smaller studios under one roof, and I just think that that became too much of a financial risk. Right now, we’re barely able to house everybody that we have on staff. So, I mean, there’s all kinds of logistical things from where you’re going to put people to taking that risk."

I've talked about it, exhaustively, myself. It's just, the larger Disney company isn't too interested in being - to quote former Disney storyman Steve Hulett - a "Renaissance art factory". In addition to 2D really not being conducive to editorial and a one-a-year assembly line model, WDAS management are simply making movies that they think the public wants to see. They spend upward $135m+ on them, and they try to get one out every year. They're lucky to even be making movies, since they've been nearly shut down far too many times to name... As recently as 2006, even, because one Steve Jobs felt they didn't need to be a thing anymore now that the company owned Pixar. I see them as a "legacy brand" at this point. Still alive, still kicking, probably by virtue of being the thing that created the whole company in the first place... But that's just it. It's very "Disney, the way you always liked it" these days. I think that's part of why STRANGE WORLD and WISH had trouble theatrically, among many other things. Pixar had one miss with LIGHTYEAR, but a leggy sensation with ELEMENTAL. It remains to be seen how ELIO does a year and a half from now. Universal on the other hand is somehow keeping audiences coming back for both DreamWorks and Illumination's movies. With the rare miss every now and then. (SPIRIT: UNTAMED, RUBY GILLMAN, etc.)

But yeah, I've kind of made peace with it. Disney Animation is currently not in the business of making movies for people who can spot a Milt Kahl head swaggle from a mile away, they're making movies for the folks who put on Disney+, and then put on ENCANTO and such as background noise. It just... Is what is. 2D is still there in some way or another, like in short films and small bits of animated effects and whatnot, but... It's a crapshoot to think that they'll do a full feature like that this decade, I feel. If anything, they'll just keep tinkering with the art style of WISH, which... Didn't work on a lot of folks. So... Do they go back to the tried-and-true TANGLED/FROZEN/MOANA house style? I don't know, I don't have a crystal ball. I don't even know if they'll have a movie by Thanksgiving of this year. That new Disney+ series they made that's coming out next month, IWAJU, looks like a slightly upscaled Disney Junior show.

I still look for something I'll like in the upcoming stuff, because... Well, even though Disney Animation is merely a cog in the massive Disney machine at this point with little of an identity left (much like the live-action/CG tech demo end of things), this studio's output... Decades and decades of it, has been formative for me. At least one WDAS movie was someone's gateway to the wider world of animation, methinks. It was certainly my VHS tapes of BAMBI, THE JUNGLE BOOK, and THE LION KING, among many others in my library at age 8, that's for sure. I even *liked* the recent films, I have yet to see WISH all the way through, but I did enjoy STRANGE WORLD enough, and liked ENCANTO, RAYA, FROZEN II, etc. a good deal. It's just, a lot of it is nothing really special to me in the end. Just fine at best, with some impressive stuff here and there. Like, say, some of the directing in ENCANTO. Just fine, adequate. I don't think that of the Disney animated features made before this decade. Even my least favorite animated Disney work of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and '00s still has something very unique and influential to it. I don't intend for this to be a knock on the crews' hard work, it's only my personal feelings on what I've seen. It's what they seem to want to be making, or what the management is approving of... I can kick and scream, but, that won't do anything. I'll just see what's next and say "Well, let's see... What will I get out of this one?"

I've long accepted that the ship sailed on 2D features at WDAS, and most of the other big theatrical studios for that matter. Many of whom never even MADE a 2D feature. Pixar never made one, Illumination didn't, Sony Animation didn't until FIXED, you get the idea. The only other one that's still chugging is DreamWorks, and they made their final 2D feature back in 2003. Twenty-one years ago. I look elsewhere for that kind of thing, and I found just that... KLAUS, WOLFWALKERS, you get the idea. The best you'll get in theaters is an adaptation of a 2D animated show or pre-existing franchise, like THE BOB'S BURGERS MOVIE. I doubt that pending-theatrical release Looney Tunes movie, THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP, will be the great decider of the future of 2D animated movies in theaters. Ditto FIXED, *if* that's still aiming for theaters. (It got its rating from the MPA a long while ago. It's done. It's in the can... and there's no release date for it.)

