#but i think the things i want to talk about are more just disjointed details than any meaningful commentary

[copperbadge]

I am now home, fed, rested, and festooned in cats. 

I had a lot of opinions about the case I was jury on, but I don’t know how much of it I’ll write up; I kept a kind of disjointed journal, but it’s not super coherent. Turns out if I don’t document my thoughts in real time I get bored of my own mind very quickly. 

We were jury for a complicated medical civil case; we heard testimony from six doctors and two nurses and saw so much imaging. I’m sure the plaintiff suing the medical center had bigger concerns, and it’s not like you get detail with the internal imaging we had to examine, but it must have been rough on him that in the course of learning about his injuries, which were on his lower body, we also had to look at multiple images of his dick. It certainly startled me when I realized what we were seeing for the first time.  

Most of the trial I was kind of okay with just keeping things to myself, writing and thinking about it privately, but I was dying inside that I couldn’t talk to you guys until now about the asshole juror I mentioned earlier. I had intended to use writing about him as a safety valve -- a sort of “Hey I can’t talk about the trial but wait till you hear what That Guy did today” -- but uh. 

So I didn’t actually bully anyone off a jury, but for the rest of my life I am definitely going to claim I did. 

The second day of trial, the bailiff grabbed me before trial and said the judge wanted to talk to me; I thought I was in trouble but it turns out that he wanted to know about my interactions with the other juror. Apparently the bailiff had seen me step in when he was pestering a fellow (female) juror the previous day. Later he got super aggressive with the bailiff herself, and I guess she saw me watching and gauging whether to step in then, too. (I didn’t end up getting involved because she handled him just fine and also she has a gun.) 

The judge questioned me about what I’d seen and done and why I’d done it, and then informed me he was removing the juror from the case based on what I’d told him about the man’s behavior. I’m given to understand there may be a charge of contempt of court and a fine, but I’m not clear on the details and it appears I won’t have to get involved further.

But yeah, that’s why you didn’t hear any more about him. Realistically he was removed for harassment, but I like to think a small part of it is that I fucked with him so visibly and thoroughly that they knew “this jury box isn’t big enough for the both of us.” 

Anyway, I’m glad it’s over. I would have liked to have spoken to the plaintiff and his wife after the verdict and expressed my sympathy for what they’d gone through, but I think perhaps understandably they didn’t want to linger. Besides, we found in his favor; he seemed pleased with the outcome and his wife was happy-crying as we left, so I expect the message was understood. 

My job is not exactly mindless, but it also doesn’t usually involve paying hardcore attention to complex medical testimony for six hours a day. I am exhausted. Fortunately this weekend is relatively laid back -- my only commitment is to a Pride beach party tomorrow, and I’ve used some of my jury pay to purchase one of those pop-up shade tents, so the plan is to sit in the shade with snacks and beverages and be the Beach Dad. 

#archive

[safetycar-restart]

KINKTOBER DAY 14: GANG BANG [MERCEDES X READER]

NOTE: This is a nsfw fic with dom!reader and sub!Mick, featuring Lewis, George, Toto and Bono. If you're under 18 or uninterested, then scroll past. If you like what you see here, then check out the rest of my blog :))

This fic forms part of a kinktober series where I discuss a different concept with different motorsport athletes. We discuss the concepts in more detail on my blog so if you're inspired by what you read here, feel free to stop by!

(This fic takes place in an dom/sub AU everyone is either a dom, sub or switch. Reader is the Mercedes team dom, with Mick being the team sub. If you like this AU, you can check out more of it on my blog under the 'D/S AU' tag)

Qatar 2023. Lewis DNFs, crashing into George and nearly taking George out the race. Somehow, George fights his way to 4th.

Mick has no idea what to do. When they crash on lap 1, Mick outwardly whines and turns to see where you are. He hates seeing his team upset, and he already knows this will cause so much drama. As the team sub, all he wants is to be a good boy for his team and make everyone happy.

Mick finds you sitting with the pit crew and drags you back to where he and Toto are watching the race. Toto glances at you, nodding for a moment and turning back to the screen.

When the race ends, Mick has no idea what to do with himself. He wants to go find and comfort lewis, but George deserves to be celebrated. He just turns to you, having no idea what to do.

When you go to Lewis, he's devastated, and he refuses to take any comfort from you because he says he needs to wait until George finishes the race so he can apologise. If this were George, you would have pulled your rank as team dom and made him come with you. But you know that Lewis needs to address this directly with George before he can do anything else.

So you agree to wait until the race is finished.

Once you agree to that, you go to fetch Mick because you're sure the poor thing must be distraught. And he is, he's cuddled up on Toto's lap, hiding in toto's lap and resting his head against toto's earphones so he can hear the radio chatter.

He spots you approaching and tries to get up but Toto tightens his hold on Mick, clearly taking comfort from the team sub himself. So instead you order Mick to say where he is and comfort Toto, promising him that you're looking after Lewis.

So that's how it goes until the race ends, with you and Bono waiting with Lewis while Mick stays with Toto. When things finally end, George has done an amazing job. 4th!!

Lewis is the first to speak to George, apologising for what he's done and hugging him. George nods, hugging Lewis back but it's very clear that he is not fully okay.

Mick turns to you, unsure of what to do.

And for a moment you arent sure either, because you have two team members who need very different things. But then you think about it, thinking about how disjoined the entire team is and realise what the best solution is.

Everyone scenes together, whoever wants to join can.

Mick, of course, is very willing to do whatever you say, trusting that it will be what the team needs. Lewis and George knows better than to argue with you, and you just give Toto one look and he's on his way. Bono ends up joining too.

Mick is confused and unsure what to do, looking to you for guidance because everything feels so disjointed and no one knows what to do.

You take everyone back to the hotel, telling Toto, George, Lewis and bono to sit and watch while you prep Mick. You tell them they aren't to talk, just sit and watch.

Mick is so good for you, laying on his back with his knees pulled up to his chest and letting out little whines as you slowly open him up.

Before you can finish, George speaks up and asks if he can lay with Mick, if he can hold his hand. And well, how could you possibly say no to that? So you let George come and sit on the bed, and pulls mick's head into his lap and holds his hand.

"Good boys," you tell them, smiling when they both beam at you.

Mick and George are your good boys, so seeing them cuddled up while Mick feels good is perfect, exactly what those two need.

When you're happy with how prepped Mick is, you move to the top of the bed, sitting on the other side of Mick and calling the other three forward.

Toto, bono and Lewis get to take turns fucking Mick, while you and George comfort him and hold him.

By the end Mick is so fucked out he can barely move, just rolls over into your arms and mumbles his thanks.

Toto says behind for aftercare, always extra protective of Mick. So you and Toto clean Mick up, with George staying at mick's side the entire time, not wanting to let his fellow sub out of his sight.

Right before you're about to go to sleep, you get a message from Lewis, asking if he can come back and spend the night.

#kinktober tag #sub!Mick #ms #sub!George #gr #nsfw. #d/s au

[papastarion]

Papastarion Headcanons Pt. 7

The brainrot doesn’t stop. I am so sorry.

•Over time, Astarion manages to re-attune himself with his elven nature. Primarily, he manages to reverie, most nights. The nightmares may always prey on him, but there are nights of peace, too. Mostly recent memories, even amidst the chaos of the grand adventure their now disjointed band had embarked on as unsuspecting victims, and even less suspecting heroes. The warmth of his beloved’s touch, welcome and genuine. The harmless annoyance when he manages to rile Gale up into one of his infamous rants. Karlach playing fetch with Scratch. Nights by the campfire (though he tries not to think of all the bugs.) Community, with all its wonders and growing pains.

•He finds it easier to slip into reverie properly if he has something to focus on. Some nights that means chewing on a problem to be solved for the sake of the Underdark’s newest settlement. Other nights it’s the sound of Thea’s (Tav/Durge’s) heartbeat. Then, once it’s no longer just the two of them, he takes great comfort in listening to the sound of their unborn child’s heartbeat. As much as doubts and worries mix with excitement and, gods, hope, that sound brings a great deal of peace.

•He doesn’t rely on reverie to help him remember the little details of their children’s lives. He doesn’t want to forget a moment of them, especially since dhampirs don’t inherit their vampiric parent’s immortality. He journals, dating everything. First words. When their first steps happened, and where, and how old they were. What their favorite food was once they learned to tolerate solids. When their fangs came in. When they lost their first tooth. Anecdotes. Simple things like “Eldritch had a fever today, and so refused to sleep anywhere that wasn’t against me so he could keep cool,” or “We tried cutting Nim’s hair today, and she might be more of a peacock about her locks than her father,” or even just “I hugged Pip today, for a quite the while…I don’t want to think about the day where he decides a hug from his world-saving parents is a detriment to his social reputation.”

•Astarion is terrible at baby talk. He just doesn’t have that instinct, or realize that’s something people do. Instead, he’ll walk around the house with a baby 30 days into their existence explaining the finer points socio-political structures and how they effect lawmaking decisions.

•Traveling never really stops, not even when Thea’s pregnant. If she’s good to go and they’ve got somewhere they want or need to be, they go. That doesn’t mean Astarion isn’t Stressed to the Max the Whole Time.

•Co-conspirator Supreme. If there’s a prank to be pulled, he wants in.

