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wandixx · 7 months

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Dani gives people heart attacks and brings down a lot of trafficking rings, making friends along the way. Everything by accident, really

Dani traveled around world, hadn't she? While doing it, she had to meet a lot of interesting people.

Like heroes or villains.

In civies or not or both who knows.

But to actually learn things about someplace you have to spend more than one night there. Like, idk? Month? Probably more but I doubt she would be able to sit in one place for any longer. In many places she is shorter.

Month is long enough to create some connections though.

Enough to get someone to realize when you disappear...

Yeah, Dani on her way of gremlin and self discovery ghosted bunch of people without second thought. They'll probably forget her in few months anyway. And she was everywhere in USA. She didn't left American soil only because she didn't want to be too far from Danny in case of emergency. Before anyone tells me he was in space so he could fly to her wherever on Earth she would be, Earth's atmosphere ends about 100 km above sea level and officially this is border of space. Telecommunication satellites are between 8000 to 12000 km up. It's about how wide Atlantic Ocean is.

Plus y'know, time. If she needs help, she probably can't quite wait until he flies all the way to Hong Kong, Wladywostok, Rio de Janeiro or wherever she is.

So America it is. For now at least. When they're 100% sure she is stable she'll fly elsewhere.

Anyway people who she ghosted are used to batshit crazy stuff but "this tween is alone on her road to self discovery and just left for new city" isn't first thing anyone thought about. Maybe outside of Martians. They know. Everyone else? No idea what happened to this tiny, chaotic, snarky, probably meta child.

First thought though?

She got kidnapped.

So now 3/4 of Justice League, some individual heroes and bunch of less intense rogues are scrambling around their cities tracking every trafficking ring they found glimpses of, trying to find Dani.

Flashes work with Captain Cold on this and seem to slowly descend into madness. At the same time, Dani eats ice cream with nice museum lady from Washington who introduced herself as Diana. Then she helps at animal shelter with kind stuck up boy called Damian. Oh, Danny likes aliens, let's visit Martian Manhunter. Maybe she'll manage to get autograph for her template. Wait Space Cops? Kinda sucks but Danny would probably like their signatures too. Let's go. Oh, Superboys are fun mess with and older one is like her! This Nightwing guy puns like Danny but she always feels like he looks at her weirdly. Billy should eat more, magic or not, fighting is tiring. Good thing she has Sam's money to buy him burgers.

She has time of her life while people she met are slowly dying.

She probably doesn't even hide that she is traveling but for whatever reason they don't think she actually left.

They don't bring it up on any meeting because no matter how concerned they are, it's not really whole league type of business. And Martians just discreetly enjoy chaos.

There is a lot of ways it can get resolved (or not) but I kinda thought about Jon introducing his old buddy Damian to his new buddy Dani because he thinks they would get along and they just stare at each other for long moment before:

"Dani..."

"Dami!"

"WHY DID YOU LEFT WITHOUT A WORD! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE KIDNAPPED OR DEAD!"

Some screaming and revelation that Killer Croc was looking for her too, Dani hits moment of realisation.

"Wait, is this what people think when you just up and go?"

"Honestly? Yeah"

"Oh, Ancients I did this to so many people. So many..."

Idk, just Dani traveling and leaving people behind.

Do with it what you will

#dp x dc #dpxdc #dc x dp #dcxdp #nobody really questions why Martians brought popcorn to Watchtower meeting because their stretch to thin between attending said meeting #and wondering where this tiny gremlin disappeared #it would be kinda histeric to me if she visited some cities few times but met other people #like first time in Gotham she bothers Jason and pets hienas #then few months later she has brawl with killer croc and becomes Duke's kibda sidekick for a week #then she smacks Joker and volunteers at animal shelter with Damian #and somehow they don't connect it #or they do and think she repeatedly gets kidnapped and escapes but doesn't leave the city because something #only hope flashes have left at this point is that she didn't show up in morgue #they actually consider running back in time to save her #also #some heroes and villains heard some thing and they *preparing weapons*#just want to talk with Vlad #just talk they promise #idk just enjoy and spread the chaos #have a nice day dear stranger who got to this part

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valentine-writes · 7 months

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boys don't cry

「 tws + notes: no tws, unedited, masc coded reader (kinda. no pronouns used!! but trust y'all i'll b writing masc reader stuff soon cuz I Need It), inconsistent lengths for each character i am Filled W/ Favouritism, kisses can be platonic (spider-noir part i love this man), reader is used to bottling emotions up, the spot's part is Not That Serious, characters all love u and wanna help :> 」

「 gn!reader, can be platonic or romantic <3 」

↳ ft. gwen stacy, hobie brown/spider-punk, jessica drew, lyla, margo kess/spider-byte, miles morales (1610 and 42), miguel o'hara/spider-man 2099, (spider-man) noir, pavitr prabhakar, peter b parker, and the spot/johnathan ohnn

author's note: this song slaps╰(*°▽°*)╯ also see other songs below which influenced this <3 u can slowly see me losing the slash srsness as the character progress,,, apologies. many :(( anyways!! had this marinating in my drafts so im posting. hopefully will get time to clear my inbox and fulfill reqz! tysm for ur patience lovelies !!!!（。＾▽＾）<333

“i try to laugh about it / hiding the tears in my eyes” – the cure, boys don't cry

“i didn’t want you to hear / that shake in my voice / my pain is my own” – car seat headrest, 1937 state park

“i don’t know why i am / the way i am, not strong enough to be your man” – boygenius, not strong enough

▸ GWEN, who all too familiar with what it's like to keep up a tough act for the sake of not falling apart.

she's grown accustomed to letting emotions eat away at her until they're too big to deal with. which is why she's quick to feel empathy when she sees that you do the same thing.

she won't force you to talk about anything you don't want to– but if you need an outlet, she hands you her drum sticks.

"maybe it'll help you like it helps me." gwen explains, giving you that awkward little smile of hers that makes everything weighing on you feel a little less heavy.

always trying to help you find a way to channel your emotions. even if drumming doesn't work for you. maybe it's singing. maybe it's art. or maybe you just need to cry. no matter what it is, she doesn't mind. she just wants you to let it out in a healthy way.

▸ HOBIE is instantly aware of the fact you're the type to laugh and joke around to hold back tears.

you're trying your hardest to keep smiling, but he sees it falter as you try to speak, choking out the words while holding back a sob.

"'s okay to cry, y'know? no one 'round here but us anyways." he reassures.

you take a sharp inhale, knowing it was useless to pretend. he was always emotionally intelligent, able to read you like a book. sometimes you wondered if he could read your mind. or maybe he was just attentive with you.

he puts a hand on your back, gently rubbing as you feel the tears run down your cheeks. this turns into an arm around your shoulder as you cry, until you're fully sobbing– he decides to just pull your into his arms.

he's still holding you close, even as your cries subside into sniffles. always encourages you to be real with him. there's nothing he loves more than you being unfiltered– even if it means expressing negative emotions. to hobie, vulnerability is bravery.

▸ JESSICA DREW who's quick to notice you the minute you turn away to conceal your face.

she pulls you aside discreetly, knowing you probably didn't want attention of others. tries to meet you eye-level, asks you directly about what's wrong.

after a few seconds of silence, you finally break.

"i feel so weak." you sniffle, not meeting her eyes.

"for doing a little crying?" she sighs a little, shaking her head. "not at all. you're strong– you've been strong. but even strong people gotta cry."

she'll talk you through it or just sit beside you, offering you advice or even just a space to vent. she's very busy all the time– but she'll set aside time for you. tells you that hiding from emotions only works for so long and that tells you that you aren't any less tough in her eyes for feeling them.

you're only human after all. you deserve to live out the wholeness of the human experience.

▸ LYLA isn't really all too involved with your day-to-day life shenanigans (being the best ai assistant is hard), but she always makes a point to check up on you when she gets the chance.

besides, miguel sure isn't gonna gossip with her like you do.

"you doing good?" she'll ask, grinning.

you only respond with a weak "yeah" and the fakest chuckle she's ever heard, as you clearly attempt to blink back tears.

she doesn't know what to do. tries to wipe the tears that eventually fall with a virtual hand that phases right through your face. well. at least she had good intentions.

"hey, hey–" lyla gets you to take a deep breath. "look at me."

she says your name, regrounding you. you look up at her, and for a moment, she's certain that she's felt something akin to sympathy. she's felt something real.

lyla doesn't let that distract her from her objective– right now, she's gotta comfort you.

she repeats your name, "...it's okay. you cry if you feel like it."

▸ MARGO who sits you down, letting you be the one to speak first when your smile wavers.

"i hate fuckin' crying.." you laugh weakly, trying to make the situation better. it doesn't help control the tears. "i feel so lame for it."

"you know," she whispers, taking your hands in yours, "i still think you're pretty cool."

she gives you a grin that's so earnest– so sweet– that lets you know she's being honest.

"okay, so this might be stupid,, butttt–" encourages you two to listen to some moody music so you can get whatever you've bottled up out of you systems. it's cathartic, crying your eyes out with her as whatever the two of you have queued up blasts in the background.

doesn't judge you one bit for crying.

"only way out is through." she shrugs. "gotta feel it before you can actually let it go."

▸ MILES (1610) who had just asked an innocent question about how your doing, now watching as you struggle to respond.

after a strained moment of searching for words, you shrink away and hide your face in your hands. he scoots by your side, asking before gently taking your hands away from your face.

"what's wrong?" his voice is soft. gentle as he looks at you with the sweetest concerned expression.

"i shouldn't be crying.. it's stupid... i feel so, so stupid–"

he frowns at these words. "i don't think it's stupid."

societal expectations forcing people to put on a tough act just to conceal emotions deemed as "weakness?" not a new concept to him. he's just sad that it's impacted you so deeply.

after this, will actively check up on how you're doing emotionally. will pull you aside to have a heart-to-heart if he senses the slightest thing off. terrified of being shut out by you, will always offer for the two of you to deal with whatever you're struggling with together.

▸ MILES (42) who asks more bluntly than he had intended when he senses you're not doing okay.

you take a sharp inhale, giving him an unsteady smile which only makes him sigh. no matter how much you try to make the situation lighthearted, his expression never changes.