So... Yeah... Is what it is. WDAS seems to refuse to do a 2D feature, and have been refusing for over a decade (I really think PRINCESS AND THE FROG and WINNIE shut the door permanently, like an encore that they fought to make happen), and the kind of movie that they're making now may just not be for me and others for the foreseeable future. We'll see where their next path takes them... As long as they come out whatever happens still making movies...

[croik]

what do you dislike about Kayne/the butcher in terms of writing?

Everything 😌

No but really I'll share my thoughts under the cut.

I could probably write an essay about how the introduction of Kayne has already irreparably damaged the show's narrative, but the short version is that by existing, he has erased virtually all stakes, imo. He appeared basically out of nowhere, deflated all tension leading up to the final confrontation with the King in Yellow (who was the main antagonist at the time), and following that confrontation removed all the consequences of it. By undoing Arthur's broken bones and returning John, everything about Arthur's and John's choices on the plateu were invalidated, as well as the choice we the Patrons had made, despite it being billed as a very significant vote. He replaced them with entirely new and completely arbitrary consequences (the memory loss, whatever John's deal is).

His motives may or may not become clear later on, but in the meantime, we're left with a villain who seems to be reshaping the story just for his own amusement, with no regard for the characters' agency or consequences. If Kayne can bring Arthur back from literal death whenever he wants, why should I ever be worried for his safety? Why should I care if John is losing his memory again, when Kayne has full control over his mind and existence? There's no point even wondering what he's after or what the conditions of his deal are until he reveals them himself, and even then, it might just get undone again.

It's contrived, imo. It's lazy. It's a get out of jail free card when you snap a character's femur and then realize you don't want spend time on healing, or come up with some other explanation to get rid of the injury so the plot can barrel forward. He's too powerful, and until he tips his hand, we can't trust that anything else will stick or matter.

Butcher is different, but the problem I have with him is the writing trying too hard to convince us that he's smart/good at this. Him clocking Arthur as blind after a few minutes, after personally watching him READ THE NOTE he himself gave him, and despite none of the other people who spent longer with Arthur noticing, is a desperate bid for us to think he's smart. Him climbing on top of the moving train, where he can't see or hear his quarry, and dropping in exactly when Arthur is next to the specific window, is very dramatic but nonsensical. He chats on and on with the officers, basically shouting at the audience how scary and important he is for far too long.

And he just happened to chase Arthur into an apartment building with a chair and rope set up in the basement. Again it's all a little too convenient. There's a lot about the current scenario that doesn't make much sense logistically, but it doesn't matter because we're just supposed to take the Butcher at his word that he's very good at this.

And hey, I'm not looking for realism. That's not my issue. I just don't like a story telling me that the villain is the best in his field, and then showing him rely on happenstance and luck while he prattles on and on, and sometimes magically intuits something unearned.

(I'm also not a fan of his "oo I'm in love with my victims" shtick, but someone else explained that better already)

Disclaimer these are all my personal feelings and I'm not trying to convince anyone or say you shouldn't like these characters, I fully admit I also have strong personal reasons for disliking them unrelated to the writing so I can't be 100% objective. But who even can be, amirite?

#malevolent blah #masked #not trying to be a hater #ok a little hate #but its okay to not like parts of a show #bring back Yellow plz #much more interesting

[apcthetics]

*˖ ⊹ ────────  lore dump.

this is just a little collection of explanations about where my characters currently are physically, emotionally, career-wise, etc. it's mainly for me to keep myself straight with my ideas and their development but uhhh also to make sense if i drop any of it in a post. that's all ! read or don't read at your discretion ! don't matter to me.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  alistair castillo.

i really don’t imagine his life changes much from day to day to be totally honest………. there is nothing new happening in his life he’s still just being a menace upon new york and giving people sick ass tattoos.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  brady ackerman.

he’s been wound up in a lot of different projects and probably running himself into overdraft; busy filming the next season of his show, and also alongside it trying to finish out a manuscript for the next book he’s supposed to be writing, all while flying all over the world in just a handful of weeks. hasn’t touched down in new york for more than a few days in the past 2 months but hey at least he’s successful right. right guys. right. haha. he's not tired at all. don't look at his dark circles for too long. 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  caleb williamson.

