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carolperkinsexgirlfriend · 3 months

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Steddie Upside-Down AU Part 96

Part 1 Part 95

Mom makes him go home when he starts dosing on Steve’s hospital bed. But it’s okay because she kisses Steve’s cheek before she leaves, and Eddie and Wayne stay parked by his side.

The connection’s easier now. It’s like all that time straining for Steve has snapped something into place. He can feel them all the time, a warm buzzing in his chest. He wonders if he runs hot now. If the warmth will diffuse through his whole being, make coats obsolete even in the dead of winter.

Hopper is waiting for them in the waiting room, El burrowed into his side. She looks wan, and tired, drooping into her extravagant coat, eyeliner running down her cheeks like she’s been crying. Something inside him twists when he looks at her.

Before he can untangle that knot of emotion, Hopper stands up, both hands slapping against his knees first the same way Mike’s dad does before he gets up from his recliner. “You ready to go?” he asks, not looking away from Mom.

When Will glances up, Mom’s smiling up at Hopper in a way he doesn’t want to think about. The adults talk quietly in front, leaving El to stumble tiredly along beside Will. She’s staring at the side of his face. Will can’t bring himself to look back.

“Steve,” she says, sounding the word out and making it longer like it still tastes foreign on her tongue. “He is okay?”

When Will gets up the courage to look over, her eyes are big and worried. He smiles at her helplessly. It’s almost funny how innocent she looks; like she’s a bunny dressed up in punk clothes. “He’ll be okay.”

She smiles, small and close lipped, but it still beams out of her like the sun. Will tilts his head to the side and tries to see what Mike sees in her. He wants to hide her in Castle Byers, build a fortress around her, and keep her away from all the lab people for the rest of her life.

Is that howMike felt, hiding her in his basement, giving her frozen eggos and keeping his mouth shut?

But then her lips thin and she looks forward again. The feelings vanishes. It’s just El, hia friend, despite how much of Mike’s attention she’d snapped up just by being herself.

“I’m glad,” she says, looking at Hopper’s broad back as she takes two steps for each one of his.

It’s quiet after that, the way it always is after; all of them too brittle and bruised and bone-deep tired for conversation.

Hopper’s truck rat-a tat-tats itself to life in the hospital parking lot. The radio croons out something quiet and thrumming until Hopper reaches over to shut it off.

El’s heads smushed into the window, vibrating against the pot-holed roads of Hawkins.

Will’s so tired he’s wide awake.

He watches the familiar buildings of Hawkins flicker by. It's been a long time since knowing his surroundings brought any comfort.

Monsters could live behind every door, every tree, every smiling face.

He’s not sure any of them will ever feel safe again.

Will closes his eyes, locking the scenery out so he can focus on the bundle of warmth in his chest. They’re still huddled together, two sparks merging in his chest.

The past couple days have been a necessary violation of Eddie’s private feelings. He’d bared them all with love confessions and grasping hands, trying to pull Steve back from the edge of immolation.

He’s not even sure Steve knows, hopes he does. Steve deserves to hold that love delicately between his palms and choose what to do with it.

He won’t crush it, even if it’s unreturned. He’ll hold it gently like he always does.

Will doesn’t realize he fell asleep, or that they’d arrived home until he’s in free-fall. It feels like one of those falling dreams where you wake up solidly in the middle of your bed, but this time he really is tumbling, only Jonathan’s arms keeping him from hitting the gravel.

“Are you okay?” he asks shakily as he pulls Will into his chest, holding him tight enough to hurt. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Mom murmurs, wrapping them both up in her arms, chin landing solidly on Jonathan’s shoulder, sandwiching Will between their bodies. “Everyone’s fine, right Will?”

Will murmurs his affirmation, feeling groggy and confused in the light of day.

“I was with Nancy,” Jonathan whispers. “I was just with Nancy, and you were–I almost–”

“Shh,” Mom cuts him off, reaching up to cradle his face and smile up at him. Will barely catches the edge of his watering eyes from his restricted vantage point between them. “Everyone’s fine.”

“I should have been he–”

“Jonathan,” Mom interrupts again, sharper this time. “Everyone is fine. You deserve a normal life.”

“But Will–”

“I’m fine!” Will cuts in this time.

Jonathan pulls back, looking down at him with worried, droopy eyes. “And Steve? Mike said he was possessed.”

Will feels that bundle of warmth in his heart, lets it shine through his smile as he looks up at his brother. “He’ll be okay.” As Jonathan droops with relief, Will feels his smile turn cheeky. “Eddie will never let you forget that you were on a date while we were fighting monsters, though.”

Jonathan closes his eyes, pained while Mom laughs.

It’s not until they’re walking toward the front door that Will notices the lack of demo-dog bodies. There’s still puddles of black oil-slick blood, but everything else looks normal. Who covered their tracks? The lab? Hopper?

He settles down for the debrief, pillowing his head on Jonathan’s shoulder as Hopper’s even tones flit through his brain.