"nah. you're not fooling me." he walks over to you, his voice softening as he looks at you. "...what's got you upset?"

a really good listener. lets you rest your head on his shoulder as you vent and let it out.

he's not the most open himself, so of course he understands– but he doesn't want you to be like him.

you thank him for putting up with your breakdown, feeling a little awkward as you pull your cheek away from his shoulder and look at him.

you watch as he falters for a moment, gently grabbing your arm and pulling you in for a warm, slightly stiff, side-hug.

"don't thank me for that– it's just what you deserve." though his quick to dismissal of what you'd said seems to be the end of his sentence– you watch as he unclenches his jaw, hesitating before he says something else.

"anytime. i mean it."

▸ MIGUEL who is jus like u for reals doesn't quite know how to cope with emotions either. that doesn't give him an excuse to not try with you.

he can't find the right words, but you see the empathy in his eyes. he offers quiet comfort– places a hand on your back, rubbing it as you lean into his side

"don't hide your face from me." he mutters to you. "it's just me."

your hands fall from your face into your lap, shoulders slumping. he feels you tremble softly, as you to reply.

"this should be for me to deal with. i should be strong enough." your words echo in his mind.

maybe because he's told himself the same thing too many times before as well. it's painful, the way that this moment with you reflects a mirror image of himself.

will crumble his own walls if it means you'll do the same. tries to be open to encourage you. you'll learn together.

▸ NOIR who is a gentleman through and through. always. tells you that he'll give you anything you need.

"i don't know what nitwit told you it wasn't okay for you to cry," his choice of words makes you crack a slight genuine smile, "but you don't have to believe them one second."

as your facade slowly crumbles, his gloved hands cup your face as you cry. he dries your cheeks, patiently nodding as he listened to you ramble on about everything you've been holding back.

when you've calmed down, he presses a kiss to your forehead.

to ache like this and still be concerned over burdening others– he's now finds little ways to remind you how precious you are to him. that he'll always care.

▸ PAVITR, who approaches you as delicately as possible. he tries not to do anything that will make you feel backed into a corner.

he knows that feeling scared can lead to lashing out. tries to be casual about it to ensure you're as comfortable as possible.

you crack an obviously forced joke and he glances at you questioningly.

"you're not telling me something, aren't you?" he asks. pavitr's secretly hoping he was good at playing this careful– but you had picked up that he wanted to talk to you about it for a while now.

you're both obvious.

your grin fades as you chuckle dryly. "i don't... i don't want to– it's embarrassing."

"what's embarrassing is that i didn't notice earlier. don't be shy. we can figure it out together, okay?"

offers all the help he can. even (secretly) messages gayatri for "advice for a friend" you!!! you are friend!!!!! he doesn't name drop tho. privacy king.

▸ PETER B(E MY WIFE) PARKER. the one who drags you outside to chat about it and cracks a stupid joke himself. it alleviates no tension at all.

"..ahh,, no, nevermind that kid. you okay?"

a shake of your head and his smile fades a bit. he grips your shoulder, shaking you gently.

"been there plenty of times. trust me– better to get it out now."

and for a while, it's just a conversation. you're both sitting outside, the night air bringing a chill to your skin. he offers his jacket– and then proceeds to pull you into it while he still wears it, your back pressed to his chest.

it goes unspoken, but he knew you had been struggling for a while now. he's relieved to finally get a moment with you.

he'll always be looking out for you. even if you don't realize.

▸ THE SPOT/JOHNATHAN OHNN panics ever so slightly. this is the first time you've ever cried in front of him. so he does what he does best– and just asks questions.

"you've been bottling it up this whole time?"

"mhm..."

"for how long?..." your response causes him to pause, blinking several times before parting his lips to speak again. "...oh. oh wow– yikes–" he means well i swear.

will scour the multiverse in search of a quiet place for you to lay this all to rest.

you admit, you're certain you don't need all this– but he seems happy to put in the effort and lead you into a portal into a nice area to relax.

"are we breaking and entering into someone's house?!"

"uh– don't worry about it for now."

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charliemwrites · 3 months

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LONG ASK I AM SO FUCKIN SORRY

I always think of people's tumblr accounts/discord servers as actual places, and my mind is very fantasy centered. I've been in a big writing drought and thinking of your tumblr, how tumblr works as a whole with reblogs and asks and interactions, how the discord is set up with a bunch of brain jars really got me thinking.

I see your tumblr as a quaint shop in a small town, mainly full of hand-made books and pages everywhere, with a single shelf a Jars. I combined your discord and your tumblr into one place: your shop. I figured there's so many things going on in both places, so a fitting name would be "Charlie's Trinkets" since it's not just one thing and Trinkets are fun.

Anyway here is a little writing ramble I made, it's also in my "Not A Murder Jar" section of your "Brain Jar Collection".

While resting on your journey you find a quaint shop, simply titled "Charlie's Trinkets". You decide to venture inside, not knowing what is in store for you. However, that is half the fun, isn't it?

"Welcome, traveler!" A voice from somewhere you can't see states. "Come in, feel free to have a look around."

The shop smells like a campfire, in the sense that it smells as if people have come and gone, sharing stories, thoughts, things that have mattered to them. It smells as if you walk in as a stranger, yet leave as a friend. It leaves you curious.

The shop is stacked with multiple things. Now you realize why it is named “Charlie's Trinkets”. There's paper on every table and shelf you look. Some have even been bound into books, you realize. They're quite messily put together and obviously hand-made, as if the writer had no idea these individual pages would become one giant story. Other pages are ripped; intriguing sentences half-finished and leaving you wondering. You soon come to the conclusion (after reading a few pages) that all the books- or even pages of the same book- are not written by the same person. These stories have been shared and tampered, many lines bore into time and time again, erased and rewritten until they fit.

As you look around, you find where the voice came from. In the back corner, a person is writing. They are sideways to you and are instead facing a wall full of shelves. On the shelves are an assortment of jars, varying in shape and size.

"Do you need any help? Are you looking for anything specific or just browsing?" The person asks, looking up from their page. You tell them you are just browsing, and you inquire about the shelf of jars, asking if they are for sale.

"Oh no, they are not for 'sale'." They chuckle. "These jars are no ordinary jars."

They do not explain more, which urges your mind to ask another question: what do you mean?

"Well," she- Charlie- starts, glancing at the shelf as they set their page aside, "these jars are the thoughts of many who have come into my shop. We have been friends for a while, and they wanted a place to keep track of and organize their thoughts. These jars give them a home. While these jars rest here, a person has a copy of their jar. When they have a thought they wish not to lose, they open their jar, speak into it, and their thought is kept safe here, in my shop." you take a cautious step closer, attempting to read the labels on each jar. Some are completely empty, you realize; such as "Soleil jar". Others are filled with thoughts, yet never seem to run out of space.

"You are welcome to open whichever jar you would like, but be cautious about it. It will take you inside the jar, to a different place. There is always a way out. It can be very nerve-wracking for your first time."

You find a jar on the edge of the shelf. It looks newer than the others, taller than it is round, almost touching the shelf above it. You pick it up and read the label "Not A Murder Jar". Charlie watches you with careful eyes the entire time, struggling to find the right words to say.

"You might want to choose a different jar for your first one.."

You shake your head, saying it'll do just fine.

You force open the tightly screwed lid.

Finally, you realize one detail too late:

You Should Have Listened To Charlie.

I hope you had fun reading this, I'm glad I was able to escape the dark grasp that Writing Block had on me by thinking D&D thoughts lol

Have a nice day/night!

WALTZ

I don’t even know how to begin expressing my adoration for this. It’s… it’s like a fanfiction of the community? Of me? (Is that vain? I hope not)

And oh my god it’s so ADORABLE! The brain jars, the shop, the imagery!! I could cry this is so beautiful and sweet and thoughtful. It was the most wonderful thing I could have woken up to after a rough night.

I am constantly blown away and humbled by people like you, that I’ve gotten to interact with and share thoughts and ideas and writing with. I am so lucky and grateful. I’m seriously going to cherish this forever. It means so so much to me 💕 words cannot express just… how much this has blown my mind.

Sincerely, thank you, Waltz.

#thoughts™️#waltz

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kimbapisnotsushi · 11 months

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happy birthday to the absolute love of my life iwaizumi hajime!!! have a medley of timeskip hcs bc i barely do those and the only way i can confront being an adult is with characters who became adults alongside me :))

i think no matter where oikawa and iwaizumi are in the world, oikawa always sends a birthday text right as the clock strikes 12 in iwa's time. even if it's four AM on oikawa's side he vows to always be the first to wish iwaizumi a happy birthday :))

(it started when oikawa left for argentina, because that would have been the first birthday they'd spent apart from each other. it's the least oikawa can do, in his eyes. it's the least he can do for not being there.)

do you ever think about the moment where two characters who have never met but have a previous connection to each other via another character find out about said character after meeting. bc i do. a LOT

bonus points if that "someone" is kageyama or hinata or karasuno as a general nuisance

anyways this happens when kuroo and iwaizumi meet and it's HILARIOUS

"what do you MEAN you got your ass whooped by them in high school I got my ass whooped by them in high school too!!!!"

this is a freakishly common occurrence in japan's professional volleyball circuit. there's a support group chat for it and it's got over fifteen people

(there are a few exceptions - komori's really just there for the kicks)

speaking of which. i don't think komori ever stops being a megafan of yaku's. when he hears that they're going to be playing side-by-side on the national team he IMMEDIATELY dials sakusa and just screams into the phone for like a solid minute

hyakuzawa was really shy with everyone at first bc he never really knew them much before, but at his first practice match hoshiumi slammed a ball onto the floor so hard it ricocheted and hit atsumu in the face and, without missing a beat and while atsumu was yelling for hoshiumi to eat shit through a bloody nose, hoshiumi turned to him and went "see that? that was a lesson on what NOT to do" and hyakuzawa knew at that moment that he was in a safe space

sometimes ushijima and iwaizumi will talk about irvine like it was some secret dreamy romantic getaway between starcrossed lovers from medieval times

iwaizumi: "man i remember that one night we drove to the desert to stargaze. that was so cool. really pretty. i forgot my jacket and ushijima was kind enough to lend me his" ushijima: "it would not have done for you to catch a cold, we had a meeting with my father the next day to ask for his blessing" everyone else: "what the actual fuck"

the blessing was to see if utsui could take iwaizumi on for an internship

okay wait quick break from national team shenanigans bc i was thinking about this for a while but i think romero is soooooo impressed when hoshiumi, kageyama, and ushijima tell him that they all know hinata personally. i think he asks them to help ask if hinata can do a favor for him