•He doesn’t realize that he’s not all that different from Other Adults to the kids. He doesn’t realize that to them Dad has always been kind of chilly to the touch, or that his fangs are just longer versions of their own, or that his eyes are just red. That’s just the color they are. He’s only scary if something is scary to them—he’s never scary to them, only for them.

•He makes blankets for each before they’re born, because he doesn’t want their first instinct when he holds them to be anything other than safety, and the feeling of warmth.

•And gods help him when they reach that inquisitive “must touch everything” phase. Those fangs he was so worried they would fear inevitably become Forbidden Toys they all try to grab, and sometimes he’s too tired to even pull their hands away.

•Yeah, he complains about it constantly.

•Yeah, he misses it when they’re older.

•No, he’ll never admit it.

•Protective as he is, he does enjoy bringing them around the spawn and his siblings—once they’re older, of course. He’s still terrible at sharing with them when it comes to baby holding privileges, but he loves showing off.

•He’s that parent that won’t stop bragging about their kids. He talks about them like they hung the stars in the sky and command the sun to rise for their own entertainment. If you don’t know him, it’s annoying. If you do, it’s still annoying, but it’s at least endearing, too.

•Misses the baby stage more than he thinks he will. He tries not to dwell on the fact that his children are mortal, because he’s glad they don’t bear his lot in life, but he also doesn’t want to think about the day they’re no longer sharing the world with him and their mother.

•Is so scared he won’t actually manage to be a good parent, but quickly adapts when he realizes that they’re his, and he’s going to take care of them, and that matters above all else.

•Spoils them rotten. If the kids want something, they know to ask Dad. (They usually don’t even have to ask.)

#WE’RE SO BACK BOYS #Astarion #Dadstarion #Papastarion #Durgestarion #bg3 #Thea #otp: for better and for worse

[syntia13treeman]

Case files 02.01

what I think happened in:

Case 02.01, the case of "Portrait of Daria Gray" or "The artist becomes the canvas."

Daria's story is pretty straightforward. What we know about Daria: she's a struggling left-handed artist who used to wear a lot of hand-me-down clothes from her sister, and she doesn't like the way she looks. At some point she decides to get a bit of a makeover and, among more mundane things, she starts shopping for a new tattoo. She finds a deal too good to be true (it is) offered by one 'Ink5oul'.

Ink5oul is sketchy as hell, and definitely has something supernatural going on. The tattoo they gives Daria (with no input from her, WTF! - paintbrush, floral patterns and glittering symbols) hurts much more than it should, but also heals almost instantly.

Looking at the tattoo (which is 'perfect') fills Daria with sudden desire to paint an autoportrait (which comes out 'perfect'). And once that is done, looking at it again makes her realize she can adjust herself (and make herself perfect).

So she takes her painting tools, most notably a pallet knife, right to her own face (and soon pretty much every other body part) and gives herself an impromptu plastic surgery. Which goes on uninterrupted for several days (???!?!!?!) until her room-mate Sarah comes home. Poor Sarah walks in on Daria while she has a knife stuck in her jaw, understandably freaks out and punches Daria, at which point half of Daria's face collapses under her hand like putty.

Having no idea that her room-mate has been touched by the spooky, Sarah comes up with the only rational explanation she can think of, which is that Daria poured some acid on her own face (which is very comic-book logic, but maybe Sarah paid more attention to Batman than chemistry and biology class as a teen).

So now Daria has severely disfigured face, and also is officially considered suicidal and a danger to herself and must go to therapy. (Honestly, she needs therapy).

There are two things, aside from the obvious, that grabbed my attention here:

The voice. Narration in the first case was that of a pretty normal email - a little bit rambly, a little bit disjointed, referencing things that the recipient would know about that we can only infer. The second case had a perfectly average forum thread. This case... also starts out with pretty realistic voice - right until the moment Daria stats talking about the tattoo. Then suddenly this story gets ridiculously verbose. The way she describes the studio, the tattooing process, the tattoo itself, the painting process and finally the 'adjustments' - the details, the wording - there's no way a regular person talks that way. Not in real time, not about a traumatic event that they very much don't want to talk about at all. So where is this coming from? I think it's the ink. Until proven otherwise, I'm going to assume that Ink5soul's tattoo somehow infused Daria with power to 'express herself' perfectly in whatever medium she's using - be it words, paint, or her own flesh.

Invasion of privacy issues all over the place. First Daria's tattooing session is streamed for who knows how many Ink5oul's fans without her say-so, and then her be-damned therapy session gets intercepted by some weird basement government branch. Daria glosses over the former and doesn't know about the latter, but they are there. And there was that private email in case of 'Not-Arthur' too. I wonder how present this theme will be in rest of the show. One thing I can bet on: if one of the cases doesn't deal with a conspiracy theorist yelling about government spying on them, I'm gonna eat my hat. (And the poor paranoid guy will be 100% right, just not in the way they think).

#the magnus protocol #tmagp 02 #tmagp case files #tmagp case 02.01 #Daria Gray #(not her actual name but I'm going to nickname there that for now) #Ink5oul #that little rat bastard #also #I was away from my PC last two days and I TRIED writing this from my phone #and I absolutely could not do that #how on earth do some people manage to write whole damn essays and fanfics from their phones #HOW #how do you type and edit without mouse and keyboard #are you wizards? #I fear you and salute you #ep. written by Alexander J. Newall #ep. written by A.J.N+J.S.

[britt-kageryuu]

Leo is streaming today, he's trying on different outfits while answering questions, he basically decided to copy Donnies stream. With a privacy screen to change behind, and a mirror to see how it looks. River is sitting on top of a hat box next to the mirror wearing a little cyan beanie on her head.

He's walks out in blue leggings with lime yellow crescent stripes on the thighs and calves, a blue cropped tank top with his cartoony red eared slider graphic, white/blue basketball shoes, his mask with long tails, and a variety of bracelets and bands on his arms.

"I kinda like this, but maybe the bracelets are a bit much." He says as he turns around while looking in the mirror, "Let's try something else. Any new questions River?" He walks behind the screen with a slight flash of light.

"How's the book project going? Asks BlueNeonFan#1." River reads off, "Well Uncle Blue how is the book going?" She asks almost innocently.

He leans out with a slightly annoyed look, "It's going well. I just don't know how to write the beginning, or when it should end. Plus I think I need to put a bit more research into some parts." And he leans back behind the screen to continue putting together an outfit.

"Not to mention how disjointed it is! Like none of it lines up no matter how you order the parts you've already written!" River complains while lightly glaring at the screen.

Leo walks out in dark blue hakama style pants with openings showing off his thighs, a open royal blue kimono jacket with glowing neon blue swirl patterns, black boots, his mask is in a fancy knot/bow with metal stick hair ornaments with the Hamato symbol hanging on a little chain.

He struck a couple poses, "Well it's still a work in progress, plus I don't think I'll actually publish it." He has a smug look as he checks himself out. "I like this, definitely going to wear this for an event. Don't ask me what the story is about, as River said I don't really know how it's going!" His tail is visible in the mirror twitching with irritation.

With a bit of flourish he walks back behind the screen. River looks towards the camera, "At least part of it involves the characters Larping, but we know next to nothing about it, so yeah, it's very much a work in progress, and needs a lot of reworking."

Leo pops back out in a Royal Blue Cheongsam Dress with silk slippers. With a folding fan in his hand. "Let's move on, how about I talk about this cute manga I found avoiding my writing project!"

He went through a few more outfits while jumping topics, and questions, while looking fabulous!

---------------

Masterpost

The outfits are really the hardest thing about all of this writing!!

I both want to continue this writing style, and want to go back to the other, but I think this style helps me with details and pacing. Opinions are welcome!

#VTurtles! #vtuber au #rottmnt au #rottmnt leonardo #rottmnt leo #rise leonardo #rise leo #tmnt au #tmnt 2018 #rise of the tmnt #tmnt rise #rise tmnt #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #tmnt fanfiction #rottmnt fanfiction

[dulcesiabits]

hihi i hope you don't mind me asking but as a writer myself, i'm curious about how your writing process goes :o it's very evident you do a ton of research for your writing and it got me curious about how you go about research and writing as a whole! thank you for your time and have a wonderful day <3

Hi!! I don't mind at all <3 Thank you for sending this ask, because if there's something I love more than writing, then it's talking about the craft of writing! I'll just break down my general process on how I approach writing below <3 Keep in mind that this is both (1) general advice, and (2) specific to how I approach pieces, so it might not work for everyone! In general, I have four major steps: planning, outlining, writing, and then revising/editing!

Planning

The first thing that really happens is that I'll come up with an idea. For fanfic, this usually means I'll get an idea for a scenario I want to explore, or I'll really want to write about a character, and then I'll come up with several ideas that I think would be fun for them! In this stage, I might write a few notes about the premise, just a few sentences about the overall plot/arc I'm looking at. Additionally, I might come up with some general themes/motifs I want to include, but go more in-depth with them in the outlining stage. I'm a bit strange in the sense I tend to plan stories based on general concepts/themes before I delve into the nitty-gritty of characters and plot details (though this process is a bit reversed when I'm writing fanfiction).