christmas is a pretty big time for his little side gig selling rare records online, so that picked up quite a bit even as his music lessons kind of trailed off as kids went off on winter holiday. it’s also just been rly quiet for him because obviously christmas didn’t go very well as family dinners never really go well at the willamson/michaelson house and then luvena has been either away or rotting in her room so there’s not really been much for him to do if levi and trinity arealso preoccupied (with each other? idk i dont god mod 👀. ) he did do a really successful new years eve show i think that he’s proud of but mainly it’s just been his little side hustle and now as lessons are picking back up.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  clementine bailey.

so clem is still in the process/paperwork of buying the diner, all the bank loans and everything like that but she is now effectively in charge of it which has definitely been ! a big deal ! her and loren moved into a new apartment and clem has yet to even unpack most of her boxes because she’s spending a lot of time at the diner going over all the financials and trying to teach herself how to handle the back end of a business instead of just the front half. it’s A Lot and she’s definitely Stressed and crying a lot and everyone has been getting 3am baked thumb print cookies, but don't even worry about her !

*˖ ⊹ ────────  damien clarke.

christmas is always the best but busiest time of year for retail so i imagine damien has been putting in a lot of extra effort to make sure that it’s special !! he did some big holiday toy drives alongside some local charities, but since the christmas rush has kind of fallen off and times are slower he’s now just trying to get through the pile of bookkeeping and administrative stuff that he needs to worry about. i have been playing with the idea of him running a very limited indie comic publishing thing out of the back office of his shop, having started with the one done by him & honey and now kind of expanding to artists who maybe don’t have the funds or ability to afford printing and stuff themselves but………… idk the logistics of that yet so it’s definitely just an idea in his head that’s in the early stages. he’s having fun with it. honestly he's having a great time.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  eli russo.

again i don’t think his daily life has much variation. working security at a show venue a few evenings a week and still coaching the Youth ™ w/ boxing a few days a week… sometimes he does do like 14 hour days which is a bit unfortunate and his schedule is all over the place which is bad for the brain that can barely remember what day it is on a good week but you know!!! his memory has been slightly improving thanks to all of the puzzles & all that stuff!!! so like good for him!!! go off king!! 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  elijah guiterrez.

again i just brought him here so i don’t really think things have been particularly outstanding in his life. just him and carmen doing their little school thing idk. he’s working as a TA in among all the other school stuff he’s doing i suppose.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  esther thomas.

lowkey i think she’s started dropping off from doing auditions all together… like she’s so bored of them, and getting anywhere in the snow and cold is rough, so while she hasn’t admitted it to anyone or even necessarily herself she’s just like. not been looking. kind of giving up on her dream but doesn’t want to admit that because then that means her parents were right. but like really she’s resigned herself to the bartending life. otherwise nothing new.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  grace bao.

she’s been stuck in this hellish domestic civil lawsuit at the moment that’s eating up practically all of her spare time because the judge and the defense are assholes and she has gotten competitive about it, alongside all of her Daughter Responsibilities for her parents and their millions of holiday and new years parties. grace does nothing but work, eat, be miserable at charity dinners, work some more, and maybe sleep right now. that’s her whole social life. 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  jackson ruíz.

construction is fairly seasonal work so while he’s still working he’s not as busy as he usually is, and also it’s winter and everything is depressing, so he’s definitely been deep into hermit “i haven’t seen you in a week” mode. especially with giselle kind of flying out to conferences and stuff there hasn’t been much reason for him to get out of his apartment. he’s in a Depression Era but hey ! it happens ! 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  kal sekh.

i think the news of eren’s diagnosis has had quite an effect on kal, especially having to keep it a secret from everyone and also because she doesn’t want as much support for it as he feels like he should be giving, so he’s slipping a little bit into old habits again and overworking himself into the ground so he doesn’t have to rly stop and think about what’s happening. double shifts and insomnia are back baby !!!!!!!!!