"you want hinata to WHAT" "i want him to throw me like a paper weight!!! so i can show my son!!!"

hinata's like "OH MY GOD NICOLAS ROMERO WANTS ME TO THROW HIM???" like he's SO honored. he thinks it's an honor to be able to throw romero and romero thinks it's an honor to BE thrown by hinata it's so stupid i love them

and then romero calls his son and is like "SON GUESS WHAT. NINJA SHOUYOU THREW ME LIKE A PAPERWEIGHT TODAY" and sends him the video and little romero is SO hyped

in general i think hinata AND hoshiumi would be able to bench press like 99% of the adlers and the jackals and like. maybe the whole pro league

hoshiumi wants to try so he goes "hey kageyama c'mere for a sec!!" and kageyama is all "?? okay sure" and he just scoops kageyama up, tosses him in the air, catches him and puts him down like "okay thanks, you can get back to what you were doing now!"

i think kageyama actually looks up to hoshiumi a whole lot and it's super cute

okay sorry back to national/all-stars teams squad shenanigans

suna has the newest phone within the canon timeline because his old one broke when hakuba spiked a volleyball into it trying to do a trickshot

suna wasn't even mad bc they DID land the shot it was sick as hell

nobody was really familiar with iizuna aside from, like, sakusa and komori and MAYBE yaku and ushijima so when he joined the all stars match all cool and calm and capable and hot like 90% fell in love. and then he wrestled sakusa into a headlock within five minutes of sakusa being a little bitch and they fell in love even more

this part here was supposed to be a fun little bit about the all-stars team dynamics bc it's funny as hell but it was getting WAY too long and i severely underestimated how insanely complicated having people with grudges like ten years running would be on the same team so like. expect another post soon i guess?

ANYWAYS

they always try to do something when everyone is in town for training or some kind of promo exhibit like the all-stars match bc otherwise it's really really hard to hang out since they're scattered all over the place

imagine if they went to the beach. like. imagine if you were just the average beach goer and you went one day and all of a sudden there is a whole ass group of twenty or so incredibly powerful men who all look like they could kill you with just one hand and they're all screaming their heads off playing beach volleyball. and you look at them and you think they seem vaguely familiar but you don't know why. and then you go home and check twitter and your beach is trending and THAT'S how you find out that the entire goddamn national team took a day trip to visit the beach

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itsclydebitches · 11 months

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This interaction popped into my head fully-formed today and I knew no peace until I wrote it out. They're friends, your honor 😭

“Getting long, huh?”

Trent froze in the act of putting up his hair, a few tendrils slipping to fall in his eyes, obscuring Roy. It was still instinctual to flinch back, his father’s acidic voice ringing in his ears as he said again and again and again how it was past time for Trent to see a barber, each reminder casual like his judgment was a given. Well, it always had been. Trent never found the courage to admit that he was a regular of salons and that each product they sold there cost more than his father’s first rent. His lip had curled, barb-like, when Trent had last visited, the shoulder-length cut exacerbating the news of his firing. He could only imagine what his father would say if he saw it now, curls licking at the small of his back.

Trent’s mind processed all of this in a matter of seconds, journalistic instincts finally overriding the fear to focus on reality: the neutral tone of Roy’s voice. His appreciative glance. Their normal coffee hand-off that Trent had to resurrect numb fingers to complete.

Roy was not his father. No one at Richmond was.

“Yeah,” Trent agreed, voice scratchy. He took a hasty gulp of his drink. “It’s never been this long before.”

Non-committal grunt from the other side of the office. That was the Roy equivalent of dragging his chair over, propping his chin on his hands, and begging for all the juicy details.

“I’m... thinking of cutting it again?”

That got a reaction. Roy’s head whipped around in a gesture that screamed ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT’ but his response, when it came, was just another measured hum. No pressure; plenty of space to accept a statement, or engage with the question. Trent had to bite his lip to keep from laughing outright. But god, Roy was trying so hard and that felt so good.

Though he was likewise trying to be kinder to his past self, Trent hated that he’d caved and cut his hair a day before approaching Richmond, that snide voice in his head insisting that he’d be lucky to make it into the building -- they certainly wouldn’t hire a slovenly poof, as his father might say. Ah, but then that voice did have a hint of his Scouse accent, didn't it? Really, Trent hadn’t given it much thought until Ted mentioned having a bag full of hair-ties and suddenly he was desperate for the length back, if only to make use of something that Ted had held.

Embolden by caffeine and the mellow mood, Trent decided to gift Roy some truth.

“I grew it this long for him,” he said, head nodding towards the closed door. Behind the glass Ted was pecking at his keyboard in a manner that was not adorable, not at all, because describing a middle-aged American as ‘adorable’ was too much, even for Trent’s purple prose. So Ted was merely whatever word instilled the desire to kick one’s feet and doodle connecting hearts around the edges of a journal.

Trent’s crush was no secret -- to no one but Ted, anyway -- but speaking about it now, openly, mere feet from the man himself... that was thrilling. Ridiculously so for a Tuesday morning spent with Roy Kent.

“I missed a couple of appointments back when the book was going through proofs and then we had that week-long storm, remember?" Trent mimed the sheets of rain that had flooded their streets and turned flower beds into dirt soup. "I came in drenched one day, just sopping, with my shoes squelching and my blazer ruined. I’m pretty sure I scarred one of the security guards when I threatened to get him fired if he didn’t find me a towel in the next thirty seconds. I was a bitch, no two ways about it. Meanwhile, Ted took one look at me, gasped, and said I was a mermaid.” Trent grinned at the memory, fingers fluttering. “Then he lent me a shirt and I spent the rest of the day wondering if the purple made me look like Ariel.”

“...Did you keep the shirt?”

“Of course not. It was lost--” air quotes, “--at the cleaners.”

Roy snorted in amusement. Trent was surprised though when his expression grew tight and when he spoke, so quiet Trent almost didn’t catch it, there was an undertone of hesitance; like Roy feared overstepping some line.

“Grew it long for him,” he said, “but are you keeping it long for him? I mean, what the fuck do you want?”

Trent blinked, considering. Oh. Well. If you’d asked him point blank he would have said categorically that he wasn’t someone who changed himself to appease others... but then, forty years pretending to be straight didn’t really support that, now did it? The truth was that he wanted strangers to stop staring on the street whenever he went out with his curls and a skirt. He wanted to teach Amelia how to braid his hair, just like he braided hers each weekend. He wanted a fucking buzz-cut to combat the summer heat. He wanted to make the flower crowns he’d never even dared to imagine in his youth. He wanted to spend less of his salary on products -- or at least feel less guilty about the indulgence. He wanted to borrow Keeley’s scrunchies. He wanted to donate it all to Locks of Love. He wanted hair long enough to impulsively dye it red, just to see Ted laugh.

Trent wanted to go back in time and find the courage to change his own body without riding the coattails of a crush’s compliment. He wanted to accept that there was no version of himself he liked without the influence of Ted Lasso and kiss him, kiss him, kiss him in gratitude.

“I don’t know,” Trent admitted, “but for now I want this.”

Roy gave a short nod, his shoulders relaxing. He glanced towards the window where Ted still sat, huffing in a manner that a brave man might have called fond, and returned to his work.

Once they’d settled into their daily silence, Trent couldn’t resist:

“I do want it long enough for him to pull.”

“Fuck off!”

Across the way Ted jumped, wondering what had Trent laughing like that and Roy slamming through the door, yelling something about "TM-fucking-I."

Watching Trent tip his head back so his hair flew, danced, caressed his cheek as it passed, Ted decided he’d just have to ask him about it over dinner.

#Ted Lasso #Trent Crimm #Roy Kent #Tedependent #Ted Lasso fic #might put up on AO3 later #how many fics will I write about Trent's hair?#not enough #that hair deserves it

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taikanyohou · 2 years

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*stares at the ceiling.*

no bc i need to talk about vegaspetemacau.

its the way vegas and macau's entire perception of what a family looks like and feels like and what family is and means is something that they've never felt. their mum died, their dad abused them and then eventually dies. and all along, its just been them two trying to hold this family together somehow, in whatever way they can manage. its them two having to constantly be there for one another even when they're not at their strongest. it shouldnt feel like this much effort and work but it does. but for them both, they are all they have and so they have no choice but to make it work, however dysfunctional it can get sometimes.

and pete? the moment he sees how vegas reacted to his dad's death - he knew what that meant. that vegas had lost that one last person that, no matter how abusive he was to him, he still looked up to because he was his father. and now he's lost him too, the only elder figure he had remaining. and vegas doesnt want his uncle's sympathy. doesnt want the pity.

and so pete chooses vegas and macau. he CHOOSES them. he yanks off the pin and shrugs off the blazor and now he's no longer Pete, The Head Bodyguard of The Main Family. he chooses to become Pete. Just Pete. and he chooses vegas and macau.

and its a small little family. a chosen family. its a place where they can finally find some peace at last. they can lay their heads down on each other's laps and rest. they can openly show their love to one another. they trust one another. they know they've got each other's backs, always. when macau needs advice or someone to lean on, he can go to both vegas and pete now. and vegas and pete will have days where they fight and disgaree, but macau makes them come together and resolve whatever it is, because he knows how good they are together, for each other. they'll eat together and sometimes snuggle in bed and sleep together and go on trips together and just. do all the things all 3 have yearned to do that a family should do. and they're going to make this family work. everyday, they will choose one another. and no. they dont give a damn about what people think. and even someone was to say anything, well, all 3 can kick ass. so no one would even TRY to say anything.

and there's no room for fear or judgement or anxiety. nothing is too big that can't be solved together by the 3 of them. this is their safe space. room to breathe. room to heal. room to grow. room to talk. not a house but a home. and as long as those 3 are together, home is anywhere and everywhere. and this a place where you will be loved. again and again. you will be showered with loved. with so so so much love. and cherished. and kissed. and hugged. and accepted for who you are.

and vegaspetemacau have gone on to become, in my eyes anyway, the strongest family on the show. they are. they just are. and they've only just gotten started. and it wont be easy, but they'll be okay. as long as they've got each other, they'll be absolutely okay.