Maybe familiar places no longer hold any comfort, but Jonathan’s bony frame is enough to lull him into a peaceful sleep.

Part 97

Taglist: @deany-baby @estrellami-1 @altocumulustranslucidus @evillittleguy @carlprocastinator1000 @hallucinatedjosten @goodolefashionedloverboi @newtstabber @lunabyrd @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @manda-panda-monium @disrespectedgoatman @finntheehumaneater @ive-been-bamboozled @harringrieve @grimmfitzz @is-emily-real @dontstealmycake @angeldreamsoffanfic @a-couchpotato @5ammi90 @mac-attack19 @genderless-spoon @kas-eddie-munson @louismeds @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @pansexuality-activated @ellietheasexylibrarian @nebulainajar @mightbeasleep @neonfruitbowl @beth--b @silenzioperso @best-selling-show @v3lv3tf0x @bookworm0690 @paintsplatteredandimperfect @wonderland-girl143-blog @nerdsconquerall @sharingisntkaren @canmargesimpson @bananahoneycomb @rainwaterapothecary @practicallybegging

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #will byers #steddie upsidedown au #my fic #Steve pov: I'm a wretch and a monster and everything is my fault #will pov: steve's so comforting :)#also Jonathan freaking out because he missed everything is something that is so fun to me. He's like. I'm a terrible brother!#Meanwhile Nancy only has low stakes in the whole thing. And she never got involved so by the time she knew to worry about Mike.#She already knew he was fine. so her main reaction is feeling left out.#Nancy is so fun in this AU because her inciting character incident (Barb's death) shapes so much of who she is #that we have like maybe one episode of characterization to work off of wrt what she was like before #anyway I'm sick so we'll see how much writing I can actually get done while feverish!

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iam93percentstardust · 1 year

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one of the things that really bothers me about modern franchises, and in particular over the last 5 years or so, is their refusal to commit. what i mean here when i say this is that it's not uncommon for a major franchise to make a decision, whether about the plot or the characters, that should have had huge, world-changing consequences... and then just never address that again or worse, immediately go back and undo it. and i'm gonna pick on star wars and the mcu here because those are the two big franchises i'm into at the moment (and i think they're kind of the worst at this), but i don't want you to walk away from this thinking that this is solely a disney thing. i've seen this happen with game of thrones and supernatural and plenty of other non-disney franchises. spoilers ahead, you've been warned:

in ant-man & the wasp quantumania, scott and hope make the life-altering decision to stay behind in the quantum realm and defeat kang instead of going through the portal to return to their world. this should have been a huge meta decision for the mcu, and when i first saw it in theaters, my immediate thought was wow, what is this going to mean for the mcu going forward? are we going to get a movie/miniseries about scott and hope helping to rebuild the quantum realm? how are cassie, janet, and hank going to react to the losses of their loved ones (in some cases, for the second time)? is cassie going to become the "first" young avenger because she has to take her father's place among the team lineup (and i only say first because as of this moment, none of the other young avengers introduced to the franchise are official avengers yet)? except nope, because less than 2 minutes later, cassie had fixed the portal that had broken way back at the beginning of the movie and brought scott and hope back.

and it felt like such a cheat. i was so disappointed in that theater, not as someone who was invested in these characters on a personal level (because yay, cassie gets her dad back!), but as someone who has spent years investing themselves in the story of the mcu. what was the point of wasting screentime on scott and hope accepting their new lives in the quantum realm if it was just going to immediately be undone? the entire scene could have been cut to scott and hope making it back bare seconds before the portal closed and it would have had the same emotional impact. there was nothing added by making scott and hope (and us) think that there was no way back only to rip the rug out from under us and go "gotcha! you really thought we were gonna give this movie a sad ending? haha! you're so dumb!"

and this isn't the first time the mcu has done this. one of the biggest complaints about endgame was the decision to set it five years in the future with no consideration for how that would actually change the setting of the mcu. characters were brought back to the exact place they disappeared from with no consideration for how things might have changed in the interim five years (like planes that weren't in the air anymore, buildings no longer standing, even just something as simple as a chair being unoccupied). and then the mcu didn't even really have the courage to address how this would have shaped the world other than a few jokes and making the bad guys in the falcon and the winter soldier people who cared about how the world had screwed them over during the blip.

and things like this happen over and over and over again. the accords are put into place in civil war, but by the time we get to she-hulk, they're gone with no explanation because, as best as i can tell, the writers didn't want to have to deal with the worldbuilding that went into the accords. gamora is killed in infinity war, but heaven forbid quill not have an emotional investment in a film he appears for maybe 10 minutes in so now she's back in endgame. steve got to go live in the past with his ex-girlfriend (which is in itself a refusal to commit after the mcu both gave her a different husband and had the woman herself tell him to move on) but we need to establish that messing with timelines is bad because that's what the entire next phase hinges on so actually his ending was predestined and it's only everyone else who can't change time. whoever took this entire town and also wanda hostage and forced them to live out a sitcom fantasy is bad and needs to be stopped but wait, it's actually wanda and she can't be the bad guy yet, we need her for doctor strange 2, so actually everyone's going to defend her now and say that no one else could ever possibly understand her grief. thor has decided to accept responsibility as king of asgard, but we can't use him for any more movies if he's stuck in asgard, so actually he's decided to pass it on to someone whose entire leadership capability is developed offscreen. i could list more examples but this is making me angry, so let's move on to star wars instead.