*˖ ⊹ ────────  kas peters.

just came out of a period where he had a few different mural commissions going on all at the same time and he was much busier than he’s usually used to so now he is simply basking in the fact that he doesn’t have to worry about funds broke-ass artist bitch but also that he doesn’t have anything to do. just kind of vibing. fucking around with his art in his room. fucking around w/ gabriella’s emotions. you know how it is. no cares in the world for this guy.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  minji kyung.

around new years she had the opening of her studio !! so she’s been very busy, not really making art but she’s been spending a lot of her time at the gallery/studio. this is a really big change from her because she’s kind of lacked purpose or a project for a really long time that i imagine she’s just really happy and really excited ??? but also probably very daunted because she feels like she doesn’t belong or doesn’t have the skills to do it properly yano. 

*˖ ⊹ ────────  reid baker.

he took a little vacation time off since his work is also pretty seasonal to go back and visit his parents on the farm, but mostly his life has been no different except he’s been shovelling snow off the central park steps instead of just being a glorified gardener. honestly he’s pretty chill he doesn’t have the braincells to be anything except chill.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  sebastián dominguez-herrera.

this bad boy went on tour !!! first it was america, and following that he did a few shows in europe & south america. he’s also been working on his next album in between, but he’s at a bit of a stand still with that one because he isn’t feeling ~ inspired ~ and he’s kind of groggy and thinks he’s sick all the time because all the travelling + the winter that he’s not really used to. drama queen never experienced seasonal depression before and hes getting a little taste of it.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  wren noor.

i think wren is starting to actually reconsider the kinds of things she wants to do with her life and the degree she already has now… i think maybe she’s looking into online courses at other universities where she might be able to finish her masters but also is considering a career change totally… she’s been spending way more time on the roof with her telescope and getting excited about that stuff again as she heals, but definitely is still cautious,,, anyway she's been doing her research.

#🕺🕺🕺 #🎉🎉🎉

[stainedglassthreads]

It used to be a pretty popular trope in fandom to give Flowey a soul, any soul, and have him suddenly pop back into existence as Asriel, both in body and mind. 

But personally I wonder if it’d really be that simple? I have massive doubts that his soulless state is causing his perceived lack of love, compassion, and empathy rather than... y’know... immense trauma, as outlined in this thread, but right now I want to speculate the logistics of if giving him a soul really would grant him his fluffy goatboi form again. 

Because, think about it. When is the ONLY time we see him resembling his old goat form? It’s when he has seven souls, which is described as ‘the power of a GOD.’ Shapeshifting is implied to be one of the powers he gains with seven souls, as he spends the entire Photoshop Flowey fight stuck in one singular form, but wantonly switches between Goatboi, Hypergoat, and Angel-esque forms in the True Pacifist Boss Fight. 

Furthermore, everything Asriel does in the True Pacifist boss fight seems to be stuff that Asriel finds ‘cool.’ If he is purposefully choosing forms, then he deliberately takes a form with a striking resemblance to his mother. He wields cool swords with abnormal designs, shoots a huge rainbow gun, throws fire and lightning everywhere, and mimicks Sans’ Gaster Blaster with the Hyper Goner attack. Rainbows are everywhere, even in his Check summary. And doing all of this because he thinks it’s ‘cool’ matches with his personality in this fight, as supported by things like his ‘villain laugh’. 

So, what can we take away from this? Let’s move away from his seven-souls form for now, which may possess the godlike power to freely change shape at will, and look at another incredibly powerful form which still isn’t quite ‘godlike.’ The form he takes with six souls-- Photoshop Flowey. 

A form that quite distinctly has HEAVY influence from flowers, humans, and machinery... but absolutely no goatlike traits. 

I will admit that perhaps Toby Fox did this deliberately, to prevent it being too obvious too early that Flowey is Asriel. But the point remains, that this form is canonically the form Flowey takes when he has NEAR godlike power, and NOT the ability to freely determine his own shape. And it has no goat-traits, more strongly resembling... well. His form as Flowey, albeit much larger, and with added human and machinery-based influences. 

So why would a seventh of the power that restores Flowey’s old form be enough to magically return his goat form, when not even a trace of it is present in the form closest to reaching that sort of power? When traits of his flower form  ARE present and in the forefront? 

It wouldn’t. 

A single soul, not even his own soul, will never be enough to bring the old Asriel back. Not even physically. His body is long dusted, and his new form is not a monster’s malleable, magical form. It’s a normal, completely physical flower. It requires the power of a god to be reshaped completely to his liking, and additional souls can only enhance and add to it. 