#kinnporsche #vegaspete #vegaspetemacau

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c-is-for-circinate · 9 months

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I would love to hear more mike wheeler - Steve Harrington masculinity thoughts (also whatever happened to Hopper to make him action guy my beloathed)! Also will we get a mike chapter for and they were married?

Okay yes! I am fascinated by Mike and Steve as narrative contrasts, and I always find myself looking for fic where the two of them meaningfully interact, and I keep meaning to write about them.

(Also: Mike deserves his own chapter of that fic, but he's getting folded into Dustin's. What Mike really deserves is his own fic that takes place in that universe, because I know what his deal is there and it's a doozy, but that is a very different post.)

Anyway! For starters, I don't think that Steve and Mike are intentionally meant to be foils. There's an element of it in the first season, where Steve exists to support Nancy's character, and Nancy and Mike are meant to be foils -- Steve is the Popular Kid, the antithesis of Mike and his friends' little group of nerds, he and Tommy and Carol are written into the same category as Troy but older and less actively murderous, and the fact that Nancy's dating him says things about her -- but they end up occupying oddly similar spaces and cool parallels come out of that anyway.

A core thing about it is that Steve and Mike are both the guy in their respective age group casts on the show. The Guy. The central one, the normal one, the presumed-to-be-straight one -- and yes, this is fandom and we have Opinions about that, but the Duffer brothers think they're both straight, and that matters here. They're white, they're able-bodied, they have money. They are, in a sense, normal.

Narratively, they very often act as central/POV character for scenes they're in, at least once Steve gets past the fistfight in S1 and awakens to the fact that he's a person who can make decisions. And that makes sense, because being The Guy also means they're the closest to the classic TV protagonist archetype, the guy who does the hero shit and gets the girl in the end. Hopper is also The Guy, and always has been: in S1 it's just him and Joyce, but even as we add more adults, the only real challenge to his The Guy status is Bob (which is of course why Bob had to die). Murray is a bizarre conspiracy nut, and queer-coded besides that. Owens is an affable bad guy. Alexei and Dmitri and Yuri are all Russian.

Being The Guy comes with a certain amount of baggage. All three of them have to be romantic leads, and have to be crossed in love about it. All three of them are protectors in one way or another. And all three of them are on occasion assholes who have one hell of a time with sincerity and affection.

And this is where we get into Toxic Masculinity, because again, while I don't think the Duffers intended a pile of parallels between these three guys, well. Firstly, The Guy as an archetype is built on a pile of toxic masculine stereotypes, so that's often there to begin with. Secondly, it's the same writers, so certain themes rhyme whether they're intended to or not.

In particular, one of the core tenets of toxic masculinity, not just in ST but as a thing in the world, is when and where it's acceptable to experience soft emotions of affection, care, and vulnerability. The first rule of toxic masculinity is don't. The second rule, the caveat rule, is a little asterisk saying 'except, occasionally, with a female romantic partner, if you absolutely must.'

And so we actually see a lot of unfolding of this in Steve! One thing we know about Steve, without precisely being told, is that he's deeply lonely -- for a popular kid he sure seems to only have two Actual Friends when the show starts and they hardly seem to even like each other. He has a new Favorite Person every season, and he clings to them with the joy of a devoted golden retriever. His mental image of happily-ever-after is a house full of kids with enough siblings to never get lonely, family vacations about close quarters and spending time together. We never see his parents. For all a lot of the 'horrible abuse' fanon is very much fanon, Steve is inarguably a lonely kid. And where do we see him reaching out for affection?

It's not Tommy and Carol, although until they break up he's constantly in their company unless he's alone with Nancy. They hardly even seem to like each other very much, and yet they've stayed at his empty house enough for Tommy to know about his mother's fireplace and Steve to insist he do laundry while he's here. No, the person who Steve is allowed to feel things with and for is Nancy, because she's the caveat, she's the exception. This is why Steve is consistently focused on getting Nancy back, getting a new girlfriend, getting a date. That's the rule!!!

The really fabulous thing about Steve's arc across the first three seasons, and even into S4, is that this quest for romantic affection and vulnerability is both thwarted and rewarded again and again. He tries to apologize to Nancy, to win her back: by the time he sees her again, Nancy's got a new boyfriend, but Steve has a new brother. Dustin is Steve's favorite person by the start of S3; he gets Steve's haircare secrets, he gets Steve's loyalty, he gets Steve's joy. In S3, Steve tries to pour his whole heart into a different girlfriend, and Robin turns him down flat while also simultaneously opening herself up with such vulnerability that they instantly become best friends. Robin is S4's Favorite Person, but the great thing about these relationships being platonic is that Steve gets to have more than one! He gets to have both Dustin and Robin in his life! He gets the other kids as part of the package! Bit by bit, instead of a girlfriend who Steve is "allowed" to be soft with, Steve gains actual friends who he gets to be real with whether it's allowed or not.

And the really tragic thing about Mike Wheeler is that he's doing the opposite. Mike starts out with three friends, three best friends, absolutely devoted to one another. As kids, they're young enough to be free of most of the stranglehold of toxic masculinity yet, although of course it's starting. And then there's El.

Mike charts a really interesting course over four seasons, and the shape of it is not a straight trajectory from 'Mike adores and is BFF with Will' to 'Mike thinks only about El.' Hell, from what we see of S1, the Party are all best friends pretty equally before Will goes missing -- Lucas is the one ready to break into a government lab for him, not Mike. Mike's trajectory is far more 'I derive the bulk of my personal self-worth from protecting other people, and as soon as somebody needs to be saved I go fully into Paladin Mode, making me feel worthwhile and important." It just so happens that the two people in Mike's field of vision who most generally need protection and saving are Will and El. Which leads to Mike's intense Will-focused devotion in S2 (El is gone but Will is also in really significant need, and Mike just straight-up activates, jumping immediately into solicitously taking care of his friend because Something Needs Doing And I Can Do It). And Mike's intense El-focused devotion in S4, where El needs a literal quest to come and rescue her. And just a lot of Mike in general.

The problem with all of that is the part where, unlike Steve who keeps forging new platonic relationships, Mike keeps neglecting his more and more. The S3 Will fight is so good at illustrating that, because look -- we all know Will has a crush on Mike, but at no point during that fight does Will ask, even subtextually, for romantic attention. He's asking for platonic attention, which Mike is absolutely failing to give. "Where's Dustin right now? You don't know, and you don't even care." But as Mike says, they're not kids any more -- and this is how growing up is supposed to work!

(Note: I don't want to say that it's toxic for Mike to be in love with El, or really caught up in that relationship -- he's fourteen! she's his first girlfriend! he thought she was dead! But Mike's an asshole in S3 because he's caught up enough to not notice his friend's feelings until they explode at him, and yeah, I do think part of that is because he knows he's Not Supposed To.)

S4 is a lot, because here's where we're really seeing the culmination of a lot of what Mike's been unfortunately moving towards. We've hit a point where those vulnerable feelings that Mike's allowed to share, at most, with his girlfriend, feel like too much to even share with his girlfriend. He can't say 'I love you'. He can't even talk to Will. The conversation he does have with Will is honestly mostly about Mike and his feelings of inadequacy, of not measuring up, not being special, but it has to be couched in the context of El. If there's a reverse-Bechdel test to be done on S4, past the very first episode I'm pretty sure Mike fails it -- I don't think he has a single conversation that isn't about his girlfriend in one capacity or another.

In contrast, S4 Steve is, yes, pretty focused on girls-in-general and Nancy-in-specific, and yeah, there's a little bit of backsliding going on there. But he's also having conversations with Robin about her fears and longings, having weird little interludes where Eddie's the one bringing up Nancy rather than Steve himself. He's hurt at the end when Nancy is clearly still with Jonathan, but he's able to move on, to go fold clothes and care about Robin's love life instead of his own -- his optimistic happy ending in S4 is that his best friend is going to get the girl, not him.

I think there's a lot more to say, which I only brushed on briefly here, about other aspects of Mike and Steve that work in parallel or contrast -- their protector thing, which feels very intrinsic but shows up very differently in both of them, the way Steve says 'I love you' so easily and Mike has trouble saying it at all, the way they are both very much extremely normal guys, at least on paper. There's so much to say. I think that has to be a different post.

I will say, in terms of Hopper: Jim Hopper is what it looks like when those pent-up feelings that you aren't allowed to express to anybody other than a romantic partner sit and fester for decades. Fuck, there were things about Vietnam he didn't even tell his wife, that sat like poison both emotional and biological between them. When we meet him in S1, he's processing grief with drugs and drinking and processing fear with rage. He has spent so much of the past four seasons processing fear as rage.

Of course Joyce is the one person he's allowed to, sometimes, on occasion, be soft with. Of course nearly his every interaction with Mike is macho dominance posturing. Of course the entire trajectory of his relationship with El is a push-pull of Hopper retreating into authoritarianism and anger instead of the terror of honesty, and then getting to see the consequences of that when his daughter pulls away. Every season has broken him down a little more that way, but then the yo-yo pulls back (Season 3 whyyyyyyyyy). By Season 4, he's been beaten and starved and frozen and shattered enough that we get maybe the most honest monologue of his life, to a Russian prison guard, because they're about to die so what do the rules matter any more. It's a clear window into an endless pit of self-loathing, because for twenty or thirty years Hopper's been letting those feelings eat in instead of out, and bit by bit they've been devouring him.

El is hope, for him, and Joyce is hope, and the cracks that broke open in Kamchatka to maybe let in a little more air that might not seal right back up again are hope. But it's hard. It's hard! It makes him an absolute asshole, including and especially towards the people he wants most to protect. (And there's that protector thing again.)

Anyway, I am on the record as liking Steve a lot and having very little patience for Mike and Hopper, but like. They're not that different, at their core. They just put the pieces together in a different order.