I might also do some general research in regards to the premise: for example, I might look over the wiki to refresh my memories on character beats or miscellaneous trivia, or I'll reread certain pages of the manga/rewatch scenes of the anime/replay parts of the game. If I'm writing about a different culture, then I'll look up aspects of the culture that are relevant to my fic (and as with any research, you want to check that you're using reputable sites for accurate information!) Asking friends for their advice/expertise can also be helpful, especially if they're knowledgeable in areas I'm not.

2. Outlining

After I have an idea, I tend to make a really rough outline for how I want the story to go. I don't like planning every minuscule detail, so I leave my outline vague enough that I can be flexible with what I write. I might just draft the overarching plot beats that I want to hit, but then I might change/rearrange scenes depending on what happens as I actually write. I like having an idea of what might happen, but also I don't want my plot to be so rigid I don't have any freedom to play with it, especially because what I write might end up differently from what I planned to happen!

Additionally, I also tend to map out not just what's happening on the page, but also the themes, character arcs and emotional beats. It's not as daunting as it sounds; these things are generally entwined together, as they influence each other! I'm always thinking of them in conjunction with every other piece of the story.

If that's a bit difficult, you can also think about a general mapping technique: tracking the inner, emotional journey and the outer, physical journey, and how these events influence each other or intersect. What shows up on the page, and what's happening beneath it, that might not be as obvious?

In chronologically disjointed pieces, I tend to have an idea of what the chronological timeline looks like before I break it up and rearrange the scenes. I don't believe there are real "rules" when it comes to writing (things like "don't use adverbs" or "first person should only ever be past tense"); any rule can be broken, but you do need to understand the rules before you know how/when to break them in your piece.

3. Writing

Here's the hardest part of the process: actually writing! I have several different ways I approach writing. Sometimes I'll just follow my outline, in order of the events and scenes I have planned. Other times, I might write "out of order" where I tackle a section that I'm particularly interested in, rather than going by order of events (though this usually means I have to edit and revise a lot because I might write the aftermath of a emotional scene before I actually know the specifics of what happens in the scene).

I think that I sometimes approach writing as something I "have to do." I will make myself write, even if I don't feel particularly motivated or inspired, because I want to build a habit of writing even without that passion fueling me. And besides, writing even a few sentences is better than writing nothing, so I'll congratulate myself if I had one paragraph to my wip. Sometimes, this does help me get into the flow of writing!

I also don't tend to approach first drafts like they need to be perfect. I'm fine if they're sloppy or messy, and I might, say, add a [add transition here] or [expand on his inner thoughts] if I'm on a roll and I don't want to slow down to write that particular bit. It's important to keep the momentum going!

I also keep several wips on hands at all times, and I have a folder in my google drive specifically for my wips. Though I do tend to focus only one to three projects at a time, this helps me in the sense that if I feel tired of one wip, then I refresh my creative batteries by working on a different one. This helps keeps my interest up!

4. Revising/Editing

I know some people skip this step, but to me, it's important that I don't just toss out a fic before I'm completely satisfied with it. Editing is when you go through to proofread and look at surface level things like grammar and spelling, but revising is the real struggle: it's where you look at the piece as a whole. Is it cohesive? Do the scenes make sense in the order they're placed in? How is the pace? Is the characterization consistent?

You can't be afraid to rearrange scenes, to cut sections, to add new ones, or to transform existing scenes. If I need to, sometimes I take a break before I go back to a piece. Maybe I've been looking at it for too long, and in the heat of the moment, I might miss certain things. I might also ask a friend for their feedback and advice on a piece. I want to write things that I'm proud of, that other people will enjoy, so I don't want to half-ass any step of the process. I try to look at most things at least two or three times before I post them, but if they're shorter pieces/don't need thorough revision, I'll only look at it once before I post.

#liya answers #ofc sometimes these r interchangeable #like maybe ill start a drabble and then realize i want to write more of this rls #so i outline it and plan more of it etc etc #or i'll still be researching even as i write yk bc smth might come up that i didnt consider #i try not to revise as i write bc then ill get stuck #most important thing is just to get it finished! its easier to revise/edit when u have a completed work!

[egg-emperor]

Your analysis has been really interesting to read through, but ngl the whole mess around text interpretation has led me to ruminate on the fandom's doings a little. This probably will turn into disjointed ramblings, so please bear with me.

What I think is causing this cognitive dissonance is exactly that cutesy framing of some of Eggman and Sage's moments. Like, I don't believe that Sage was intentionally made to soften Eggman up or something, I believe that he can play the "family" act to keep her loyal to him. However, I won't deny that during my watch of a friend playing it, this specific framing left a slightly weird aftertaste, which I now see is what can easily cause so many misinterpretations of the scenes. Like, for example, the memo with Sage's pronouns. After seeing a lot of talk around the memos in general, what seems to throw people off from thinking that Eggman could be just using this as yet another play into her view of him as her father to keep her loyal is "why does he suddenly care about endearing himself to his own creation when he freely disregarded his previous creations". It can be interpreted in character, but there's just a smidge of off-ness that can be hard to wash out for some.

Not gonna lie, I kinda envy the ability of people like to at least mostly ignore the majority of the fandom's shenanigans and drama, cause I think that also plays a part imo, specifically this weird need to somehow ingratiate Sonic as a series to the mainstream, generally non-fan crowd. Like, the onus obviously should be on the people who misinterpret the text and see what's not there, yet these people also tend to be the loudest. And most non-fans seeing it just assume that's what the fandom as a whole thinks, and that's what the text actually is about. After all, nowadays Sonic is all but advertised as "its a kids game for babies so don't think about the story too much, it doesnt make sense in the end anyway", even by fans trying to genuinely recommend the series sometimes. And you'd think that there'd be pushback against this sort of mentality, but somehow, a majority of the Sonic fandom remains almost... defeatist? Like, either they can't argue to save their lives or just passively accept the misinformation. The people actually doing the analysis and all get disregarded as no-life nerds and are told that "no amount of analysis can make a product worth the money".

It's just... I dunno how or why or when it all started going like this, but at some point, the way people talked about media in general just caused immensely screwed. Discussions only seem to happen when someone wants to further validate their pre-established biases about a thing and it all just feels wrong.

Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to read and consider my analysis.

We seem to feel quite similarly. I'm not a fan of the cutesy framing of certain moments because it's not my thing and definitely makes it easier for fans to misinterpret. The casual fan, especially if they don't catch all context in the memos and apply them to the scenes to notice the undertones and understand Eggman's side of the dynamic, or if they're the kind who that stuff can appeal to and affect emotionally/they'd rather ignore the more unsettling aspects in discomfort, they're going to get it wrong.

I think the cutscenes mostly have the issue of focusing too much on Sage's side of the dynamic over Eggman's. A bunch of most important details of Eggman's side comes from the memos, which is great from the standpoint of being right from his personal perspective and words, so we get to know exactly how he thinks and feels- but not so great for those who won't listen or piece together what they learned from them with the scenes for needed context.

But Sage wasn't supposed to soften Eggman up. In the story he's still a bad guy wanting to do bad, wishing he could get out of Cyber Space to, and Sage appeals because of what she can do for him, how she's crucial to his survival, supports his desire for world domination and shows undying loyalty. The way some moments are framed as cute doesn't take away from it, a unhealthy dynamic can appear as cute and wholesome with unsettling undertones.

Ian Flynn pretty much describes it that way by saying you're supposed to feel happy for Sage but Eggman is a bad person and warming up to it for all the wrong reasons. It's intentionally more complex than what the loudest people who love and hate it are saying. I can see what Flynn means because all the pieces are there in the actual game for me to point out and analyze. They just could've been emphasized a bit more.

All you need is the memo where he talks about liking how Sage is loyal and efficient and accepting the father role because it can emphasize his genius and the pride he can take as her creator, then apply it to every interaction and you can see it. Eggman can play the act to appeal to Sage's desire for that dynamic and praise her actions as a way to further encourage her for her loyalty and efficiency, all for those selfish benefits.

It's how manipulation works and Eggman absolutely can and will play up the part with these conditions for the benefits, he's done similarly in the past. It's intentionally not done in the common verbal and physical abns!ve way like he does most commonly with his other creations, it's more emotionally manipulative. It makes the most sense for how he wants to further encourage her good work and loyalty, not lose it.

I can get why you felt that way. It's part of why I had the wrong idea of Frontiers Eggman's at first and it ruined my first experience playing it. The cute framing of certain moments, combined with fans taking these scenes and latching onto the misinterpretations from the moment it dropped and drilling into your head how they think we should think and feel while ignoring key details that disprove it, made me believe it for too long.

But had I not seen the misinterpretation and paid attention and did my usual analysis, which I closed my mind to in my first playthrough in ignorance, I would've caught on a lot faster. Just like how knowing what I know now after properly analyzing it then going into Final Horizon and avoiding what fandom was saying, made my experience more pleasant and let me think and interpret for myself. The fandom is still mostly to blame.

Yeah, the cute moments can give the wrong idea when you don't have all the context. But the context is in the game to piece together and understand why it's happening in a way that works for Eggman's character. I also think while he is of course playing the act, it's also framed cute as it is because we're seeing it more from Sage's side in the scenes, as it's a very different vibe in the memos where it's actually Eggman's side.