Asriel’s old personality AND old life are gone forever, as a result of his trauma and death-- unless you’re willing to hunt down and give him SEVEN human souls to ‘save’ him. For better or for worse, he will probably remain a little golden flower. But looking at the Post-Pacifist speech and Winter Alarm Clock dialogue... he’s probably doing better as Flowey than the the early fandom gave him credit for. 

#undertale #undertale meta #undertale theory #asriel #asriel dreemurr #flowey

[autisticandroids]

the thing about cas is that there are a lot of things he's done where like... maybe his culpability was slippery but i do think that it would be appropriate to want forgiveness. but almost none of those things were ever to dean.

the only really bad things that cas has done to dean that should require forgiveness are breaking sam's wall (yes i know that the primary victim here is sam but like. this was also harm to dean, and cas doesn't have any kind of mitigating justification here, he was really just lashing out. and like the anger behind the lashing out was justified but the lashing out was wildly disproportionate), beating dean up in an alley (similar story re: lashing out, but slightly more proportionate: dean was going to intentionally both get cas killed and render his defining life event meaningless; it's still wildly inappropriate that cas beat him up though), letting sam out of the panic room (this is stickier; cas was under pain of death, and he also immediately afterwards tries to rectify this and indeed dies for it, but i think holding it against him to some degree would still be reasonable. however, logistically, it doesn't work to have dean hold it against him, since dean never finds out cas did this), and various sort of inconsiderate, bad friend type things that cas did that don't rise to the level of life or death drama, (like leaving mid conversation, or giving terrible advice that comes off as kind of callous because cas is dumb), or being insufficiently sympathetic about soulless sam because he was too busy (these mostly but not exclusively occurred in seasons four through six, as cas is much more focused on maintaining dean's affection and approval later on).

every other bad thing cas has done to dean was either in some way the result of literal mind control (goodbye stranger etc.), something dean should not have been mad at cas for which he was only mad about because he has fucked up ideas about how relationships should work and cas' personhood (working with crowley; being alive instead of sam in swan song; spending time with other angels in season nine; the fucking snake), or something which while potentially bad for the world had literally zip to do with dean personally (godstiel stuff; wanting jack to be born).

but the thing is, cas has actually done a lot of bad in the world, and he knows this. he's hurt a lot of people, and his culpability in many of those instances was sticky: he was brainwashed or mind controlled or possessed or tricked or abused or tortured into compliance. but it's stuff that it makes sense to feel guilty for, even if a lot of it was mostly not his fault. and it's certainly stuff that other people have good reason to hate him for - if i was an angel i would still probably hate cas for godstiel, regardless of whether he was totally compos mentis or semi-possessed by leviathans and judgement impaired by being overloaded with soul power.

and cas knows this. he's very aware that he has hurt a lot of people, and a lot of them justifiably hate him for that, and he craves forgiveness even if it's not ever possible. and this is a tendency of cas' that dean constantly exploits. cas is extremely afraid of fucking up and hurting people, and dean uses that fear to control him by bringing up a list of his crimes and reminding him of all the bad things he's done every time he (cas) disobeys dean. because cas is so unsure of himself for reasons that genuinely make sense, and so justifiably afraid that he's going to keep making the world worse, he's very vulnerable to being told that he's fucking up, that he shouldn't trust himself, that what he's doing is wrong. and so dean is constantly using this to control and isolate him. like cas shouldn't really be seeking dean's forgiveness for anything much in the later seasons, certainly not the things that dean is constantly bringing up to remind him of what a fuck up he is so he'll listen to dean. but he does, because dean has leveraged his (cas') genuine feelings of guilt towards other people to get cas to unquestioningly accept that dean has been right every time he's ever gotten mad at him.

essentially in the end, dean "forgiving" cas in the trap without admitting that he should never have been mad in the first place just continues the cycle. it reinforces that cas did something to need "forgiveness" from dean. and because cas craves forgiveness in general, he's going to accept that uncritically, because it means that at least someone forgive him. but cas doesn't need to hear that dean forgives him, he needs to hear that dean was being irrational and there's nothing to forgive. anything else is just an attempt by dean to maintain control.