#stranger things #driveby meta attack #asked and answered #shit this is really making me want to write those D&D class breakdowns I keep promising #maybe I'll get to one or two of those this weekend #mike wheeler #steve harrington #jim hopper #at least a bit

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salsa-di-pomodoro · 1 year

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Emmet breaks spacetime to find his brother this, Emmet goes feral without his brother that (which you shouldn't take too far btw), where are the Ingo goes apeshit fics. Where are the fics where Ingo single handedly corrals the gods into getting him (and Akari, if she's tired of being in charge after having to save the world) home. This man is depressed one day about his memories and then his unovan religion socialization kicks in subconsciously and he goes 'no fuck this. I am going to get my memories back whether they comply or not' and that escalates into 'i am going home no matter what' and also 'i am going to be happy. I will make it so'. This man didn't get raised with the values of TRUTH and IDEALS for nothing. That shit sticks in your mind so much even if you don't personally think about it much. Have you seen how many times unovans mention truth or ideals in the games. They're important to them. And they're important to him.

I don't even mean that Ingo becomes a villain or anything. I just mean to say he sees a child befriending gods and goes 'hey what the fuck. If they can do that i can do something about my own situation as well for sure' and don't try to tell me the gods wouldn't listen to him. First off i believe Arceus and everyone else do love their creation, they just sometimes don't understand it. Second of all even if that wasn't true not all the gods agree with each other. If Arceus couldn't or didn't want to do anything he could just ask giratina. Or dialga and palkia. How would palkia help? They bring him to celebi. There's no way he wouldn't get celebis approval especially with palkias help.

What? The Pearl clan wouldn't let him go? Lmao what are you even talking about. Even if they didn't want him to leave the position of warden they value space very much. They'd want him to find his own before all else, and even if they didn't Irida would and her judgement is the most important one in the clan. I'm pretty sure she mentions wanting to travel, too, so she might join Ingo for a time as well.

Something is wrong in Unova upon his arrival? Impossible. Unova loves their Subway bosses and Emmet loves and trusts Ingo enough for that not to be a problem. Even if he didn't Chandelure would be proof enough of something off. i don't think she would just feel her trainer's soul disappear in a split second and not cause a commotion, she'd immediatly begin to freak out. Even without that you know what always fixes shit? Communication baby. This man will not let something go until they've properly discussed it. If the other's opinion is still the same after they've all explained themselves, then fine. But i guarantee you it won't be. If communication is difficult for some reason there is nothing that stops him from making it easier or doing it anyway. He can also go to a god again and have them help out of it's something he can't do anything about himself. Grudge? Gone. Death? Xerneas'd. Legal trouble? Over.

There is nothing that can't be fixed, especially in the pokemon world. It's going to be exausting, and probably very taxing on the mind, but it would be worth it so much. And there is no way Ingo and Emmet aren't both going to go to therapy anyway in the end.

Even if the gods couldn't fix it and send him home, they'd at least grant them both peace of mind. A letter, a picture, sent back or forward in time. With proof that it's real, obviously, and that yes it is god that brought this to you, so there's no misunderstandings. And don't tell me they can't do that, you've seen the arc phone. A space time distortion, conveniently timed on both sides, courtesy of dialga and palkia. They're going to get to be happy eventually, whether that means moving on or being reunited. Though there's like no way they don't get reunited lol

#truth -> wants to know the truth about himself #ideals -> will #willpower #determination #whatever you want to call it #alternatively he could track down volo and forcefully redeem him so he tells him all his secrets and finds celebi #or befriend giratina #i mean whoevers fault it is for him being there they owe him #submas #ingo #emmet #warden ingo #subway boss ingo #subway boss emmet #ingo and emmet #arceus #dialga #palkia #giratina #celebi #pla #pokemon legends arceus #pokemon legends #pokemon arceus #subway boss nobori #subway boss kudari #subway bosses #tagging all this because while it started as a demand for determined Ingo who wants to see and make sure his brother is ok #it just became a submas reassurance post #and i want everyone to see. if i can reassure even 1 person with this i will be very happy. i know i'd like to hear this from others myself

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writingquestionsanswered · 6 months

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mudwizardbignaturals asked: I've been writing for a number of years, however, the majority has been fanfiction. With pre-existing characters, I can bypass appearance description. However, now writing my own characters, I struggle with describing appearance because I am slightly face-blind. I only remember a person's prominent features, which is rarely their actual face. When I attempt to describe a character's face, it sounds like My Immortal, or is so exaggerated it sounds like I'm making a cartoon character. I struggle with organically incorporating descriptions of characters' appearance into narration, and I struggle with making them sound like an actual person. Is there any way to flesh out a character's appearance enough without describing individual facial features? Is there a list of features most people NEED to make a character comprehensible to them? Would keeping references be helpful in this situation?

[Ask edited for length]

It's not important to describe a character's face unless it is...

What I mean is, if there's a combination of facial features the reader needs to be aware of for later in the story, then it's important to describe a character's face. Otherwise, don't bother.

Every writer is different, and some writers do describe the facial features of each character or of important characters, but if you pay attention when you're reading, you'll find that most don't. The exact structure of a character's face simply isn't important to the story (again, unless for some reason it is), and the reader won't remember those details most of the time anyway.

So, in actuality, your ability to pick out and recall only a person's most prominent details is actually quite helpful, as those are the character details you should be describing as they'll help your reader recall these characters, too. The features most writers seem to focus on is hair color, eye color, build (short/tall, muscular, thin/heavy, etc.) and skin tone/color. Facial features such as shape or spacing of eyes, shape of jaw (sharp, strong, chiseled, etc.), shape/size of nose, shape of face (long, sweetheart, round, etc.) are less common, appearing mostly in amateur writing (where the writer is giving a lot of unnecessary detail) or in cases where those details are relevant (such as Arya Stark's face being described as long, as is her father's, which helps to set her apart from her sister and reinforce her boyishness.) Age appearance (young, old, boyish, wrinkled, etc.) and height are sometimes included, but again, these only matter if they're relevant to the picture you're trying to paint.

In other words, don't sweat it... you don't need to go into deep detail about your character's faces. Most writers don't. Hair color, eye color, skin color/tone, and body are the main things worth including. Anything else is just gravy, or something you would add because it's relevant.

I hope that helps!

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excavatinglizard · 2 years

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Lizard’s Queer Space Opera Collection

What time is it? It’s ✨ lizard talks about queer sci-fi ✨ time

My family don’t understand how much joy I get from queer stories, and none of my close friend really read space operas (at least not with the same voracity that I do), so I’m appearing here to pass my knowledge on to you, the void that is my blog.

I read a lot of space operas, and I’ve had the incredible luck that the last handful I’ve picked up have been joyfully queer (or maybe we’re just seeing a shift in the sci-fi publishing world. I love it.). This isn’t a comprehensive list or anything, and this isn’t limited to pure space operas, but they are some of my favorites. Hope I can convince some of you to read a couple (and if you do or have read any, please come and shout at me! I want to talk about them! Always!)

I originally wrote these out for my Instagram, and I can’t really be bothered to retype it all so below the cut are my quick descriptions/thoughts on each of the books, but I’ll chuck the list here too

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin

Machine, Elizabeth Bear

Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Becky Chambers

A Matter Of Oaths, Helen S. Wright

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine

The Collapsing Empire, John Scalzi

These are just books that I’ve read in the last year or so, and if you have any more recs please tell me!

A couple additions that didn't make it to Instagram:

If you like graphic novels, please give On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden a shot, it's really lovely and quiet and feels like a big warm space hug.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado is a collection of horror short stories, some of which border on scifi, which is why it didn't make it into the main list, but I highly recommend it. My copy was given to me by the lovely @markcampbells

I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter has a bit of a history due to its presentation of gender, and the author actually asked for it to be removed from the Clarkesworld magazine due to the hate comments she was receiving. Still, if you can find it I highly recommend it, as it is genuinely very good.

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer is. Wow it sure is a book that emotionally damaged me. It's about two boys (men? they're 17 but it doesn't feel like a YA book, except int he good ways) who are on a spaceship heading out to Titan to attempt a rescue mission on Earth's first extraterrestrial colony. There are a lot of feels and ouch.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North. This book isn't a space opera, but it is somewhat sci-fi? anyway, Harry August is one of my favourite books of all time, and it explores a man trapped in what is almost a timeloop, except that time-loop is his whole life. each time he dies he's reborn right back where he started, and it's only through his and the other people like him's actions that the world is ever changed in each repeat.

The Culture series, Iain M Banks. I put this one on the list with a good bit of trepidation and the warning of: these books were written by a (supposedly) cishet white man, and almost all of his protagonists are…nearly cishet white men (with a couple women thrown in in later books). The same can not be said for literally every other character, who are almost entirely trans and bisexual. These books really gave me my love for space operas and if you're a fan of the genre I recommend. Also, the AIs here are amazing. Let us not forget the Ship "Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath". They're great.

(I’m also going to add, I would not recommend his normal fiction. I’ve read two, The Wasp Factory which kind of scarred and disturbed me, and Transitions which was just plain bad. Maybe I picked a bad selection, but I can only in good conscience recommend his sci-fi.)

And that's it my dudes! go forth! read queer space operas!

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haunted-xander · 1 year

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"Chiaki Nanami, you have been assigned a new mission. You will reside in the designated area and search for survivors, and provide them with safety until we can come gather them. We will send Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri to accompany you. As their senior, we expect you to guide them. You will stay in the area indefinitely. Suitable apartments have been located and prepared for your stay. Good luck out there."

Chiaki looked at the message as she, alongside Makoto and Kyoko, were about to arrive at their new apartments. She was glad to get another relatively easy-going mission, but she was concerned about being accompanied by others. It'll be harder to hide that I'm looking for the Remnants on my own... Kirigiri-san especially will definitely notice. I just hope they'll understand...

She thought back to the file Ryota sent her the other day. The area she was overlooking was the same as the one the Remnants were supposedly gathering towards. I hope I can find Kamukura-kun or Komaeda-kun quickly... There's no telling when they'll all arrive or how long they'll take to start whatever they're planning. I can't afford to take my time with this.

"...Um, Nanami-san? We're here." Makoto's words made her realize she'd spaced out. "...Oh, cool. We're finally here." Finally stepping out of the car, she held tight to her backpack and joined Makoto and Kyoko in walking up to the apartments. "...So, what apartment number did you get? I got 106."

"Oh, I got 308."

"I got 309."