with star wars, i look at first the oft-quoted meme, "somehow palpatine has returned." yeah, i shouldn't really need to go into detail on how that counts as a refusal to commit but. the last jedi was a study in how johnson refused to commit to anything that abrams had laid down in the force awakens, but rise of skywalker was almost like abrams had looked at the franchise and said "screw you for taking it away from me, i'm going to come up with the most bullshit stuff just to spite you for doing that in the first place. and i'm going to start by undoing the most important plot point of the first trilogy: the emperor dies." and yeah, disney's kind of tried to salvage this by dropping hints into the bad batch and the mandalorian about cloning, but that only really works if you're watching the franchise chronologically and not considering that both of those series came out after rise of skywalker.

and then there's the mandalorian, my sweet summer child, who is, in my opinion, the worst at backtracking their plot points. i'm not entirely convinced that any of the higher ups for this show really knew what they were doing when they started working on it and i'm not convinced that they know what they're doing now. yeah, there's the tie-in to the last season of clone wars, but the mandalorian has managed to walk back pretty much every single major plot point it's had. din is this legendary warrior who can't be beat, but no one will watch this show if he defeats everyone too early, so he's constantly getting beat up (tbf, sometimes some of the fights he loses makes sense like the krayt dragon and the mudhorn, but a lot of them don't. at all). moff gideon is dead, no wait no he's not, now he's imprisoned, no wait no he's not, now he's definitely dead, you can totally believe us this time guys. grogu can use the force and must be placed with the jedi, but wait, the only person still actively teaching the way of the jedi is luke and all of his students will be brutally murdered ten years from now, and we can't have that, everyone will be mad at us for killing off such a cute character and no one will buy baby yoda dolls (and also we have to set up luke's character degradation from hopeful, believes-in-love cinnamon roll to "i'm going to kill my nephew") so in between seasons let's have grogu decide to go back to din (and don't even get me started on how frustrating it is that a casual mandalorian watcher also had to watch book of boba fett to understand why grogu is back). din has the darksaber now which makes him king of mandalore, that's totally going to be important and what the entire series has been building up to, right? wrong! he might have spent the first two seasons making connections, learning about the world outside his sheltered upbringing, and demonstrating the various qualities that would make for a good leader, but the entire third season will be about din realizing that actually he's super unworthy and the darksaber should actually go to someone who... saw an animal in the water.

and it's really, really frustrating as a viewer! because how am i supposed to get invested in any of these plot decisions when they almost always get reversed? why should i care that mj and ned have forgotten peter when ant-man 3 has shown me that they'll remember him the next time they're all on screen together? why should i care that tech is dead when half of the last season of clone wars was about how echo was actually alive? if none of these decisions have any permanence, then where are the emotional stakes? why should i watch your movie if all you're going to tell me is that nothing matters?

#and also i want to make a point that the early mcu did permanent stakes really well #iron man 1 ends with tony announcing that he's iron man and that's something that still resonated years later #the entire second film hinged on that one moment #loki falling into the bifrost is what leads him to the chitauri which is what kickstarted the avengers #steve is woken from the ice and the first organization who presents themselves as someone to trust is shield #which sets up the betrayal he feels in the winter soldier #these moments resonate throughout the first two stages and the decisions the characters made MATTERED #so you can't help but get invested because what if it's the wrong decision???#anyway i'm frustrated with the state of franchises #alle talks #long post

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laundrybiscuits · 2 years

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“It’s happening,” crows Dustin. “Eddie, it’s happening, it’s happening, she said yes!”

Eddie blinks up at him from the blankets. “Is…this about your little girlfriend, Henderson?” Is there a school dance coming up or something? Wait, it’s the summer, school’s not happening.

In a just world, Eddie Munson would never have to think about high school again; in a just world, Dustin Henderson would not have woken him up by breaking into his trailer at ass o’clock in the morning.

“No, man, Erica! Erica Sinclair! She’s gonna run a My Little Pony game for us!”

“Okay.” Eddie turns over to bury his face in his pillow. “Lock up when you leave,” he says, muffled.

———

He honest-to-god thinks it’s just a weird dream for the next few days. He’s almost completely forgotten about it when Mike corners him at work.

“You have to make her stop,” Mike says.

“Okay, Wheeler, two things. First: who am I making stop what? Second: I’m not making anyone stop anything. Really not my style, and also, I don’t wanna get involved in whatever this is.”

“You’re already involved! We’re all involved! We’re all, like, liable.”

“Right.” Eddie wipes his hands on a rag and ambles over. “Kid, you have got to start giving me some context here. What are we talking about?”