#spn

[raquellemonsta]

the sweet things in life (tsukishima x reader)

previous || next

chapter 5: overnight

Your classes today had been particularly easy. You got half of your homework done during lunch and would definitely have time to do the rest of it during practice, leaving you free for this weekend. That way, you would be able to lay on the sofa and watch tv for as long as you wanted without feeling the guilt of not doing work at the back of your mind.

Tsukishima had made a comment to you that "doing your work during lunch was foolish" and that "you need to eat something", but you didn't really care. What did four eyes know?

You realized you probably should have listened to him, when you felt your stomach growl with another hour of school left to go. You know when your stomach growls loudly in class and people look at you? It was kind of like that except doubly embarrassing since your pride for not listening to Tsukishima was at stake.

The very boy who chastised you would turn out to be your savior. He quietly passed you a strawberry chocolate protein bar. You looked at him, but he was looking at the teacher, and somewhat impatiently gesturing for you to grab the bar from him. You finally accepted it and gave him a quiet thank you that he didn't respond to.

The bar gave you the energy to finish the school day. Practice was slow, also probably because you were still kind of hungry.

However, it was decided by nearly unanimous vote (Tsukishima wanted no part, and Ennoshita saw it as a scheme by Nishinoya and Tanaka to see Kiyoko outside of club time) that you guys would have team bonding time by spending the night at Sugawara's house. The logistics behind that were brought into question by you, but Suga simply waved it off and said it would be a great time. Not like any of the guys make you uncomfortable anyway, so it was okay.

And so, it was decided that the Karasuno boys volleyball club and their two managers would be spending the night at the Sugawara residence.

----

In all honesty, this already felt like a mistake.

You were sitting in Suga's living room, on the couch that they had shoved all of the first years onto. You were shoulder-to-shoulder between Kageyama and Tsukishima, an interesting combo to say the least. Kiyoko sat in one of the chairs, while Daichi sat in the other (Sugawara was idling between sitting on the arm rest and running around his house to make sure food was good). The second years were sitting on small pillows on the ground in front of the couch, with Tanaka and Noya opting to sit next to Kiyoko, and Ennoshita sitting closer to keep them in check. (I love Kinoshita and Narita guys I promise). Asahi was sitting up against the chair Kiyoko was on.

"Can I just sit on the floor?" Kageyama asked from next to you, to which Nishinoya said that the formations had to stay the same, for whatever reason. That didn't really make too much sense to you, but neither did Nishinoya. You guessed it had something to do with keeping the class levels separate, though you'd wonder why they'd willingly pick the floor.

"Wow, the king wants to sit on a floor like a peasant? Surprising" Tsukishima poked. You gave him a side eye glance which he merely returned with a smirk as Kageyama got ready to retort.

"Don't even start" you tell him, and he shuts his mouth and crosses his arms.

"Kiyoko, you look amazing tonight" Tanaka practically drooled at her feet. That was probably the answer to why they wanted to floor, they wanted to be as close to their 'goddess' as possible. Suga made a comment to Tanaka and Nishinoya about leaving Kiyoko alone.

You all sat in that awkward silence, where no one can think of anything to say and everyone is looking around at each other waiting for someone to do something. You made weird eye contact with Asahi for a split second, before he quickly looked away, almost in fear of you. Finally, the silence was broken by one of your fellow first years.

"Let's play a game" Hinata practically begged from the other end of the couch. The silence was getting to him and he couldn't take it anymore.

"How about paranoia?" Kinoshita suggested.

"What about me?" Noya asked. You shook your head in amusement.

"No dumbass, that's the name of the game" Narita told him.

Basically, paranoia works where someone whispers a question to the person next to them, and that person must answer out loud with a person in the group. Then, you flip a coin to decide if the question will be said out loud. Heads means the question is said, tails means it isn't. Sometimes it's a drinking game, but you're all high schoolers and athletes so that's not how you'd play.

As they decided who would go first, you took a bowl of popcorn from the table and decided to eat some. You offered some to Kageyama, who just gave you a deadpan expression and didn't say anything to you before he took a handful. You then turned to your other side, where Tsukishima pushed the bowl back towards you and refused. You let out a 'hmph' before tuning into the game.