"...Oh, you're neighbours. Cool." Chiaki got the feeling there was a certain intent behind rooming them so close together. "...Hey hey, it's just gonna be us in the building, right? Why'd they feel the need to choose the apartments for us? We could've just picked ourselves." At Chiaki's questioning, Kyoko crossed her arms and seemed to think for a second. "If I had to quess, I'd say it's to monitor us more easily. If they where to check up on us, they wouldn't have to go through every apartment in search for us."

"...They could just ask then. Did they even check the apartments beforehand? What if mine has a broken toilet? That would be a pain." She knew she was just being petulant by now, but she really wanted to choose her apartment herself. Maybe I'll just use another apartment anyway. The keys are all in here anyway, so it's not like it matters. Hmph.

Pouting all the way inside, she picked up the key to apartment 104. ...And the key to 106 as well. She could at least check it out. Maybe she'll break a mirror or something as an excuse for why she went to another one. She waved to Makoto and Kyoko as they made their way upstairs to their own apartments. First, she went to 106 to completely innocently check it out. She just broke the mirror by accident is all. If anyone asks, it was always like this.

After that was dealt with, she went to apartment 104 and immediately noticed it was in much better condition than 106. I guess people are still wary of 4's even in the apocalypse... That's people for you, I guess. ...Maybe Komaeda-kun will try to stay in this room since he's called 'God of Death' and all. If he does, that makes my chance of meeting him much higher. She went into each of the rooms to check if they were all in working order, and aside from the lack of chairs, the apartment looked to be fine.

Chiaki was tired from the long drive over and walked into the bedroom only to immediately flop down onto the bed. Soft...

Before she could fully fall asleep, she heard a knock on her door. When she went and opened it, she found Makoto and Kyoko on the other side. "...Oh, hello... Come in..." She opened the door for them and they all went and sat on the couch. "I noticed you went into a different apartment than assigned. Trying to rebel?" Kyoko started with an easy smile. "If you're wondering how I knew which you picked, I saw you take the key."

"...Oh, you did. I should've expected that."

"You really wanted to pick your own apartment, huh?"

"...I picked it just in case the one I was assigned had something wrong with it. 106 has a broken bathroom mirror. That's gonna be annoying."

"Oh, really? Because I heard the sound of glass breaking when I was checking the neighbouring apartments." Oops. She caught me. "...You checked the apartments?" I guess it'd be a good idea to do that. "Yes. There could be something useful hidden in one of the apartments. And, there's the chance someone's laying in wait for the chance to attack us. The apartments are all locked, but it wasn't difficult to lockpick them. If someone was cunning enough to try and ambush us, they'd surely be able to pick a measly lock like this. And, since the doors all lock from the inside without a key, they wouldn't have any issue locking it once inside either."

"There wasn't anything of note inside the first floor apartments though... Well, aside from the recently broken mirror, I guess." ...My bad. "We decided to check yours last. Have you noticed anything odd?"

"...Other then the fact there's no chairs here, no. Everything looks fine... I think. But I also didn't look around that deeply, so I might've missed something." She was really curious about the lack of chairs, thought. Maybe I'll steal some from 106. "We'll take a look around, then."

"...Okay. I'm gonna take a nap. I'm sleepy..."

"Haha, of course. We'll try to be quiet, so have a good nap, Nanami-san!" Kyoko responded with something about having to check the bedroom eventually too, but Chiaki was too busy heading over to the bed for her nap to listen.

She'll probably just sleep through it, anyway.

#i love kyokos ff look tbh #chiaki nanami #kyoko kirigiri #makoto naegi #remnant searcher chiaki au #danganronpa #super danganronpa 2 #sdr2 #danganronpa 3 #dr3 #art #my art #xanders art #xanders haunting art #digital art #fan art #fic #fanfic #fanfiction

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animehouse-moe · 11 months

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Skip and Loafer Episode 8: Hot and Complications

Well, another Skip and Loafer episode, another day of talking about a hell of a lot of stuff. A cute zoo trip plus a dramatic glimpse into the past that overlaps with a sleepover for the girls? There's certainly lots going on, and the episode takes advantage of that to fill it to the brim with information.

The thing freshest on my mind is probably the most surprising piece: Nao-chan and Mika. An unlikely duo for sure, but I love how it's approached. They both share similar experiences in regards to isolation and putting forth intense effort to fit in and be accepted, but were/are limited by themselves and because of that end up isolated and alone. It's a really really outstanding piece that the pair share, and I love how Nao-chan's able to look back on their experiences growing up, and despite how different they are to Mika's, sympathize with her and give her the words and confidence that she needs in those key moments. This clip of the pair of them summarizes it really well.

Anyways, back to Mika for some more. You really get a good idea of just how observant and knowledgeable she is as a character through episodes like this. She thinks about almost everything possible and finds the perfect way to act and respond, and she internalizes a great deal of what other people say. Case and point was her inner thoughts after hearing Murashige's story about middle school. The first thing to pop into her mind was why Murashige's experience was like that, and she uses that to belittle herself.

It's just such a great piece. She's having a sleepover with her friends, who invited her, and all she's able to feel is isolation and guilt in regards to her self. And it works in perfect opposition to the outspoken Mika. There's two facets to her personality, and they remain at odds with each other. She might think little of herself, but she's also the kind of girl that will stake out her friends trip to the zoo with a guy. Now sure, there might be a little in there because she's in love with Shima and wants to take over Mitsumi's role, but that doesn't get in the way of her supporting her friend, and I think that's a great example of just how disparate Mika's image of herself is to who she really is, and does wonders to continue using Mika as a vehicle for showing viewers how damaging and heavy the weight is of expectations that are placed on young girls in society.

If viewers thought Egashira was abrasive when we were first introduced to them, Ririka really is on another level. Her character does great at getting people to hate them right away, but there is more to it than that. I wouldn't go as far as saying it's "good" pieces that lurk, but there's certainly more than meets the eye.

The very first thing you pick up on is that Ririka and Shima have a set amount of space between them. No matter what, while they're walking Ririka is always comfortably ahead of Shima, and the episode tries really hard to make viewers cognizant of that space.

So, what's the point? Well, if the conversation didn't make it clear enough, Ririka and Shima aren't exactly getting on like a house on fire. There's a palpable distance and apathy between the pair that permeates their interactions. To put it into words, it's the gaps between their lives. Ririka has moved on and is back into show business, while Shima has given up that life. The pair are for all intents and purposes, completely apart from one another. But there's one little thing that makes it interesting, and that's when Ririka looks back at Shima.

Sure, a simple smile or softer face isn't really anything crazy, but compare it with the scenes of her looking straight ahead. She's deadpan.

So, she's only happy when looking at Shima, and only looking back at him for that matter. I think most can see where I'm going so I'll cut to the chase. She misses the old Shima, the one that stood side by side with her and held her hand. The Shima that she was friends with and spent time together with, the one that only warmed up to her.

It makes for a really great character. She uses that controversy over being around alcohol as a younger kid to hold Shima on a leash, and she does it for herself, simply because she doesn't want to lose him. At the end of the day, it makes her a very terrible and shallow person, but as a character it's a great approach and provides a very easy way to get conflicting thoughts in regards to them. All they want is to be beside Shima again, but what they're doing is pushing him further and further away.

Now, there's a whole lot of other stuff in regards to this episode, but I'm going to try and fly through it as quick as possible now.

The direction: I still really love how well they integrate that first person perspective into stuff with Mitsumi and Shima. It really just adds something to their moments that I can't quite put my finger on.

Something that I can put my finger on though is the layering of the scenes. It's really simple stuff to add another table in front of Mitsumi and Shima or to throw some CG characters in the distance for movement, but it adds so much to the viewer's understanding of the scale and scope of the world. Just a little piece that makes you think, "oh yeah, there's more to this than just Shima and Mitsumi".

What you can also get from this image is that the sense of space and distance in a lot of cuts in the series is still there. There's plenty of static scenes that characters move through quite well, and it's really nice in adding to that sense of breadth that makes you think about what lies outside of the viewer's perception.

Alright alright, the last piece I swear. I really loved how the episode showed off the girls having fun with their sleepover, and placed Shima's quiet and lonely night against it. It really does wonders to show how separated Shima is from a truly normal life, and how his friends (namely Mitsumi) and Tsubame West are his bridge towards having experiences like that. Just a really great and simple piece that's really cute while still managing to tell something of importance.

So yeah, Skip and Loafer continues to knock it out of the park with hit after hit. Incredible work all around to deliver something of this quality. Coming this far, I was really expecting to be betrayed by my own words from early on, but Skip and Loafer really is positioned to become an instant classic Slice of Life/RomCom.

#skip and loafer #skip to loafer #スキップとローファー #iwakura mitsumi #mitsumi iwakura #sousuke shima #shima sousuke #mika egashira #makoto kurume #yuzuki murashige #anime review #anime recommendation #romcom anime #anime and manga #anime

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muzzleroars · 8 months

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I like to think that when V2 gets revived, it just takes over the neighbouring apartment, claiming that there is no way its living under the same roof as V1 but it ends up spending most of its resting time hanging in their living room anyway because it gets very lonely in its own space and they are the only ones that talk with it because it wants to use their terminal to cybergrind.