Mike gives him just the absolute bitchiest eyeroll any human being has ever mustered in the history of the world, and sighs noisily. “Erica wants to run a stupid game, and Dustin keeps encouraging her. Tell Erica and Dustin that we play Dungeons and Dragons with like, cool monsters and shit. Not some stupid game about ponies. It’s not even D&D, it’s a whole new stupid system that she’s making us learn.”

“Oh, shit.” There’s—a few things to unpack in that little speech, but Eddie can’t help the delighted grin spreading over his face. “That’s for real? The pony game? Shit, this is going to be the best thing ever. What system is she planning to run the campaign in?”

“Oh my god,” says Mike, and storms out of the garage.

———

“GURPS: Generic Universal Role-Playing System,” announces Erica, slamming the books down on Steve’s kitchen table. “A flexible, multi-purpose, setting-agnostic system that can accommodate any conceivable type of story or play style. This is the future of role-playing games, not your broke-ass fantasy bullcrap.”

Eddie wonders how complicated it is to file paperwork for adoption.

“Some of us like D&D,” says Will.

“Yeah, we don’t want your stupid generic whatever. We’re not playing,” Mike snaps.

“That’s not what I said.” Will looks annoyed with Mike, which has been happening a lot lately. Eddie’s glad the kid seems to be growing more of a spine; you can’t just let your tragic heterosexual crushes walk all over you, but that’s the kind of lesson every young gay needs to learn the hard way. “I’m fine with trying something new. I’m just saying, the next campaign after this should be D&D.”

“Sure, what-ever, nerds,” drawls Erica. “We’ll see how you feel after you experience the magic of Ponyland.”

Lucas puts his face in his hands when she says the magic of Ponyland and lets out a pitiful groan.

“Whoo!” cheers Dustin. “Let’s get started!”

———

It takes them a solid two hours to make their characters. Even Eddie, who’s been vaguely aware of GURPS since it was released a couple years ago, is struggling a little to adapt. It’s just been a while since he played anything but D&D, but he’s enjoying the change of pace. He likes this kind of challenge; it’s like figuring out how to play a familiar song in an unfamiliar genre.

Erica is not especially patient with them, but she’s clearly done her prep work, so Eddie thinks they all manage to get through the character creation process more or less the way it’s supposed to be done.

Steve gets back from work right when they’re putting the finishing touches on their characters. The way he blinks all sweetly confused makes Eddie think that Dustin was definitely lying about having permission to play here, and also that Dustin probably has a very troubling stash of keys to all their homes squirreled away somewhere.

“If I may, Lady Sinclair, I’d like to humbly suggest a ten-minute break?” Eddie says, before Steve can decide whether or not to be mad about this whole thing.

“Sure, go ahead and rest up while you still can,” says Erica. “Steve, I hope you got good snacks around here.” She makes a beeline for the kitchen, and the boys trip over themselves to follow her.

“I would die for that child,” says Eddie.

Steve laughs, low and a little tired. “Yeah. Um, me too.”

“So, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that Henderson didn’t actually clear this with you?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.” Steve runs a hand through his hair. “He might’ve said something last week? Sometimes when he’s on a tear, I just kinda let him talk.”

“Y’know, we’re at a pretty good stopping point for today, if you want us to clear out so you can get some rest.” Eddie can see the smudgy shadows under Steve’s eyes from halfway across the room.

“No, it’s fine.” Steve peels off his vest. He’s wearing an entire perfectly normal shirt underneath, so there’s no reason for Eddie to hastily avert his eyes like Steve’s doing a damn striptease. “I might go take a nap, though. Gonna trust you not to let them burn down the place, got it?”

Eddie does a silly little salute. “Aye aye, cap’n. No hint of flame shall breach these walls.”

Steve laughs again, a gravelly chuckle, and musses Eddie’s hair on his way to the stairs.

“Why do you have that dumb look on your face,” says Erica suspiciously, standing in the kitchen doorway and clutching the biggest bowl of ice cream Eddie’s seen in his life.

“What look, there’s no look,” says Eddie. “Let’s play some GURPS.”

Edit: now a complete fic on AO3!

#steddie #(barely)#yep it's a new one folks!!#I do not promise that this will have any continuation whatsoever #I've just loved the idea of Erica running a MLP GURPS campaign for ages #and thought it'd be fun to write something up since a lot of my current WIPs don't really involve the kids at all #and also I wanted to write something with waaaay lower stakes than the hanahaki AU #sometimes I am like 'maybe I should space these out to have a consistent flow of content and a buffer' but uhhhh no. that's not happening.#fic: what will today's adventure be

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gravitysoda · 11 months

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Relief.