It was honestly going pretty well, none of the questions that were revealed had actually been terrible so far. You were particularly intrigued at what Suga had asked Asahi to make him nervously look around and then say your name, but alas the coin landed tails. 

Nishinoya had answered 'Asahi' to Tanaka's question: who would be funniest to see bald other than himself? It was then Noya's turn to ask Kageyama a question. He whispered in his ear and at first he refused to answer. After some convincing and several more seconds of thought, he calmly gave his answer.

"L/n" he spoke matter-of-factly. Your eyes widened at this, and there were some noises made by some of the guys that showed their surprise as well. Suga flipped the coin and you watched on bated breath as it landed on heads. You hesitantly looked to Kageyama, whose face had turned the slightest shade of pink.

"Haha! I asked him who here he would be most likely to ask out on a date" Noya proudly proclaimed. You felt yourself heat up a little, and looked over to see him avoiding eye contact with you. You weren't really sure how to feel.

You had had guys that liked you before, but even hearing that Kageyama would consider taking you on a date made your heart stir. He was decently attractive and insanely good at volleyball, so it's not like he wasn't a catch. But the more you thought about it, the more you didn't see a relationship with him working out. He's just a little too into volleyball for you, and you wouldn't want to be second to that.

This wasn't something you voiced out loud, since this was just a game and not even necessarily any indication he liked you in that way. Unbeknownst to you, on the other side of you Tsukishima was giving Kageyama a nasty glare. It was different to his usual rbf, there was a genuine annoyance in his expression.

You merely laughed it off before it was time for you to answer Kageyama's question. You figured he would just ask some dumb little question, so you weren't concerned. He cupped his hands to your ear and asked his question.

"Which guy here would you most want to have as your first kiss?" he whispered. Your heartbeat picked up its pace as you looked at him incredulously. He merely stared and waited for your answer.

You looked around at everyone there, intently waiting for you to announce your answer. You crossed the third years off of your list first, just because of how intimidating you found them (though they all had their own attractive charm). You decided Noya and Tanaka were far too obsessed with Kiyoko for that to ever happen, and no offense to the other second years but they were just a little too average for your liking.

That left you to decide between your fellow first years. Hinata was the first one you eliminated. He's cute and determined, but a little too immature for your liking. Yamaguchi was someone you much preferred as a friend, and you couldn't imagine a romantic venture with him. That left Kageyama and Tsukishima. You had to come up with mental pros and cons.

Kageyama was both good and bad for all of the reasons you had thought earlier when you realized you'd rather not date him. And if you wouldn't date him, why would you want him as a first kiss? So that left one.

He's a jerk, and you know that, but there was just something about him. It seemed like he did care about you at least a little (even if he wouldn't admit it). You thought back to the protein bar from earlier today he had given you when you had neglected to take care of yourself. There's also the fact that he's boyishly handsome and extremely smart, however much his snark covers those facts up. You had made your decision.

"Tsukishima" you said with confidence. Everyone seemed a little shocked, and wondered just what the nature of the question was as Suga brought the coin out again.

You hoped and prayed that the coin would land on tails, even though strangely a small part of you wanted the question to be revealed to everyone. How would he react? You didn't have to find out though, as the coin landed on tails and you were safe.

Your secret is safe for now, only known by Kageyama. You turned to ask Tsukishima a question and the game went on.

Eventually, when everyone had inevitably gotten bored of the game, you all retired to your sleeping bags. There was some more talking but you were entirely exhausted and dozed off.

----

You woke up at some point in the middle of the night for an unknown reason. You rubbed your eyes and looked around the room, trying to make out what was happening. You caught some mischievous snickering and looked over to see Noya, Tanaka, and Hinata drawing on Kageyama's face. They seemingly hadn't woken anyone else up.

"What are you guys doing?" you said at a regular volume.

They looked over to you in shock and quickly shushed you, but to your amusement Kageyama began to wake up. When he noticed the boys standing around them, he started to yell and threaten them. The other three jumped up and ran way from him, tripping over Asahi as they went. The commotion caused everyone except for Kiyoko to wake up. You snickered before rolling over and going back to sleep, ignoring the shouting from the other side of the room.

Lord save you.

#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #tsukishima kei #tsukishima x reader #karasuno #kiyoko shimizu #yamaguchi #hinata #kageyama