OK can use this opportunity to talk about v2's relationship with v1 and gabriel after the initial phases that i've already gone over a bit!! v2 definitely does have an apartment right by theirs in fraud and while it's fairly icy with them at the beginning, it also finds having company much better than nothing and this becomes especially true as it gets more comfortable with gabriel. there's a lot about him that it understands, and he's the most human thing that will interact with it besides. and like. it GUESSES it owes him its new life or whatever. they begin talking fairly regularly, mostly about things that don't particularly matter but that they both have no one else for - much about aesthetics and the natural world (although v2 finds gabriel is much less philosophical than it would have thought an angel would be. so it goes). sometimes, given their verbosity, their conversations carry on and veer into deeper, more uncomfortable territory (their lost place, their respective falls from grace), but one or the other will find a reason to leave before it gets anywhere. v1 is a more complicated issue though.

despite gabriel's insistence that they're like family, v2 not only believes their objectives to be fundamentally at odds, but it also just. hates v1 for what it did. not just killing it, it could rationalize that out to it's own failure, it's own fault, but that it stole from it twice, that it destroyed the dreams that had carried it so far through hell. it knows as a machine, personal grudges like this are an oddity and likely show its ever-multiplying coding quirks, but its psychology has never aligned well with its kin. it does note v1 has changed with its exposure to gabriel, and it easily recognizes that it does love him, it shows him affection, care, and admiration in a way v2 never would have predicted. he changed something in it, it can see how they've moved each other and now are a part of one another...and v1 is making an effort on his insistence. it's certainly not being kind to v2, but it would hate it if it was - they trade sniping insults and constantly get into little scuffles, but the unfeeling hostility once present in v1 is gone. they can exist side-by-side, even swapping some inside jokes between them, and over time v2's reaction to it isn't so visceral....but there's a wall it refuses to take down. it doesn't trust it. maybe it does love gabriel and maybe it will keep loving him, but that's an extreme exception for v1, it knows that better than anyone. it knows how hard it must work against its own code to treat him the way it does, and it can't imagine it ever making so much effort for anyone else. it's inefficient. it's pointless. and so v2's convinced that thing would kill it still if it came to it. if it or v2 let their guard down.

still, it begins coming over more and more as it reaches a level of comfort it can accept - watching its back always, but spending entire afternoons or nights over at gabriel and v1's apartment. i like to think it gets them access to more human entertainment, bringing them movies and video games as an excuse for its presence (or otherwise definitely saying it just wants to cybergrind). it's sometimes gone for a few days at a time, off to a different "home" it has on one of the higher layers or even popping up to the surface, but it inevitably returns...and gabriel's glad to see it's ok every time. this leads to some concern on his part when v2 begins seeing michael more regularly, leading to much more significant lengths of time before it shows back up in their living room. v1 personally doesn't think much about it - maybe it's bored of them lol but gabriel pesters it a bit, making it realize that maybe it actually like. has a friend in gabriel. he worries about it, thinks about it when it's not there, and wants to know if it's ok. it's a weird feeling for it, but nice to consider. well. nice until gabriel comes poking around one of its other properties just to "check in (because it's been awhile and even v1 is wondering if you're dead so!!!)" and mike needs to immediately teleport while v2 tries to keep gabriel from coming in so it doesn't have to explain why it's growing multiple test fungal colonies!!

#tho gabriel would probs just be like 'oh!!! you have a hobby up here ok i understand you want to take good care of them after all!'#the gabe and v2 friendship is so cute to me!!! he worries about it ;o;#v1 is just inherently more complicated though....#i think they do get closer but v2 needs to work a lot out about its dead dreams #i do like the idea that at some point v1 does offer it the knuckleblaster #SO LONG as they can make one for it that's just as good #cake answers #v2 #fallen gabriel #v1 #rise and fall au

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heartbeatbookclub · 1 month

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About the partners headcanons ask, i meant the latter! sorry if it wasn’t obvious haha

shit this has been sitting in my askbox a while--

I have been thinking about this a good while, but I did also...kinda forget about it for a little lmao...part of the time spent thinking was of how exactly I wanted to format it. I considered doing more of a bullet points sort of thing, but I think in general it's just easier to do this the way I typically explain things on this blog.

Rather than doing specific explanations of the potential relationships between each computation of the girls together, I'm going to speak broadly over each of them and talk about it in a more Poly Dokis sense, since that's typically how I do it anyway. With that intro out of the way, here's my vision in no particular order:

Sayori in general is a very lovey sort of person, regardless of if you're just close friends, or in an actual relationship. As a result, not a great deal actually changes in that respect. She is an absolute cuddlebug and physical touch is definitely her top love language to give, to most people's enjoyment, and some people's slight annoyance (Natsuki). I imagine she works down everyone's personal bubble until it feels weirder to not have a Sayori nuzzling somewhere on their body. She likes playing with everyone's hair. They also like playing with hers; it's a win-win. She's also a big fan of spending time with the others, whatever it is. Anything is fun as long as they're together.

On terms of receiving, Sayori very much likes words of affection, though she doesn't always believe them. She needs a lot of reassurance and reciprocation to be sure that she's doing enough in the relationship, and has a constant worry that she's being overbearing, or that her own failures and stupidity makes her a burden to others around her. Regardless of who she's with, all 3 of them try their best to make it clear that she's doing perfectly fine, and they still love her, obviously.

Sayori relies very heavily on Monika emotionally. I think that's a universal truth of their relationship no matter how it's spun. She does her best to be honest with the other 2, hard as that might be sometimes, but Monika is the only one she feels she can truly be herself around, and Monika is more than happy to oblige. In return, Sayori tries her hardest to help her as well.

She genuinely likes listening to Yuri talk about whatever she's passionate about. It makes her happy to hear Yuri so passionate about something, and she's always glad to encourage her to come out of her shell more. She lets Yuri go at her own pace on terms of how they take their relationship and in general gives her a lot of patience, but as long as Yuri doesn't mind, she will take every opportunity she can get to cuddle up to her. Once she gets past her initial embarrassment, Yuri really appreciates her wordless style of affection and makes an effort to reciprocate. Occasionally, she uses Sayori like a weighted blanket.

Sayori understands that Natsuki needs more space, but is quite persistent in her efforts to break her out of her shell, too. Natsuki is initially pretty put off by Sayori's style of affection (go figure) but doesn't exactly dislike it, it's more like...not what she's used to. She initially rebuffs her, but doesn't exactly fight it very hard. She's also glad to have someone to genuinely talk about manga with, though she gets the sense that Sayori isn't exactly reading into it as much as she is...

Monika has never been in a real relationship in her life, and it shows! She treads very lightly, feeling completely out of her depth, uncertain of what's correct or expected, as though that's a normal question to have in a relationship. She's fairly naive and stumbling her way through it to start. Once she finds her footing though, she's happy to be able to provide love to the people closest to her. Maybe too happy. She tries exceptionally hard to be a good girlfriend, with little attention given to herself. This is something the other 3 try very hard to make up for.

Her primary love language has gotta be words of affection. She loves using pet names and giving lots of compliments. Once she gets over the initial embarrassment of saying "I love you", it becomes her most used phrase, and no matter how many times they hear it, it absolutely melts the others every time. She's also a huge acts of service girlie. She loves being able to buy them lunch, or give them a ride, or help them with homework, or something. She's absolutely the type of person to buy you a lunch when she hears you don't have money for one, and won't hear anything about you paying her back.

She is incredibly bad at receiving affection. She'll minimize your compliment, she'll make sure she gives you something in return for any act of service, and she doesn't want to waste your time if you have somewhere else to be. The other 3 work incredibly hard to just get her to accept that they love her, too, which forces her to introspect on the matter. The one thing she doesn't suck at receiving is physical affection, and consequently it becomes her favorite, particularly from Sayori.

Oh yeah, this is somewhat offhand, but she's a terrible kisser, at least to start. Just thought I'd throw that in too

I think the biggest thing I'd like to establish in what the other 3 see in her is that she makes you feel absolutely safe and welcome in her presence. Whenever you talk to her, suddenly all of your problems and everything stressing you out are miles away, and everything is going to be okay. And she is very happy to provide that for other people; hearing that always makes her heart happy.

She tries her absolute hardest to make sure Sayori gets everything she needs in the validation department. Monika and Sayori reflect each other a lot, to the point that they both generally know what the other is thinking even when they don't voice this. Whenever Sayori is refusing to say something because she doesn't want to create friction, but it needs to be said, Monika will say it for her. Monika voices her needs when she doesn't want to, and she trusts Sayori to do it in return.

She vents to Yuri often whenever she just needs someone to listen, and Yuri likes to rub her back to ease her stress. She does her best to listen to what Yuri has to say in return, as well as humor her talking about her interests, but has a hard time saying she shares the same passion she does for them.

Monika is the one who most enjoys flustering Natsuki, and is also typically the most successful. Natsuki, of course, really enjoys turning the tables and flustering her in return. Natsuki in particular finds it funny that Monika has turned to manga as something of a guilty pleasure.

This is something else tangentially related, but I just realized that because I only advanced my DDLC shipping thoughts in a discord server, I never posted this here, so I think an essential part here is that I think all of the other girls have a huuuuge crush on Monika. Like head over heels, for various reasons. Sayori is obvious but the others find it hard to deny, she's like, the perfect woman. Monika has no concept of anyone having a crush on her prior to them admitting this, and is completely shocked.

Yuri has a somewhat warped view of what romance looks like, given to her by media she consumes. Very pure and romantic and dripping with prose. The thought in the back of her head is constantly "I could never do that...I guess I'll be single forever..." and when she actually ends up in a relationship it ends up throwing her entire worldview out of whack in that respect. In general, the others all spend a lot of time reassuring her that they all love her for her, particularly when she's herself, unabashedly weird. Eventually, with enough persistence and some soul searching, she starts to believe it, and comes further out of her shell.

She really likes feeling important to people. She's a great listener, and her favorite thing to do is to just let other people vent about their problems to her. Her primary means of affection is quality time, with some physical affection once Sayori REALLY breaks down her sense of personal space. She'll sidle up to the others like a cat. Sayori finds this absolutely adorable. She mostly just enjoys spending time silently around other people. The others invite her places and just let her vibe. She loves it. I've mentioned it before, but she also really enjoys sending people songs and things that made her think of them. She also likes buying things that made her think of them as a gift. She's very muted in her expression of love, but she spends a lot of her time away from the others thinking of them.

I also think that Yuri kinda sucks at receiving affection, though in a different way than Monika. Monika will instinctively reject it; Yuri has no clue how to respond. It flusters her, every time, without fail, until eventually she gets used to it and her response seems somewhat flat. Although for particularly sweet gestures, she is unable to contain her excitement.

Oh, also she's probably the best kisser out of the bunch, though she is frequently too embarrassed to do much more than a peck on the cheek to start.

Sayori is her go-to whenever she wants to infodump about something she's been really into lately, because she actively listens and tries to engage her, mostly because she really enjoys it whenever Yuri is excited about something. Despite her initial hesitancy, she actually really appreciates the kind of casual physical affection which Sayori employs, because she really likes and wants physical affection, but doesn't know how to ask without feeling awkward.

She likes it when Monika vents to her. She always feels incredibly at ease around Monika, which is difficult for her to find anywhere else, much less with another person, and she really wants to give back in return what Monika gives to her. She feels comfortable enough to freely talk with Monika based on this fact, partially because she knows Monika feels the same to her. It makes her feel wanted, and she likes that.