#mobile suit gundam #mobile suit gundam the witch from mercury #gundam witch #gwitch #sulemio #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #the last few episodes were messy as fuck ngl #but hey at least sulemio are canon married #just wish the series had done a better job of establishing its stakes near the end #like they never really even explained what was so bad about quiet zero #or what it would do in general #the giant space laser was just pointless and ultimately affected nothing #i kind of expected spirits in the data storm also #but would have liked to have seen notrette more than el4n #anyway here’s my ramble in the tags #overall good show just wish the end hadnt been so messy #soda art

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knightingale · 6 months

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Not that it really matters but the thing about the Darry Trial™ in AGoT that I think so many people get wrong is that Sansa was protecting Arya when she said she didn't remember what happened by the Trident. Lets say Sansa told the truth in that scene; she'd necessarily have to include that Arya hit Joffrey with a broomstick, because he was cutting Mycah's cheek for hitting Arya, and that's what led to the fight that had Nymeria biting Joff. But if Sansa said this then Arya would be wrongly seen as the guilty party.

Like, these people didn't care that Mycah was killed, so why would this room full of nobles and mostly Lannister knights care that Joffrey cut him on the cheek? They'd most likely view the situation as their Crown Prince chastising an impudent peasant for hitting highborn Lady Arya Stark. So Arya attacking her "defender" over this could be seen as an unjust (or even an irrational/crazed) assault on the future king. Don't get me wrong, I think Arya was totally right to beat Joff, just like Dunk was right to beat Aerion for the same reason, but their classist and sexist nobility isn't going to view the situation like we do.

And as we learn later, the punishment for striking a royal is to lose the hand that struck them. Do I think Robert would've cut Arya's hand off? No, of course not, but I'm sure that Sansa thought her sister would be punished in some way if she confirmed that Arya had hit a royal. We don't actually learn that Robert thinks the whole affair is no big deal until after Sansa has spoken and with further context we know that Sansa is frightened by Robert... so ya'know.

#plus we have multiple cases of sansa covering for arya in agot so i dont think its ooc for her to do it again in a high stakes situation #nor is it ooc for arya to bad faith sansa/not understand that sansa is covering for her and lash out like she does here too #you could also make the argument that sansa was drunk and genuinely didnt remember what happened #which would help explain why she changes her story multiple times later on #but i wont get into that here #old hat i know - sorry if im not making sense its late #ive just never understood fandoms majority opinion on this scene

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footballshowrot · 1 year

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having a normal one👍

#kinda cant believe we got a jamie crying scene and it was like That #i know it was kinda played for laughs (on the silly football comedy show?? noooooooo. shocker! shhh shhhhhh) but his reaction.....maaaaaaan #very unexpected. ig the only other time we've seen him cry was when he was in shock and also surrounded by a fuck ton of people #he was probably stifling that shit. versus it being with roy. he just kinda melts man. maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan #i know its like boiling point shit. having functioning relationships on the team at stake. the man city match. everything swirling #but just that versus him watchin the movie with the team like😐😐😐its just so telling innit #MR FACADE IN THE HOUSE. i don't know....hmmmmmmmmmm.....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm #hes not got the words for it. is what im tryin to get at. (looks like i dont have the words for it either lmaooo)#his i dont knows and the comments about his dad stamping out his softness......😮‍💨when it bubbles up its like where do i put this #i havent slept maybe i will try and graft this into an actual tangible paragraph or maybe i will say fuck it and cave and write a fic #or maybe i will continue communicating thru impact font memes yeeeeaaaaaaa #jamie tartt #ted lasso #rot riffing

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poorly-drawn-mdzs · 11 months

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More silly MXTX polls to mull over for the week:

#poll #svsss #mdzs #tgcf #EDIT: JINGLES MISERABLY: I thought this was set for a week...not a day....Sigh......#Thought about doing this just for mdzs but there are too many characters for a proper poll and im not strong enough to do a tournement.#So now its just the main duos (+anyone else who manages to be a strong contender. Freedom of expression and all)#I think its fun to put characters in scenarios! I also think its more interesting to raise the stakes.#You may imagine any situation what gets all 6 into the same room for a Mario Partio Kartio event.#The question is who is the most cringe and fail. For the humour of the situation!#and yes - as always (unless it gets rancid again) I will have a comic for the results at the end of the week <3 #This poll is a shout out to people like me who are bad at video games and suffer whenever mario kart comes out at parties.#I mean it with my whole ass that I should not be given a controller.#No I'm not trying to hide my abilities or be humble. Dont do it.#Yes I have played a *lot* of mario kart for the wii. No I'm not good.

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kelocitta · 1 month

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"But if we dont get reblogs and likes than why bother creating at all" Did you never doodle in your notebook in class. Did you never have a notebook of cringe doodles you never wanted people to see but got filled anyway. Was this never something you did because it was a tool of personal comfort.