Maybe always being able to see the worst in Eggman (positively and affectionately lol 🥰💜) helps but I only see the memos as unsettling now. His creation starts to appear as more of a person to him so he thinks about how he can use it to his benefit by taking pride in his impressive scientific ability to create something so life-like as an artificial creation over the unimpressive traditional organic way he scoffs at and expresses aversion to.

He says if he created life it'd be "loyal and perfectly effective", which is fucked up thing to look for in your child, and says it's specifically because he's the genius creator/father, giving himself all credit and taking pride in her accomplishments as a reflection of his genius. It's selfish, egotistical, creepy, everything a parent shouldn't do. I can see what makes it unsettling in all his words. So many things are wrong with him I love it 😋💘

I really don't have much of an issue with that memo. It's one of the most misinterpreted but it's simply where he starts to realize that almost the whole time he's been calling her a "she" instead of an "it" like the program she was created to be. He actually starts just five after first mentioning her, in memo 13. He subconsciously sees her as a person and refers to her like such that fast due to how human and life-like she is.

Three memos after he's like wait why am I calling it a she? And wonders whether to call her an it like the program she was created to be or a she like he's seeing her as instead. Then another three after comes the disturbing memo about him creating life, so him establishing whether he's going to call her "she" or not leads to him thinking about how he can take pride and credit in her by establishing himself as her genius creator/father.

It's another of those cases where if context is removed it's more likely for people to get the wrong idea, especially if they're the type to be blinded by the cuteness factor but when you have the context of before and after and considering the important terms of why he values her at all with the she's an impressive life-like loyal and efficient creation and her dad is a genius memo, again it makes sense and is in character.

The "she's the best" line is one of the only parts I'd change, he's far too egotistical to say that about anyone else. It doesn't make sense because the whole reason he values her is what she does for him and the pride he can take in her, literally because he sees himself as the best person ever lol. Just specifying what she's the best of, like of his creations or something would've worked, not making it sound like he's saying in general.

But guess what? Apparently it was changed in Japanese in the translation I saw, to say she was just doing great or something lol. It's a case where I can make sense of it in English as her being the best in a specific area can again give himself credit as the creator as he's intentionally supposed to but the word choice was poor. But every time I felt a line should've been changed a bit, the Japanese version had me covered. XD

Back to the point- it's also important to consider that he's praising her in this memo with the important preface of saying that Sage has been crucial to his survival in Cyber Space and listing the ways she has served him well. It's on the condition of him getting something out of it every time. And in memo 19 we know he wants to take pride in her skill and accomplishments and take credit as her creator, so any praise is self praise.

So I can't be mad at the game, I think even in moments that had some level of cuteness factor to appeal to those into that which certainly worked on them, there was established context that made it work and in character, enough to piece it together and understand it. But some people's minds go blank with the "aww so cute" reaction and desire for it to be simply pure and wholesome so they don't think about it any more to do so.

I've been learning to avoid it just by stepping back from fandom because I'm less interested the more I see the drama and bad takes. Now I only see things if I'm forcibly subjected through someone else putting it on my dash/it's recommended/etc. A large majority of fandom is anti canon and literally admit it so I feel like I don't belong in it as a huge fan of it that enjoys celebrating it in my fan creations and discussions.

It suffers from the simplification and sanitization that modern fandom tends to do now, so they can fit all characters and stories into certain boxes and use them as bases to project fan character traits and concepts onto instead of celebrating canon. It makes it more appealing and mainstream and easier to consume by the crowd that stuff succeeds in appealing to. It's to the point it replaces people's memory/idea of it.

So of course from the outside looking in especially, non fans are going to believe that's what the text actually contains, especially since they get exposure to the fandom's twisting of canon and it's drilled into their heads how to think and feel about it by them, before they've even seen the games themselves. Then they find it hard to shut that out and look at the games alone for what they are. That happened to me with Frontiers.

Then of course you have people acting like the series "is just for babies and inconsistent and not good anyway you shouldn't think too hard about it", as if Sega JP especially haven't shown themselves to be incredibly passionate about the stories and characters they write. It is supposed to be that deep lol. And thinking that deeply is a good thing, as if it's better than just shutting our minds off and consume product.

That's why I've allowed myself to think as deeply as I want about Frontiers. I love analyzing every moment and line down to the last word and detail. Regardless of opinion on the concepts and how they were executed, it was intended to be thought about. I don't think it should be considered micro analyzing and thinking too hard about something ever. I'm looking at it in ways official writers have described it to be anyway.

The mentality is popular so there isn't much pushback. Plus I'm starting to see it in both people who say they don't like the games and those who say they're fans so I feel alienated for wanting to think deeper and seeing there can be more than meets the eye with characters and scenes. While clarification can be important so things aren't misinterpreted quite as easily, it's nice for there to be stuff to think about.

Nobody really wants to debate and discuss now. A majority intentionally oppose learning more about the media or hearing out other people. They take the challenging of one's perspective or a disagreement as an argument and act like it's intended as hate from the other person when that's not the case. They're like "I don't want to change my opinion, nobody can convince me, let me enjoy things how I want", etc.

I myself was a bit ignorant at first on the topic of Frontiers. I was convinced I didn't like Eggman's portrayal but it was all based on what fandom was telling me it was and how to feel when the actual game was actually way different. When I finally took suggestions of new perspectives, then shut fandom out and focused solely on canon with my mind open and willing to analyze it again, I saw it in a new light and enjoyed it.

Now some certainly think I'm a low life nerd, as I've been told "it's nice to be a fan until it "becomes serious" and by people saying they don't care what I have to say as if I have to do exactly what they want- because it's bad to be passionate and wanting to think deeply about something I guess. :P I'd rather be doing that than shutting it down. Canon is cool, analysis is good, being passionate and thinking about stuff is fun.

You really hit the nail on the head with that. I've always enjoyed being open minded, analyzing media carefully, hearing out different perspectives, and having discussions. But I made the mistake myself at one point with Frontiers and I regret it because as soon as I realized I almost became what I was against and changed it for the better, it became a lot more enjoyable again. It's always good to stay open minded!

#dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #asks #my post #sonic frontiers

[isabeljkim]

hi!!! thnx for posting so much writing advice, very helpful to see from someone in the Business™️ :))) if you’re willing to spare some more, how do you find your way into a pov/story structure? do you know right away when you start drafting or do you try a few different approaches first? i feel like you’re very good at twisty/layered plots in a small space and i’d love to know how you get there <3

ya sure lets talk story structure!

so i do this v different for Long Things (novel :< ) and for Short Things, and btwn Short Things, its different for what i consider story (regular) and story (ah!). these are categories that only make sense in my brain but the functional difference is that story (regular) is a linear narrative and story (ah!) is when i try to do something weird because i feel like getting a little silly with it. so i guess the first thing i do personally is decide on whether the structure will be linear or experimental. and that's a decision i make kind of....just based on the story idea, and how i'm feeling? some things lend themselves better to disjoint, but that's really only something you can figure out through experience. i'd say its good to go in knowing whether you want to stick to tradition or stretch your wings.

i then just start drafting, and then i usually end up rewriting the opening a few different times - this is sometimes because i realize im telling the story from the wrong perspective, or in the wrong tense or the wrong person. i personally have a weakness for the second person and a dislike of the first person, and i have to actively keep myself from just going second person present when its not really necessary. usually when it clicks it clicks, but that might take a few different iterations. my advice here is that if you write and its not working, then take a break, think about it, and try from a different angle - a lot of the time its that you're telling the story from the wrong person's pov.

i then usually block out scenes - write out a couple words/sentences about what happens in the next xyz scenes, sometimes the ending... and then i just start writing, backtracking when things go wrong. usually i have a decent idea of where i'm going but about half of it gets thrown out while writing, and that's ok. that's just part of the process.

for twisty/layered plots, well, the secret is that i just have a tendency to make things hella convoluted when they honestly do not need to be, and that's just who i am as a person. but the other secret is that a layered plot in a small space is something you build retroactively. when you build a story, your grat advantage as the writer is that you can finish the story and then go back and scaffold the story. with a twisty plot in a small space, what you want to do is to create a single throughline and pepper it with additional details that snap into focus at the end, so that the reader can go back and re-read and realize "wait, this all was part of one narrative."

i think my best advice re: plot / story structure is that its necessary, but doesn't need to be complicated. in general, most things boil down to "guy wants something but cannot get it because of reasons" and "guy experiences something fucked that changes him." thats the foundation to build ur house on.

hope this helps lol idk if it does !!

[criminalmutantsins]

How I Would Write Jason in TOA?

Sorry if any of this feels disjointed. This is my first time doing a character and plot rewrite.

I think Jason had loads of potential to be a great character, but it was messed up in TBM. 

If you want more details, I wrote a post about my thoughts: https://www.tumblr.com/criminalmutantsins/698742446518091776/jason-grace-deserved-better-this-is-just-my?source=share

To add on to the post, I’ll explain what I would change. 

Jason and Piper are together in TBM, but there would be dialogue explaining how it was tough “starting over” their relationship(like Blood of Olympus very much hinted) and that they had to do individual soul searching before building a better foundation for their relationship. Piper would have doubts about their relationship and still question if Aphrodite and Hera’s interference is why they are together.