She really tries her hardest to help when Natsuki has problems, listening to her vent about her dad, or other people, or the world, or anything else that's giving her trouble at the moment. Yuri does her best to help steer her more towards the kind of person she wants to be, and to reassure her that she isn't a terrible person.

Natsuki is averse to being in a relationship on the risk that she turns out like her parents. The only reason she's here is because the others assured her they would help her not to be. Despite her hesitancy, and her pushing back on a lot of what's given to her, she does enjoy it. (She just doesn't think she deserves it.) In general, she's just very awkward at navigating anything and everything related to it, and is very easily embarrassed by the whole thing. It takes time to get her comfortable with it.

She's very acts of service heavy. She likes making things for other people, and spends a lot of time and effort doing so. She derives a lot of joy out of directly providing for people, and particularly in the beginning, she's still convinced that's all she can provide, but she does grow better at avoiding that sort of thinking with time. She also likes spending quality time with people, probably baking, maybe chatting about/reading manga.

She is absolutely head over heels for Monika, despite finding that realization...kind of annoying. She thinks she is literally the most beautiful, perfect girl she has ever met, and despite her best efforts to ignore that powerful urge to heap praise onto her, she can't help but make an effort to impress her, which is frequently successful!...which only goads her on to do it more. She tries to get Monika to read some of the series she's more seriously invested in, because she knows Monika will get a deeper understanding of the themes and subtext.

She's envious of how easily Sayori can make friends with anyone, and finds her to be so sweet it's hard to handle. She is absolutely terrified of ever doing anything to hurt her because she knows that whatever it was, Sayori would never let go. Sayori takes great lengths to remind her that she would never do that, because she is her, not her father. She is initially annoyed by Sayori's very heavy physical affection, but also seriously appreciates it because she would never in a million years ask for a hug.

Yuri and Natsuki's relationship is special. They eventually get to a point where they just understand each other. Yuri will push back on her just enough that Natsuki is confident trusting that what she says is honest, including that she really does love her and will never leave her. She seriously appreciates that. She finds it really fun to try and get Yuri to move outside her comfort zone.

...I might have more posts in this vein to make soon, among other things, but I thought I'd get this out of my askbox now so you don't have to wait in suspense. I'm gonna go sleep. I was sorta running on fumes towards the end here, so if it seems a little more clipped there, I apologizeee

#ddlc #doki doki literature club #ddlc monika #ddlc sayori #ddlc yuri #ddlc natsuki #my headcanons #asks #ddlc poly #i am not including every ship tag. god bless

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kindatired · 2 months

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Genshin Impact: First Impression

I know, "You just NOW getting into Genshin after four years?'

Well, I didn't want to play on my phone so I waited to buy a laptop. I did bought a MacBook for school but then I found out that even though this game runs on IOS it doesn't run on MacOS...

(I should've known since the game isn't on the Switch...

Why most of the games I want to play isn't playable on the devices I have- Anyways back to the point.

I just finish Mondstadt in Genshin and so far I really like the story which makes me excited for what they have in store in Liyue. So this is all my thoughts about the first Archon quest, all in one go.

This chapter was a nice introduction to the world of Tevyat and I like how we already have to worry about two antagonistic groups (The fatui and Abyss Order)

Matter of fact let me list down how I think of each character:

The traveler:

I wish they have more character to them especially during the cutscenes. Despite being the protagonist I feel like they’re just in the backseat most of the time with the exception of them needing to action scenes. (Due to this my version of the traveler is that they're snarky but their heart is in the right place.) But I like how they showed us what the other sibling is doing because most stories they will have it a mystery right before the final arc

Paimon:

She’s cute but also WHERE IS HER PARENTS? At the start, she said that she was saved from drowning and I was like “Who was watching you?? Do you have any friends or anything?” I truly believe she will be a plot point in the story considering she can float around and have a space aesthetic to her

Venti:

I really like how mysterious he was at the start of the story and then later we see how much of a doofus he is. (Not saying he's dumb but carefree) Despite not wanting to be a ruling god, he still cares for his city in his own way. I don’t know why but if you mix Pit and Palutena together and then boom there’s Venti.

Amber:

I love her design so much. It's simple yet effective especially with the red bow. I feel like the team knew this too which is why she comes with her own plushie which is so freaking cute! Her character quests is fun too when she taught us to get our own glider's license. I don't know why but she gives the first classmate you befriend in class energy (Probably because she is the first person beside Paimon that we met in the game)

Kaeya:

I’m down bad I like how he has a laidback personality yet he’s always behind the scenes. Despite the front he puts up, you know he’s doing something else. Kind of wish we get to see more of him but I’m satisfied with what we got

Lisa:

At first I thought she was going to be a flirt she kinda is But I found it funny how she’s has a “I don’t have time with this bs” attitude on her side quest but still have a lot of patience for people's BS at times. I can't exactly remember but I think when she was trying to find all the overdue books, she went "I might as well make it fun" and brought the traveler and Paimon along too.

Jean:

Once I take a step back and think of all the things she had to deal with during this arc, it was definitely something. Abyss Order, The Dragon, The Fatui and trying to keep the citizens calm. She doesn’t get enough credit where it’s due. There's this one line delivery in the English version, I can't exactly point out when but it was about how the Fat couldn't get the upper hand in the situation. I don't know why but her tone of voice was passive aggressive, like she was praying on their downfall.

Diluc:

Mix opinions on him due to him sending us to find four of those ice flowers and I had to spend a hour and thirty minutes trying to find the fourth one. So yeah I have bitter feelings about that Serious note, he's probably my favorite character in Mondstadt if we're not including Amber and Kaeya. Bro is the Batman of the game, they even call him the Dark knight

Abyss Ice Mage:

Yeah I dedicated a whole section to this NPC because Imagine being electrocuted by Lisa and flamed by Diluc within a week. Like bro was put in the wringer (rightfully so). Kinda hoped they appear in the future story so this trend of Ice Mage being comedically abused continues.

My thoughts of the story:

I thought the first archon quest of the story is neat. It has nothing too spectacle as it works as a exposition to the world of Teyvat and it done that job very well.

The twist of knowing where the traveler's sibling is doing was definitely something I never thought would happen. Usually in most stories, they would have the sibling in prison but nope.

Your sibling is doing fine just helping out the big bad organization that is trying to destroy Teyvat.

Now this may be a reach but I like how each character has the freedom of accomplishing their goals by their own way.

First you have the traveler, by default they have the freedom of not being born in Teyvat as they are not from this world. Because of this, they have the ability to use more than one element. Another note is that because the traveler isn't bound by the nation's rules as they wasn't raised in Teyvat, they're always the person with a third option, sort of like a spectator...

is this why they're so quiet? So he can hear the opinions of others before making their own conclusions???

Paimon also has freedom as she doesn't have a parental figure which allows her to tag along, traveler on their quests.

Moving on to the people of Mondstadt, even within the Knights of Favonius who are under strict codes, handle tasks using their own method.

Example of this is the uniforms.

While Amber, Lisa, Kaeya, and Jean share the same motifs as being in the same group, their uniforms are completely different. You know how in magical girl shows, where you have sailor moon, where every soldier wears the same design but different color palette? Then there are other shows like Magica Madoka, where the girls where completely different outfits? The knights of favonius fits the latter, with the exception of the NPCs.

Even the way they handle tasks are different. Amber make sure she does her best to follow the rules but with a bit a flare. Lisa is a tad strict but her approach is passive. Kaeya always tries to find a loophole in the situation to see the whole picture. (Example: Him "staying behind" in the city, to get more information about the Abyss Order). Jean who follows the rules, but know there are times when the rules have to be bend.

Then you have the outliners like Diluc and Venti who are not apart of the knights. Diluc doesn't trust the knights to completely solve the problem so he acts as a vigilante, to pick up the pieces they fail to notice.

Venti who is the god of freedom, decided to not rule his region like the other archons. Instead, he watches it from afar, like the guardian he is, and steps in when the time is right.

All these characters are different in one way or another but they all come together to work together because they all share a common goal. Still even if you do things your own way, you still have to bear the responsibility of your actions.

Venti was too nonchalant in his approach of protecting his region which resulted in a Harbinger, La Signora, taking his Gnosis.

I say he was nonchalant because he was focus on the current problems of his country, which was storm bringer, and not future problems such as the Fatui. Because he wasn't focus on them, he let his guard down when the problem with storm bringer was solved.

I know this may be a stretch and I'm just writing what pops up in my head but that's what I got from the message of the archon quest.

Speaking of La Signora, how the hell did no one saw her attacking Venti and traveler or at the very least heard it? I know Barbara did but you're telling me that only ONE person heard that shit?!

So after talking to Venti it appears that we have to go to every seven regions to find the traveler's siblings. Or in this case, try to convince them to not destroy this world.

The fuck do we look like Pokemon Trainers?... Because I can sing the theme songs if you want

Either way, I had fun with the story. Gamplay-wise... I'm not really much of a gamer myself. I don't go into the mechanics of the game.I play fighting game, barely knowing the combos and just smash buttons to win

However, I can say the gameplay of Genshin is easy to get into. Unfortunately, it's a rpg so I have to farm for materials... yay, I guess. But it's not as bad as Fate Grand Order, Fate grand order farming system is a shit storm especially considering how it's a turn based but doesn't have a auto-farm system.

(for those who want to get into the story of FGO, just look it up on Youtube, do not play the game. )

When exploring, I often hesitate of where I go, because the game doesn't want you to explore said region yet, They will send Paimon telling you "Let's explore that later" only to yeet you off the cliff.

Speaking of Gameplay Paimon, she always setting us up. There was this purple spot, and she told us to blow it away to see what it is, only for it to be the eye of the storm... Its not like it was hard but it was annoying to fight it.

At least she let us control the time though.

Overall, I had fun with the game, I'm looking forward for Liyue and thank you for reading all of this as I was writing as I go so I know there is MANY grammar errors in this review.

Can't wait for Liyue because then I will get to see the character that convinced me to play the game.

#genshin impact #genshin impact review #genshin venti #kaeya alberich #diluc ragnvindr #lisa minci #jean gunnhildr #genshin impact amber #paimon #lumine #aether #Genshin Impact thoughts #hoyoverse #mihoyo

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