#t.extpost #like i get wanting the attention god i get that drive too #but its this complete absence of like #personal stake? the doing it just to do it? that baffles me #Like i drew long before i was even allowed to have a computer and long before I had an art account and long before i #could stand having other people see most of it #Like it was something done for personal comfort and enjoyment long before the idea of being praised was ever a possibility #like hell i avoided any sort of art major or 'career' out of fear that it would suck the joy out of something i did for myself #and i still get artblock or down and what have you but ultimately people paying attention has never been the goal #so this absolute 'if it wasnt for others it wouldnt exist' mindset feels so foreign #like sure part of it but all?#also this is non rebloggable because it is personal musing and i truely do not wish to fight w/ others over the idea of what #is the right way to be validated as an artist

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bruhstation · 8 months

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of fucking course the best, most harrowing, most gut-wrenching tugs character only appeared in one episode (a bit of ramble in the tags)

#this is tugs #tugs boomer #tugs sunshine #boomshine #<---- evil sinister laughter #fortezza bigg city #senjart #I think he's neat. I also think a bottle of antidepressants could help with whatever hes going through #okay I'm gonna talk for a bit about boomer (mostly about his canon counterpart rather than solely his fbc version)#boomer's character struck a deep chord within me that when rewatching jinxed while sleep deprived I got so scared #his depression? thoughts of sinking himself? claiming that he didn't want any help yet attempted to push just a bit longer when supported?#putting his worth on how useful he is as a machine first? an individual with selfism second? thus deeming himself as a lost cause?#and despite his jaded sardonic demeanor he genuinely cares about others and puts their safety before his own?#like mannnnnn come ON no wonder I couldnt stop thinking about him #his struggles as a clinically depressed person is.... so real?#he says ''I don't want any help'' but he clearly does want AND need help. he goes along with TC and sunshine's hijinks of helping him #gradually went from ''whats the point I'm gonna jinx it anyways'' to ''Ive tried so hard I really have but I cannot. I never had a chance''#he even went ''okay but don't toot'' to TC before his final job! he's entertaining TC and sunshine's theory! he really does want help!#boomer's whole character screams “I want to live but I don't know how”#and man oh man I feel like s01e10 reached out of the screen and drove a stake through my heart #because it's so visceral. it's rang true with my personal experiences #it's so sad. it's probably because I'm sleep deprived but I want to take care of that poor orange thing so badly #boomer most likely thought his final job to tow the schooner will end badly as usual but with how he sounds way more upset when he failed-#-and how he even went ''I can't be bothered to argue anymore''. I have a feeling there's a tiny speck of hope inside him-#-that quickly died out the moment lightning struck and he got towed by the fire chief #and of course he's upset. hes tried so many times to find a way to get rid of the jinx but now? it's as if he's given false hope-#-and the thought of the jinx leaving is something akin to a fairytale. as long as he bears the name ''boomer'' and not ''captain harry''-#-he is doomed to this constant cycle of messing things up when its not his own fault and having other point their fingers at him #that is until he got refurbished into a houseboat (essay material for another day)#theyre never going to write another anthro vehicle character like this anymore . sad

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niinnyu · 9 days

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Here's why I think jjk 261 is bad writing and wasted potential.

I've tried to separate more objective stuff and my opinions so I've made them into separate sections.

1. Jjk 260: I've already stated my issues with how jjk 260 ended and this applies tenfold now with this chapter. Buildup to sidestep to something completely different nullifies your buildup and is jarring to read. You also cannot blame villains in the story for undermining a character if you, as the author, keep doing it.

2. Okkotsu Yuuta's character: Yuuta's plan and willingness to use Gojo's body if he dies feels incredibly ooc and very uncompelling.

Yuuta is one of the few characters who's been able to see glimpses of the slightly more human side of Gojo "The Strongest" Satoru (he was my one and only/love is the most twisted curse of all). He has *just* seen the catastrophic consequences of a body used by someone else as a weapon. He was willing to go against a villain purely so that Gojo wouldn't have to.

You're telling me the same Yuuta was that ready to use his sensei's body and brought to anger when someone questioned the ethics of it?

Yuuta saying 'if no one else has the guts to then I will' means nothing becauseif his idea of becoming a monster includes using Gojo's body then he is the only one who can do it. All while implying cowardice of the others for "not having the guts to do so" (while being in Maki's presence and with Yuuji's absence, both of whom have been not self described as monsters).

Yes this is him stepping up to the task of being the strongest. But it doesn't feel like the big sacrifice of his humanity he says he doesn't care it being, if he's okay with it the moment the possibility of having to do so comes into light.

It just comes off as cocky and inhumane. And if that *is* Yuuta's character now, show me reason to believe this shift in personality in him specifically.

Also if Yuuta gets so mad at Gojo for being the "monster alone", why is his solution to do exactly that.

The easiest way to have the same events play out, but keep characters intact and have it be much more compelling would be:

Yuuta is presented with the plan of using Gojo's body. Have Meimei or Kusakabe, who've never really interacted with Gojo in any meaningful way to see him as more than his power, bring it up. Or maybe while brainstorming with everyone he comes to theconclusion himself with a lot of dread.

Yuuta immediately rejects the plan because he wouldn't do that to his sensei. Him having to throw his humanity away isn't his issue. He won't allow something like this happen again. And especially not to Gojo whom this was used against firsthand. He plans to kill Kenjaku himself.