Piper’s father would still lose his money but earlier, so Piper would move back to Oklahoma. Jason would go back and forth between Camp Half-Blood, building plans for the shrines. They still communicate except as friends. This would give them time to individuate and learn more about themselves(they would be broken up). Piper would realize her bisexuality and become attracted to Shel. They date, but it only last for a few months because Piper still has feelings for Jason. Her doubts of the relationship are resolved; however, she waits so she doesn’t pressure Jason. Speaking of Jason, after working for months on the shrines, he wishes to take a break and start acting/doing things for himself(hang out with friends, relaxing, etc). Jason’s feelings for Piper are still the same and, after a while, he talks to her about it. They get back together with Jason going to Oklahoma to be closer to Piper and try living a regular life. This could be good representation on how relationships take a lot of work and time, but can be worth it when there is love and communication. 

By the time The Burning Maze starts, Jason and Piper have been together for a month and are a stronger team. However, Jason is having trouble adjusting to having a normal because of his sense of responsibility to be a leader and protector. Between the couple getting together and TBM, they find another entrance to the Labyrinth and Jason learns about the prophecy. Safe to say, he is really stressed.

Instead of the prophecy saying that either Jason or Piper would die, I would change it to either one having to make a great sacrifice. Jason would still fight Caligula. It would be monumental for Jason’s character, and a big fight. Jason would lose, though he would escape with the group with grievous injuries and would be out of commission for the rest of the book. These injuries would result in Jason being paralyzed from the waist down, sacrificing a big part of his identity- being a strong fighter, something he is mostly known for. Jason would have to learn to adjust to the change and further learn more about himself. Though, thanks to Leo’s skills and a battle-ready wheelchair, Jason can still fight, he decides to mostly stay in the sidelines and be a tactician.

#percy jackson #the blood of olympus #the trials of apollo #the burning maze #toa #hoo #pjo hoo toa #jason grace #piper mclean #leo valdez #caligula #character rewrite #rick riordan critical #rr crit #aphrodite #hera #greek gods #greek mythology #prophecy #rewrite #plot change #plot rewrite

[max1461]

In response to this post by @loving-n0t-heyting.

Well... I guess?

So I don't actually have as much of a dog in this fight as maybe I implied I did, and maybe it's ill-advised to get into this further, but I do kind of feel like this reply misses the point a little?

Right, I might be missing something, but I believe that models of FOL, and models of SOL in the standard semantics, and models of typed lambda calculus, and so on, are all defined in basically the same way? They are all special cases of a more general definition.

Like, I believe that given a first- or second-order language L with constants c_1,...,c_n, functions f_1,...,f_m, and relations R_1,...,R_k, the set of all terms and formulae of L (call this set A) is an example of a free partial algebra. This partial algebra is generated by the variables and the constants, under application of partial functions corresponding to f_1,...,f_m, R_1,...,R_k, the logical connectives, and ∀ and ∃. I might have missed one. Uh the terms of lambda calculus are generated in a similar way. And anyway, a model is just another partial algebra M in the same signature with a structure preserving map φ : A -> M (EDIT: actually, one for each variable assignment function) (EDIT 2: since the constants are part of the signature and A is free, any variable assignment functions automatically induces a structure preserving map A -> M. So a model is just another partial algebra M.). Uh and then we make some demands about the structure of M, like for FOL we force M to be the disjoint union of a set M' and {T, F}, where M' is the universe of the model as traditionally defied. And for lambda calculus we demand that M is the disjoint union of a universe M_t for each basic type t and (maximal) sets of ith order functions between the M_t.

Shit, I should actually work out all the details. I don't think this reply is going anywhere without that. I probably don't have time for that.

Right, the point is that I am pretty sure that all these different definitions of "model" are just special cases of the exact same thing. And the way we define models of simply typed lambda calculus with quantifiers exactly reduces to the way we define them for first- and second-order logic, if you just get rid of all the lambda terms and the stuff of highers types. Uh yeah. I'm like 90% certain this is true. But without working it out on paper I can't be sure. Consider this a beta thought.

Uh but Henkin semantics are not a special case of this. Because you need to fix a Henkin prestructure—the sets of higher-order functions are not maximal, like you're have some subset of M_t^{M_s} for types t and s, or whatever. It's a different thing.

But the point is like: this strikes me as the canonical way to define a model! Far from defining models this way specifically to get the results we want—which seems more like what Henkin semantics is doing, to get a nicer meta-theory—this is just, defining models like we define homomorphisms in algebra: there's one canonical way to do it, and if you do it a different way, that's the choice that students are going to ask for motivation for. Right?

But, yeah, I agree there is not a lot of mathematical content to this.

My point (that FOL is odd in various ways) would maybe have been better illustrated by talking about nonfirstorderable sentences, which I did mention in a reblog. I think it's difficult to deny, re: nonfirstorderability, the claim that "FOL is limited in certain ways by the topology of strings". Which is fine, FOL works fine, but it is weird. I am not sure what argument one could put forth to say that that is not a strange contingency for a logical system to have.

And, actually, this is directly related to the stuff about the Peano Axioms: because the axiom schema of induction in Peano Arithmetic includes one axiom for each first-order sentence, what is firstorderable directly determines what you can do induction to! And I claim that is... strange. That's really funky. That's very funky!

You don't actually need the whole of SOL to remedy this string thing, you can just allow trees of quantifiers or whatever. Various people may have looked into this.

But, no yeah actually, after having written this last bit I am slightly convinced again that there is a genuine (slight) odd thing going on here. Uh it's not just all trivial, motivated reworking of definitions as the linked post sort of implies. Well I don't know. It's late. Maybe I've made an error somewhere here; lord knows when I don't double check my math posts that can happen.

#math #navel gazing #but yeah none of this is like #of serious mathematical important #it's 、well、navel gazing

[henrysglock]

Hey, I know you do some movie analysis and one of the movies I recently watched is “The Good Son” which is on the inspo board. Spoilers, but the plot is literally about a “child psychopath” named Henry who murdered his infant brother in the backstory and in the story proper tries to murder his sister and especially hates his mother for catching on to his troubling behavior and for trying to have him institutionalized (so he tries to kill her in the climax but he dies himself after his mother concludes that he was born evil and the movie lands on that message). I am curious as to what yours and aemiron’s take on this is movie is because of how clearly this is inspiration for Vecna’s backstory and just how contradictory it’s messaging is to what you guys interpret/theorize about it. I’m on anon because I don’t want to get ostracized for even suggesting that Vecna was born evil (I disagree with that message but I’m being neutral on whether the duffers agree with me), and this is why I decided to just ask the experts.

Personally, I haven’t seen The Good Son, so I can’t speak in depth about that movie’s specifics.

However I think it’s important to remember that inspiration ≠ direct copy. We should also keep in mind that there are a multitude of contradictory plot points in Henry’s backstory.

For one: He physically could not have killed Alice (I’ve made this point several times across the past months). Alice was still clearly alive before Victor went into his trance. As we know from later in the season, given that it was a critical and heavily focused on part of Nancy’s plan: Vecna can’t do anything else while he’s trancing someone. Thus, Henry could not have killed Alice, since she was still alive when Victor enters his trance.

Point blank. He could not have killed Alice.

Second: He never says he despised his mother. He says his mother despised him. Very different things.

Third: There are a multitude of signs that Virginia was less than stellar as a mother (including but not limited to whatever the hell her bathtub vision was referring to [shudders] egh), but relatively few signs that Henry was anything but weird. Virginia was planning to ship Henry off to MARTIN BRENNER at a DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY MKULTRA LABORATORY. I mean, my god. Henry was twelve. Victor describes Henry as sensitive, the same way Joyce describes Will as sensitive.

Fourth: As I’ve detailed here:

Henry doesn’t meet any of the markers for conduct disorder (child psychopathy doesn’t exist, anon).

It’s also important to remember that the Duffers love a good twist…which is what I absolutely believe they’re setting us up for.

The Good Son feels more like an inspiration for this cover story to disguise the twist, if you ask me.

We’ve only been shown the briefest, most disjointed glimpse into Henry’s childhood. On the surface, before you actually study the scenes, it may seem like “oh he’s a psycho killer monster, that’s easy and simple”…But that’s NOT what Stranger Things has ever been about. It wasn’t like that for Billy, or El (who, for her age, has a FAR higher kill count than Henry at the same age), or any of them. Everyone is a product of their circumstances, and there are no innate monsters. Just people.

I mean this with all the kindness in the world: You have to actually watch what’s happening in the scenes, Anon. There’s a ton of shit that doesn’t add up.

You have to pull back the curtain, Anon. This is the “common interpretations aren’t the right ones” show. They literally tell you to look “too deep” in S1-3. Henry’s story is no different. Henry is not exempt.

#asks #henry creel #stranger things

[madness-in-the-flesh]

Prompt 99 with Deimos. Please.

this weirdly turned out kinda fluffy which was not my intention but.... y'know. Whoops I guess

Deimos Prompt Drabble

GENRE - Romantic

PROMPT - ” Say you love me! Please say you love me! It’s all I want to hear for the rest of my life! “ [ From this prompt list ]

TRIGGER WARNINGS - Drugging

Your chest rose and fell with every slow breath you took in my sleep. Deimos held you, staring up at the ceiling as his heart raced thinking of the words you spoke in your sleep.