Yuuta is reminded that if push comes to shove they still might have to if Sukuna continues to pose a large threat, but since he's the only one who can, it'll finally be only his decision. A panel of internal dialogue shows that Yuuta knows this is true.

Yuuta gets the formality "permission" from Gojo. Gojo says "who cares what happens to my body once I'm dead" and Yuuta *then* gets angry because Gojo of all people knows that he should care. Yuuta notices how Gojo also sees himself only as a weapon for others and calls him out on taking the burden all by himself (being a monster alone).

Fast forward to when Yuuta is dying and being kept alive by Shoko, Nitta, and Amai, Yuuta knows that Sukuna is still going strong and he has no choice but to use Kenjaku's CT against all his hopes because he knows he needs to.

Not only does this align with Yuuta's character a bit more, as someone who cares a lot for the people in his life including Gojo, and abides by his concern people at large, it also gives us a moment to see how heavy an ask it is of Yuuta, and forces the reader to be much more sympathetic of the choice he's had to make. How he'd rather not have done this and only went through because he's desperate.

3. Gojo's influence: This chapter essentially disregards any influence Gojo has had thoughout the story outside of having physical.

The main reason he'd not killed the higher ups waaay before now was because he knew the people who'd take their place would continue to pull the same shit.

Gojo ideology and the reason he went into teaching was to bring about a new generation of sorcerors who would know better. To dismantle the system that doesn't see sorcerors as more than dispensable tools for their power balance purposes, from the inside out.

I've seen people talk about how this ending for Gojo is significant because he isn't an exception to the cruel jujutsu system. Yes! True! He's been facing that his whole life! And that is exactly what he'd hoped to change through his students!

Yuuta using Gojo's body for his power feels like something the higher ups would not think twice about ordering. This was the perfect opportunity to show that the kids Gojo brought up *despite* this system are better than what the higher ups were.

And although throughout his life he too was not exempt as a jujutsu sorceror of being seen as solely his power (he'd also never allow anyone to see him otherwise). He sees, right at the end, these kids that he's helped train, and grow, and keep alive, know just a little better. Know *of* the human behind the power even if they don't *know* him.

OR! If you wanna stay grim about it, show that Gojo failed in this endevour. That the system still continues. Yuuta has made himself a weapon that is used because of his CT and Rika. That Yuuji has only ever been seen as a vessel, he'l he was created solely as one. That Yuuta goes to great lengths to keep his friends safe and Yuuji does so because he's already (kinda) lost them. Show that *they* still hold onto the parts that make them more than tools even if the system still doesn't.

And acknowledge the failure that it is on his part.

Because with this chapter Gojo, even just narratively, continues to be just a weapon.

Below the cut are my pretty coloured opinions about the chapter.

1. Payoff followed by setup and why Shibuya is still some of Gege's best writing: (ended up being long and not specific to this chapter so I'll make it it's own post lol)

2. Okkotsu Yuuta: I am frankly tired by the amount of importance Yuuta has been getting since the culling games ended. The only real narrative significance he has is being a student of and related to Gojo and the previous protagonist. He has no arc, no narrative weight, no personal stakes that other don't have.

He was an interesting character back when he was first reintroduced into the main story. As an unbiased executioner who would be there to kill Yuuji if Sukuna took over, both a threat but also an ally until then. The framing also made him more of a threat against Yuuji than a threat against Sukuna. Interesting!

He also has no personal conflict with the villains. The closest he got was wanting to kill Kenjaku because 'he won't let his sensei kill his Best Friend again', which is personal once removed since it's more for Gojo. Which was also a nullified sentiment because Gojo died before facing Kenjaku anyway.

He is just an overpowered character with no developmental backing. I still won't believe that Yuuta using Gojo's body is stronger than Gojo, because it is still Gojo who had had to condition and train his body to be able to handle the power he wielded. Yuuta has had a lot of groundwork already done for him in Gojo's body so even if he's able to do more damage than Gojo, it's still only because he's standing on Gojo's shoulders. People talking about "are you Gojo Satoru because you're the strongest or you the the strongest because you're Gojo Satoru" will be answered here need to remember this.

And since when has either of them cared about the Gojo clan looking bad to mention this lmaao what?

3. Kenjaku's relevance: Yuuta copying Kenjaku's CT being such a flippant discussion made me so mad lol. Your telling me they were seeing killing Kenjaku as a minor stepping stone to a bigger plan. When Kenjaku has been alive for yeaaarrrs on end pulling who knows what all shit that got all these balls rolling in the first place?

I know it easy to do in retrospect with Kenjaku already dead in current time and Sukuna being the current threat. But that's just undermining the threat Kenjaku posed and the "victory" that killing them was (even as anticlimactic as it was).

Seems like Gege had to do his best to brush off Kenjaku since they was proving to be a much more interesting villain than the Big Bad Sukuna, but man way to make your own rather well written character feel lame.

4. Gojo killing the higher ups: While the panels of Gojo wanting to shield his students from the bloodshed he was about to cause was sweet, I still wish the second years had siccesfully forced themselves in and joined him. It's another place where they could've shown Gojo fostering a generation that follows through with his ideology and plans because they get how messed up the system is.