Minutes ago you and your friend had been enjoying a drink he had prepared for you. One of your favourites and your heart skipped a beat at the fact he had. You two continued to talk until you began to feel a bit drowsy. Deimos eagerly watched you taking drinks in-between your conversation, His grin getting slightly bigger every time you took another sip. It tasted somewhat bitter, which was odd but you presumed that it was just because Deimos had made it.

You don't want to blame in on him, But blamed it on the bitter taste of the cigarettes he smoked and mistakenly maybe got into your drink. After all, there's not another way your drink had gotten more bitter. You trusted him enough to prepare your drink after all.

You continued with your chat, Deimos drinking his own drink. It was like every other conversation you had, Making the usual jokes and playful jabs about each other, Whether it was his nicotine addiction or your interest in

At one point, the two of you had been joking around which caused you to choke and spit taking over both yourself and him causing you both to freeze up. Locking and holding eye contact for a moment. The two of you took in the situation and that only made your two fits of the giggles. Deimos stood up, commenting he'd be back in a moment. Going to gather something to wash you up.

Equally so, you felt another wave of tiredness wash over you as you put the cup down. With a yawn, your eyes fluttered and stared at the sofa in front of you. It was like the world began to slow down and you were struggling to stay awake.

Consciousness was torn away slowly and closed your eyes one last time. You promised that you would only close your eyes for a few seconds but seconds quickly drifted into minutes as you fell asleep. Falling back onto the sofa with a " soft " thud. Drifting off to dream land.

When Deimos came back, He was happy to see the drug had finally kicked in. Scooting beside you along the sofa. He shifted you around until he had you facing him, Spooning you. Deimos stared down at you, Taking in every little detail as he fiddled with your face, whether it was playing with your hair or tracing his fingers across your jaw. He wanted every bit of you.

For the first time, he let an unknown tension go, Deimos placing small kisses on the back of your neck and cheek. He would treasure this moment for as long as he could, Until he could do it while you were conscious.

You stirred murmuring in your sleep but never waking up. Disjointed mumbled about whatever dream you were having was amusing. He'd laugh lightly as he listened in. Comments about silly things that only someone as gorgeous as you could dream about. He wonddered if you dreamt of him, He dreamt of you a lot. You consumed not only his every waking thought. His uncurious ones were filled with visions of the two of you together, In the most intimate and domestic situations. He envied his dream self for that. How could he have you but reality be so ruthless.

” Say you love me! Please say you love me! It’s all I want to hear for the rest of my life! “ He called to your unconscious form, Not entirely paying attention to his own words as he stared up at the ceiling. Thinking of the moments you shared in his fantasy land only to be pulled out by a new murmur from you, One that caught the smoker off guard.

" Love you " you whispered between breaths effortlessly, However... To you it had just been a sentence spoken in your dream. Not even knowing where or who those words were from. Nonetheless the storyline of your dream continued without you realizing the mistake you had made.

He stared in disbelief. It sounded... so genuine. This was almost proof that you loved him. His heart skipped a beat as he tried not to squirm but couldn't help himself, Unable to stay still thanks to the newfound joy. It fuelled him and smirked like an idiot as he played those words over and over again before peppering more kisses, rewarding your unconscious self for saying the one thing he wanted to hear for the longest time. It had set an unknown fire, Sparking his obsession only to get worse. It was almost encouraging it. You had to know what you were doing to him then if this is what you spoke back, even in your sleep. You had to love him back right? Yeah! That was the only option!

His head fell back as he continued to replay the words in his mind, Thinking of what he'd tell his best buddy Sanford about when he got back to him.

#madness combat #yandere madness combat #madness combat x reader #yandere madness combat x reader #deimos

[rylekayner]

pls tell me more abt jets punk au 👂👁️👁️👂

Wooo yes let’s go.

Ok so i’ve got a bunch of vague unconnected thoughts hence why I’ve been making my little drawing series instead of an actual fic so this is going to be very disjointed. I don’t know how long this may end up being so I’ll put it all bellow the cut :))

Mark and Connor meet at work, Mark is a tattoo apprentice and Connor is a piercer. Initially there’s a lot of tension between them, they’re opposite sides of the same coin.

Connor is an agitator and Mark’s uptight.

Half of Mark’s personality is that he’s completely straight edge and Connor used to sell drugs in high school.

Connor is a crowd killer, Mark is Mr pit etiquette.

It comes to a head when they both end up at a house show, Connor elbows Mark right in the face (genuinely by accident but to this day Mark doesn’t full believe him) and Adam drags them out side and tells them they need to get their shit together and either fuck or fight but just get it over with. Given Connor’s reputation Mark assumes he’s about to have to start throwing punches when he’s grabbed by his collar until he realised he’s being pulled in for a kiss.

They end up actually talking things out a realise they actually do a good job of rounding out each others harsher edges. Connor aggressiveness, and Marks elitist tendencies.

They still fight even 4 years into their relationship but they understand each other now much better than pretty much anyone else.

-

The band starts with Mark on guitar and vocals, Connor on drums with back up vocals and Troubs on bass. They end up adding Josh as lead guitar after his old band breaks up (not sure of the details with this one but I want Draisaitl in there somewhere cause I like the history between Jmo and Drai).

Troubs ends up leaving the band when he gets a “real job” in New York but he introduces the rest of the guys of Kyle as their new bassist.

Kyle would never admit it but he was terrified of Helle for the first couple of months, Connor has been in Winnipeg for years at this point but his reputation from the Michigan scene still haunts him and Kyle and heard stories. It’s almost hard to reconcile this version of Connor as the same one who’d allegedly set someone backyard on fire back in Michigan.

They end up bonding over making fun of Mark and Connor’s happy to have someone to smoke with again. Mark is still straight edge just less pretentious about it and Josh will do edibles but doesn’t like smoking so it’s been a while since Connor’s hand someone who will physically smoke with him. Once Kyle gets over his fear he has a little bit of hero worship going on which makes it very easy for Connor to convince him to get up to mischief.

This is going to end with mark/Connor/Kyle if I can help it.

-

Josh is a musical prodigy, he was in a metal band previously and has a crazy amount of skill with a guitar, mark thought he was being replaced when Troubs suggested recruiting him until Josh opened his mouth and they heard his excuse for singing (even for a punk band it was shocking) but he’s got a natural inclination to music in a way none of the other quite do. Together with Connor they write a majority of the bands songs.

He had a messy break up with Drai which caused his last band to fall apart and after that he mostly just focused on music and collage (he’s getting a masters in anthropology, they all thought it was a joke when he told them) but then there’s this new bouncer at Adams bar (Adam owns a dive bar sorry this is all very disjointed) and Josh is enamoured. Spoiler alert it’s Morgan who is not at all involved in the punk scene, he’s just new to Winnipeg and needed a job and now he’s at all of the gigs the play at Adam’s and Josh won’t talk to him because “he barely looks old enough to be in here”

Uhhh I think that’s it for the moment I’m on a lot of pain meds but if you wanna know anythjng in particular please ask I’m so excited to talk about this au the more I talk about it the easier it is for me when I eventually do write it

TL;DR

Mark: Straight Edge, Sings and Plays guitar, in a long term relationship with Helle

Connor: Shit stirer, plays drums, sometimes sings, writes a lot of the songs, in a long term relationship with Mark

Kyle: Newest member of the band, plays bass primarily but can play several other instruments, has something suspiciously flirty going on with Helle and Scheif

Josh: the most traditionally talented, plays guitar, is not allowed to sing under any circumstances, helps Helle with writing, had a nasty break up with Drai a few years back is now busy making heart eyes a Bear.

Morgan: Not really involved in the scene, just works as a bouncer for a lot of the gigs the boys play. Spends a lot of time day dreaming about Josh serenading him (only because he’s never hear josh sing)

#jets punk au #hockey rpf #asks

[heniareth]

Inquisitor as a Companion: Banter

MARELAS OF CLAN ELNORA (ORIGINALLY LAVELLAN)

From the template of dextronoms (original here)

Voice:

Marelas tends to speak quietly and gently, with his voice coming either from his chest or his throat. He enunciates clearly and his voice is warm. He can sing very well, but you will never get to hear it; he's too shy for that. Still, there is a rhythm and a tempo to the way he speaks. Sometimes, it sounds a bit like he's performing theater

Cole’s reflection on their thoughts:

Cole: "Cold, ice and darkness, whirling water all around. It pushes, pulls, presses into-"

Marelas: "Cole, please. This is not helping."

Cole: "It's alright. You don't have to fear the water forever. I can help."

Marelas: (gently) "You are speaking out loud, and dragging me back into that moment, Cole. That is not helping. It's quite violent, in fact."

Cole: "I... it is?

Marelas: "I understand that you didn’t mean to. But if you truly want to help someone, speak to them when you two are alone. Offer your help and detail the kind of help you want to give first. Then let them choose if they want to accept it or not. Don't just jump in."

Cole: "That is better?"

Marelas: "For the big hurts, it is. You can keep hiding the daggers of drunk soldiers, though."

Cole: "But the death I'm avoiding there is not a small hurt!"

Marelas: "That's true. But the help that you offer brings only a small hurt. Talking out loud about other people's painful memories and forcing them to accept help is a much bigger hurt than a lost dagger."

Cole: "I... don't know if I understand. But..."

Marelas: "You can feel our distress. You will learn which of the things you do to help cause more or less hurt. Keep an eye on that."

Cole: "Yes... I will."

Comment(s) on Mages:

(entreating) “Inquisitor, look closely. This is no camp. This is a refuge.”

“No food storage, no tents. Magic can make for warmth when the nights are cold, but these conditions are unlivable in even for a mage.”

Comment(s) on Templars:

(very faintly bitter) “They say mages are dangerous. Are they any better?”

(shocked) “They dragged this poor girl all the way here...”

When looking for something:

"What's that? Inquisitor, moment have a look around?"

"I think taking a closer look might get us something interesting."

When finding a campsite:

“This should do. What do you think?”

“It’s getting late. How about setting up camp?”

“My feet would appreciate some rest. Shall we set up camp?”

"If we make camp now, I might be able to finish that translation I was working on."

When the Inquisitor Falls:

“Inquisitor! Hold on!”

“Cover the Inquisitor!"

If he is friends with a non-elvhen Inquisitor:

"Stay with us, my friend!"

If he is friends with an elvhen Inquisitor:

"Rem syla, lethallin/lethallan!" (Hold on to life, my friend)

If he is in a romance with the Inquisitor:

"Ma vhenan! No!"

(frantic) "Stay awake! Stay awake!"

When they are low on health:

"I need help!"

(groaned) "Mythal las'halani." (Mythal, grant [me] help)

(whimper) "Falon'Din ulielas'el." (Falon'Din, have mercy)

(weak, disjointed) "Falon'Din, Lethanavir..." (beginning of a prayer for the dead to Falon'Din. The full translated prayer can be found here)

When they see a Dragon:

(quietly, in awe) "Mythal ulielas'el!"

"The dragons are just coming back, do we really have to... of course we have to."

When during their small side quest:

"Do we have a moment to take a closer look at this?"

(in quiet awe) "Look at these colors! The symbology! Just one minute, please!"

"I'm so close to figuring out the meaning of these symbols, I just need one more quick look."

Default saying (when you want to talk to them in Skyhold, how do they respond?):

"Hello, Inquisitor."

"Anything I can help with?"

"How are things going?"

"Inquisitor! How are you?"

If the Inquisitor is an elf:

"Aneth ara, amae'len." (Hello, fellow elf [one-who-i-recognize]. It's not a cheeky thing, it's just that lethallin/lethallan/lethallen seems to be reserved for friends and I wanted something similar but more geared towards acquanitances of coworkers)

When greeting a low-approval Inquisitor:

"One moment, please."

(polite, formal) "To what do I owe this visit?"

(hesitant) "I'm afraid I'm a bit busy..."

(undercurrent of fear or annoyance) "Something the matter?"

When greeting a friend:

"Hello, my friend."

(genuine) "It's good to see you."

(happy) "You found time to come by! How good."

If the Inquisitor is an elf:

(warmly) "Creators watch your path, lethallin/lethallan/lethallen."

If he is in a romance with the Inquisitor:

(softly) "Nehn'alas, ma vhenan." (You bring joy, my heart)

(happy) "Ma'latha. I missed you."

(cheeky) "Looking for me, vhenan?"

Travel Banter with Canon Companions of your choice:

Marelas: "Cassandra, I had a... well, actually, nevermind."

Cassandra: "What is it?"

Marelas: "I had a question, but I realize it's... highly likely to be insensitive. Apologies."

Cassandra: "I'm in a good mood. What was it about?"

Marelas: "Well... You believe the Maker has abandoned this world, yes?"

Cassandra: "You wish to know how we believe in an absent god? I thought your gods were absent as well."

Marelas: "They were banished. There is a difference between being forced to leave and leaving voluntarily."

Cassandra: "That we can agree on. But it's not true that the Maker abandoned us entirely. He still hears our prayers. He may grant you His favor."

Marelas: "You, individually?"

Cassandra: "Yes, like He did with Andraste, speaking in very general terms. Do your gods not prefer some individuals over others?"

Marelas: (Brief pause) "Individuals may prefer or fear one of the Creators over the other. But the Creators as a whole guide the People as a whole, as well as the individual people who make them up."

Cassandra: "And what if two elves are opposed to one another? Or two factions of your people?"

Marelas: (not quite sure where this is going) "Then one is in the wrong and one is in the right, although those two usually tend to blend and mix."

Cassandra: "Your Creators do not choose sides and show one greater favor?"

Marelas: "That depends what either side is fighting for."

Cassandra: "But one was right and one was wrong!"

Marelas: "As I said, those two tend to blend very heavily. And to state that the Creators are interested in right or wrong is not entirely true. It is... more complicated than that."

Friendship?: (what they call the PC if they are friends or the dialog)

"When I first arrived in Haven I had little hopes of finding a friendly face in the Inquisition. Thank you for taking me in. Thank you for trusting me. I am honored to call you my friend."

Leaving the Inquisition (what do they say or do if the approval is low enough for them to leave?):

Before they leave, Marelas will confront the Inquisitor, express his wish to leave and ask them if they will allow him to take his notes with him. Depending on the direction the conversation takes, there are several possible outcomes:

1) The Inquisitor doesn’t allow Marelas to take his research notes and convinces him to stay to keep an eye on how they are used. Marelas agrees, albeit reluctantly.

2) The Inquisitor allows Marelas to leave with his research notes. They part on more or less amiable terms.

3) The Inquisitor doesn’t allow Marelas to leave with his research OR doesn’t allow Marelas to leave at all. In this case, Marelas waits until the Inquisitor leaves, then packs as much of his research as he can carry and makes a run for it. The Inquisitor decides if they let him go or try to follow him. If they try to follow him, they will enter combat. The Inquisitor will defeat Marelas, and will have the opportunity to submit him to judgement. As a result of the judgement, the Inquisitor may a) execute him, b) imprison him, c) make him tranquil and have him work for the Inquisition or d) release him without his research notes.

If Marelas is executed or made tranquil, Hawen’s clan in the Exalted Plains disappears and the Inquisitor is unable to access Din’an Hanin if the area has remained unexplored.

If Marelas has been imprisoned, his Keeper will ask the Inquisitor to release Marelas to them in a war table mission. Josephine suggests asking the Dalish for something of value in return. Leliana advises to keep Marelas as leverage. Cullen argues that entering a potential conflict with the Dalish over one elf is not worth their time or resources and suggests to return Marelas without further conditions. Taking Josephine's route will garner the Inquisition a new and unique rune. Clan Elnora's Keeper states: "We value our knowledge, but one of the People will always take precedent. I trust this sharing of knowledge will keep our relationship amiable." This route will, however, also incur in a loss of approval with Haven's clan. The rewards for Cullen's route are the same as the one for Josephine's, but without the drawbacks. If Leliana's option is taken, a small group of Dalish elves will infiltrate Skyhold to try and free Marelas, and manage to escape with him. Clan Elnora denies any knowledge of the plan and Leliana's spies confirm that the group wasn't traveling back to clan Elnora. Leliana suspects this may be a smoke screen, but without further proof, the Inquisition's hands are tied.

If Marelas is made tranquil, a similar war table mission will be available. Josephine and Leliana will counsel the same approach. Cullen however will deem it too dangerous to give a Dalish clan access to a powerful enchanter and suggest placing Marelas under watch. If Josephine's route is chosen, the Inquisitor receives a powerful mage armor. The clan had made it for Marelas, to take on when he returned, but now he will never get to wear it. If Leliana's or Cullen's options are taken, a small group of Dalish elves tries to free Marelas, but fails. Both Marelas and the would-be liberators die in the ensuing scuffle.

#marelas lavellan #dai #dragon age #inquisitor as companion

[boypussydilf]

can i ask for your thoughts on keron society? i cannot stop thinking about this little nightmare planet

NIGHTMARE PLANET FOR REAL!!!!!! GOD!!!!!!!!

i work best with guiding/prompting questions so in the absence of those i will just ramble about shit until i cant recall any more of my thoughts so this might be strange and disjointed 👍

im obsessed w keron society so i keep an eye out for canon indications of What It’s Like so here’s my list of canon keron society trivia i remember off the top of my head: they have military training schools for elementary school age children. more specifically, they seem to have almost exclusively if not actually exclusively military training schools, i.e., i dont know if theres any mention of non-military schools of any kind and the way characters talk about it indicates that Military Training Schools are the schools everyone goes to by Default. In fact! overall! keron society seems to be built on the military, run by the military, and almost entirely comprised of the military. It’s not necessarily unusual for most of the keronians we meet to be part of the army since all of our Main Characters are part of the army and we’re therefore seeing the world From Their Perspective but uh. I think “join the army” is straight up the default, expected life path on keron and anything else is a noteworthy Deviation. My evidence: when putata first shows up giroro immediately assumes that he’s part of the army and asks for his rank even though like,. “being a keronian on earth” really does NOT automatically correlate to being there as part of the military, by that point we’ve at least met… Well, by that point i’m pretty sure we’ve at least met dororo’s mom, who as far as I can tell isn’t part of the keron army at least anymore, so you know………. Point IS: all signs I’ve noticed point to: Keron is founded on its military. The majority of its population is part of its military. It’s a military society. Fucked up right?