When the higher ups were initially shown to be killed before Gojo vs Sukuna, the chapter had Inumaki and Yuuta talking in the hallways of the higher ups' hq. The implication that they'd also done it in the month of preparation made it feel like everyone was joining in and getting shit done. Yes it's satisfying knowing that Gojo got to go through with something he's wanted to do for a long time, but almost everyone has the same beef with the higher ups. Give everyone or a representation of everyone a slice of the action.

5: Shoko hate: Completely unfounded. People expecting her to suddenly have so much more agency than Gege has ever given her just because they're sad about their fav is stupid. And if you need to be angry direct it at Gege's writing that chose to use her opinion for comedic purposes.

Also question why you care about her ability to do something only when it comes to your fav male characters are facing difficult situations. Remind yourself she's the only overworked bloody doctor/ healer assisted by only a 15/16 yo underskilled underprepared child (Nitta) in a society that is still facing the effects of Shibuya. Also go away stop pretending you care.

I have more issues but whatever. Jjk fans who's favs are dead and never mentioned again be glad!! They're safe!!

#sprry yuuta stans the character is fine hes just being uncompellingly used #sorry i coudnt find panels for other things I'm talking about i got tired #but i hope y'all see where I'm coming from maybe #i feel like im talking to a wall lol but whatever #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk 261 #jjk manga spoilers #jjk manga #jjk spoilers #jjk meta #gojo satoru #okkotsu yuuta #itadori yuuji #sukuna #kenjaku #ieiri shoko #jujutsu kaisen meta #i just miss what jjk used to be #waitinf for the story to get abck to the guy constantly undermined and with the most driving power and stakes and character arcs #yes multiple Yuuji's had more than 1 character arc and is currentky in one #this wall is pretty tho... pretty blank haha lolz #sigh #also no hate to characters I'm onky annoyed at gege for making them do shit #it just feels like gege has forgotten a lot of the character motivations and motifs and actual setup that has been done #yeah #no nickel for niinnyu's thoughts #hehe for you since hou reached here <3<3

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blueteller · 3 months

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TCF Part 2 Chapter 259 be like...

Cotton: *shows up* Me: Explain yourself, lady!! Cotton: *explains herself* Cale: *REGRETS* Me: ...

(Seriously, author my dearest. 300 chapters, you said?? 300 chapters for part 2??? Honey. Darling. Beloved writer of mine. You're gonna end up with 800 chapters at minimum at this rate 😂)

#tcf #trash of the count's family #lcf #lout of the count’s family #just when you thought the stakes could not possibly get higher #guess what cale #you're also gonna get involved with demon world politics #as if divine politics were not enough #this is gonna be a wild ride folks #tcf part 2 #tcf part 2 chapter 259

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sapphorror · 3 months

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Y'know... A lot of ZaDr fics have them either gradually drifting into a less contentious status quo or establishing a deeply bizarre multilayered dynamic that is nonetheless very consistent and beholden to its own rules—which works, to be clear, because slavish adherence to the rhythm of their endless 'game' is already their canon baseline.

WITH THAT BEING SAID. I think it would be very funny to depict a ZaDr dynamic in which they're like, on-again off-again nemeses. As they get older theyre gradually forced to acknowledge the true depth of their mutual attachment, but instead of actually improving themselves in any lasting way or compromising the conflicting elements into an ill-definable state of contentious codependence, they just start oscillating wildly between periods of obscenely clingy allyship and devotedly murderous enmity. There's never an in between. They'll dedicate all their energy to trying to horrifically torture each other to death, until one of them gets uncomfortably close to actually dying or an external crisis pushes them together or they just get bored—at which point, they become obnoxiously glued at the hip until one of them relapses into anxiety about their ambitions or an argument escalates past the the point of no return or they just get bored. And every time they both Really Mean It, They're Not Gonna Do This Anymore, before naturally going ahead and doing it again

#invader zim #zadp #zadr #iz posting #natterings #there is so much good drama potential here actually #initially I just thought the idea was funny and it IS but also #there is something to be said about leveraging the full force of ones loathing #against someone you've been sincerely intimate with #and at the same time still being too attached to that person to fully commit #so that it just becomes this endless unresolved resentment that's never meaningfully addressed #also how this effects literally everyone around them #because they literally cannot be trusted to stick to anything #anything they do they HAVE to do as a team #until they get so sick of each other that they'd sooner die than share a cause #and they'll sign themselves onto wholeass war efforts just to have a sufficiently dramatic battleground #(because obviously it's not any fun if the stakes arent absurdly high #'apocalyptic' being the bare minimum here)#only to defect without a second thought the moment they decide they miss each other #at the end of the day there's only one kind of dedication and loyalty they care about #and they're making it everyone elses problem #im always saying steady pitch-pale vacillation is the ideal zadr endgame #and what is this if not that taken to its absolute practical and emotional extreme

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