SPEAKING OF THE SHURARA CORPS. *GESTURES TO GIRURU AND DOKUKU* FUCKED UP RIGHT ??????????? I’ve already kind of forgotten the EXACT details as they go over them in the dokuku episode but context if any of my non-keroro followers are reading this heres how i remember it: (*resists the urge to go rewatch that part of the episode to double check*) giruru and dokuku are brothers, they were experimented on by, i believe, the fucking military again, and turned into A Liquid and A Gas respectively, and this is explicitly framed as “wow! fucked up! both of their lives were literally RUINED and they DO NOT WANT THIS”. HUH? Also what’s with dokuku being specifically called like the first gas keronian THEY MADE MORE? LIKE OF COURSE THEY MADE MORE BUT ??? UNETHICAL KERONIAN EXPERIMENTATION CANON.

SPEAKING OF THAT HEY WHATS UP WITH THE CLONING THING. No literally, what’s up with the cloning thing. The garuru platoon arc in the manga explains it pretty concisely, platoon commanders get their fucking DNA saved so that if they’re ever deemed unfit for command in any way by the Keron army they can be REPLACED WITH A CLONE OF THEMSELF and then DE-AGED TO A POINT IN THEIR LIFE LONG BEFORE THEY WERE CONSIDERED UNFIT TO COMMAND AND THE ORIGINAL IS PUT ASIDE AS PART OF THE RESERVE FORCES. The manga also says somewhere that keroro is the 315th. THE THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTEENTH K66 TYPE KERONIAN. HEY WHAT? GUYS ARE YOU GONNA ELABORATE ON THAT? NO? NO? I mean, maybe they do in some way. But probably not. I don’t know.

*falls to my knees and punches the floor* keron society is incredibly fucked up. I think literally everyone on that planet needs therapy. I also get the feeling that Planet “Every Single Person Born Here Is Going To Join Our Military While Still A Literal Child, Correct? Awesome!” does not have great resources for coping with any trauma or anything else induced by their military. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s FASCINATING. Studying the nightmare planet as a means to study the main characters. Studying the nightmare planet and desperately wishing we had more information about it. I want to watch this shitshow up close and in action. It’s bad. It is bad. Fucked up planet from hell. Dear God.

anyway this post is already long and i have to go soon but here’s a lightning round list of theories vaguely related to “the keroro of “back then”” and the question of how the Fuck sergeant procrastination-and-french-fries has been genuinely trusted with an entire platoon and the invasion of an entire planet

keroro puts his energy towards things he finds Fun and at one point he found being part of the army Fun enough to give it his full and genuine attention and earn a reputation as someone competent and capable before he stopped finding it particularly Fun and stopped really giving a shit or trying very hard. (aka, Keroro is Space Neurodivergent, which is true anyway)

there’s an episode of the anime where keroro’s dad saves the whole platoon, completely unknowingly, by complete accident, while also drunk off his ass. What if he’s always like that. Competent on accident. What if Keroro is also like that. He did a bunch of cool shit, but like, just kind of stumbled into it without meaning to or really realizing what he was doing.

Nepotism

I’m out of time. I should probably put this post under a readmore but i. won’t <3

#THANK YOUUUUUUJUU OMGGGGGGGG. #FEEL FREE TO ASK MORE QUESTIONS. #IM HAUNTED BY FREAK PLANET AND THE FREAKS IT PRODUCED #basilask #this is where if this was a p5 or dgs post id use one of my headcanons/theories/meta tags #but i dont have a tag for that kinda stuff for sgt frog yet …… #sad! #ok i made a tag to save meta/hcs/lore from my brain/etc #keron wa uchuu ichi… tabun #< based on sum1s tags on this post yay <3 #except using the japanese lyric bc ill remember the exact phrasing of that better than ill remember a translation #i love having super specific gimmicky organizational tags that half the time might just end up confusing people who aren’t me

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Mando season 3... sigh. Sadly, I'm beginning to lose interest. The story seems disjointed, and the production value feels like it's diminished in quality.

I'm having difficulty suspending my belief. For example, the location of the covert. It looks like they're in the middle of nowhere. There are dangerous beasts all over the place, so why are they still there? Why did they save those baby monsters if they're only going to turn into more dangerous predators? It looks like no one has a ship, so how are they getting supplies? Where are they getting gas to fire forge? Practicalities like these are knocking me out of the narrative.

Also, the fact that Favreau said there's no end in site concerns me because shows seem to lose quality over time when there isn't a plan. The words "jump the shark" come to mind.

I'll keep watching, but I miss being excited for a new episode to drop each week. In fact, I haven't watched the latest episode and am in no hurry to do so.

Hi Michelle!! 😀 I was so happy to see you pop up in my inbox! I hope you’re doing well, lovely!! Thanks for swinging by with this!!

I’m sorry that you’re not enjoying this season as much as the previous ones. It seems like you’re not alone - I have seen quite a few people expressing less than favorable opinions on what’s going on with s3 - but that’s still unfortunate, and I hope that the remaining episodes give you and others more to enjoy about it!

That being said, I’m actually really liking this season so far, which probably (maybe?) isn’t what you were expecting me to say, but here we are. 🤷🏻‍♀️

But let’s talk about the things you brought up. Going under the cut to avoid spoilers for anyone who doesn’t want to see them:

I’m gonna start by saying that I do agree that the production value feels a little diminished. I’m wondering if it’s because of bigger budgets on other SW shows (I’m thinking Andor & Ahsoka- which I have HIGH hopes for), and them banking on the fact that the Mandalorian series already has a large fan base. It doesn’t feel (to me at least) as diminished as the production value of BOBF felt (that low speed chase on 50s era mopeds was … a choice), but I’ll agree that it feels like a half step down from seasons 1 & 2.

The only thing I personally have had a hard time with as far as the storytelling/disjointedness goes, was the way that the Pershing episode was structured. It was 5 minutes of Din/Bo/Grogu, and then a whole chunk of Pershing and the least trustworthy character in all of star wars, and then another 6 minutes of Din/Bo/Grogu. I didn't hate that we got some info on what was going on on that side of things - I have theories about where they're going with Elia Kane and all of that, and they were strengthened by some details in the latest episode - but I wish they had structured the storytelling differently by sort of breaking it up and sprinkling it into the rest of the episodes.

As far as the covert being in the middle of nowhere goes, it’s entirely possible that at least one other Mando has a ship, and it’s hidden. I always assumed that their tunnels and caves on Nevarro were more expansive than what we ever actually saw - Din at one point says he’s not familiar with a certain section of them, which made me think they were LARGE and possibly even connected to other tunnels where a ship (or ships) that belongs to the covert might be kept for emergencies or just to use when needed. I also recall a line (when the covert was on Nevarro) about how living in the shadows means only one can go out at a time for secrecy and safety, and that made me think that it’s not just Din who comes and goes off world, that others do, too if or when they need to. It’s also possible that they had a pre-arranged backup plan, so they didn't all need to leave Nevarro together, they just had to find a way there even if it wasn't right away. But again this is all just what my brain came up with throughout the series, so I have no idea if it’s canonically correct.

The fact that there are so many dangerous beasts on that planet was probably one of the things that made it a desirable hideout - because no one in their right mind would try to settle Dino World, but Mandalorians aren't in their right minds so I get why they chose it from that perspective.

THE BABY MONSTERS!!!! Can I tell you that as soon as the mama went down I gasped and said "but the babies will die now!" And then as soon as they turned up back at the covert I was filled with relief like "oh, nevermind, they're going to be loved and cared for!" I love that they were "adopted" by the Mandalorians. For one, raising them from hatchlings will allow them to bond with the lil beasts and possibly even rely on them for battle backup like Boba did with the Rancor. Also? I just love the reiteration of how important adoption is to Mandalorians. It's a part of their belief system that they take care of any children that need taking care of, no matter who or what their parents were. "Mandalorian isn't a race, it's a Creed" extends even to beasties and I just think that's very sweet coming from a group of tin cans. (idk what the beasts are called. I've been calling them pterodactyls to fit the Dino World theme - I've seen articles and posts where people are calling them shriek hawks, but I'm pretty sure shriek hawks are smaller and have feeyethers. I could be wrong about that, though!)

*thanks, Dieter*

The "no end in sight" is admittedly concerning, but I'm choosing to believe they won't let it go beyond where it needs to. Depending on where this season ends, I think it could probably go one more. With all the tie-ins from the Clone Wars & Rebels series (which honestly, I know animation isn't everyone's jam, but Rebels was truly great, and there is a LOT of Mandalorian lore and history in that show, including stuff pertaining to the Darksaber, Bo-Katan, and Clan Vizsla, so if you're ever looking for something to watch I recommend it, or at least the episodes that concern Mandalore) that have been popping up, I'm hoping that Filoni will take good care of the rest of this story. My fingers are crossed.

I hope that you do keep watching, and I hope that you do find things to enjoy about it as it continues! I'm very much looking forward to the next episode.

Thank you again for dropping in! I know my response was probably different from what you were expecting, so I hope that's okay!

#thanks michelle! #cannedsoupsucks #cannedsoupsucks is an absolute gem #the mandalorian #the mandalorian season 3 #mando season 3 #the mandalorian spoilers #mando spoilers #din djarin #grogu djarin #bo katan kryze #the beasts! #my hot take is that i am enjoying this season #though i do acknowledge that it feels a little different than the first two #thank you for asking! #ask me anything