#i keep seeing this goddamn thread show up on my tl

[foureoreos]

#i keep seeing this goddamn thread show up on my tl #HAHAHA #lego ninjago #ninjago #ninjago cole #ninjago jay #ninjago zane #ninjago lloyd #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #text post #IDK I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY #i added red lobster bc SHDFGJKH #what other tags do i add #cole brookstone #jay walker #lloyd garmadon #uhhh #zane julien #ajgkbg

[chattegeorgiana]

It's 2021 & tbh I'm happy to see you still serving the truth. So many ppl hate Sakura it's rlly sad. I see hate for her from NH & SNS mostly about her "forcing" her feelings on others like she herself didnt realize that & was stuck trying the alleviate that be growing stronger as her main plot point. Her loss of development is 99% SP NH agenda. & honestly I still wish Sasuke got w/ NO ONE, not even Naruto. He wasnt good to anyone, even if he respected them. [1]

& in general I hate the idea that Sasuke HAD to end up w/ someone romantically to try find happiness & that person should have been Naruto/Sakura/etc. bc he COULD had a happy, content, redemption arc w/o a romantic partner. Not everything great in this world is driven by romantic companionship & Sasuke is honestly not cut out for it. I wish he had platonic healing & mending arcs, not this focus on finding the "right one" to bed with.

I will go down in my grave wishing Sasuke could be aromantic/asexual representation in a positive redemption arc of him making amends & fixing bonds w/o needing the "oh so powerful & miraculous" powers of romantic fixation.

__________________________________________________________

Well my parents taught me that a lie has short legs and it won’t last for long. And all you do is deceive yourself with lying so I took that lesson to the very heart through my upbringing and tried to stay as real as I can be. 

I’m the type of person who prefers a hard truth over a sweet lie any day. I have ruined relationships with people because of this way of being. Because I met people in my life that preferred to be sweet talked than told the cold truth.

I am not like that, so yeah.

Now, as for the Sakura hate... well, idk but I’ve also noticed a change in fandom support. Yes, she is still hated but the support for her grew over the years. I’m telling you, it’s one of the things I noticed from the very beginning as I came back to the fandom. 

But as I said in a thread on Twitter of mine, while I loved seeing that support, there are two factors that sadden me. 

1. The love is directed at Sakura Uchiha, not Sakura Haruno and 

 2. The fandom as a whole has become a lot similar to the other side of the fandom that used to bully us Sakura fans back in the day.

Of course, I am talking general aspects, I am sure that there are some particularities here and there. But sadly that's the truth. Which made me think about the following things. Are people really liking Sakura Haruno or Sakura Uchiha?

Because it makes me wonder... where was this love back when Sakura was getting her heroine status ripped? Where was it? Are you loving Sakura now just because she's married into the Uchiha clan? Because if so, that's just sad. And shallow. Like ppl used to call her.

And I know it might ruffle some jimmies, but it's the truth. It's an honest and pure observation, after being gone from the fandom for so long. Don't get me wrong, I love that she's loved and supported now, but I can't help but feel that she is because of the wrong reasons.

As for Sasuke, the problem is that the show rewards him with something that Naruto worked for.

We’re never really shown how he is sorry about all the misery he put everyone through.

People say that  ohhh, he was a victim. But wait. So was Naruto. He didn’t turn into that?

Not saying that what he did didn’t have an impact on him, but at the end of the day it boils down to CHOICE. Which Sasuke’s plot even is about. He CHOSE to go to Orochimaru. He CHOSE to kill Itachi. He CHOSE to destroy Konoha. HE CHOSE TO WANT TO KILL THE GOKAGE at the end!

And problem is that the plot doesn’t hold him accountable for that. And I will never shut up about how in other media authors don’t excuse the antagonist for his actions.

See FMA’s Scar. It’s the EXACT same thing. He had his clan murdered. Same thing. Genocide.

But do you see FMA’s plot excusing him for his actions like Naruto does? No, it doesn’t.

And I think that’s the core problem.

Like I always said: I have a love-hate relationship with Sasuke. I love the fact that he challenges the status quo, but I hate how he goes about it and how the story gives him a free pass.

Because it all feels hollow. Not to mention is a dangerous morale to leave behind. Especially to the newer generation of young adults who are shaping their character.

It’s sends a message that if you suffered, you get a free pass to do whatever shit you want cuz at the end of the day you get a free pass without having to work hard to get your atonement. 

That’s why I love the fight in Jujutsu Kaisen between Panda and Mechamaru. Mechamaru tries to victimize himself and find excuses for his actions, but Panda tells it like it is.

Just because you have suffered, it doesn’t give you the right to be an ass, basically.

As for Sakura and her development, yeah. Everyone acts like an ostrich and hide their heads in the ground pretending that it wasn’t because of SP’s favoritism and mischaracterization that Sakura wasn’t hated.

Well it was that exact same thing that made people hate her. Like I know at some point back in the day, SP had to excuse themselves that noo, they don’t hate Sakura.

Yeah right... Cuz that’s why they made an omake where she was jealous of Hinata and how Hinata was stealing the heroine status from her.

They were slowly inoculating this idea into the fandom’s perception.

And I remember how I used to tell people about it back in the day. SSers as well. 

Guys Sakura is gonna be sidelined because of this. She isn’t gonna be the heroine anymore. But did someone listen? Noo, they didn’t.

Because all they saw was the fact that I was a NaruSaku fan and to hell with me. Out of the fear of NaruSaku might potentially win, they preferred to just shut up.

And then guess what? TL came and they called Hinata the heroine of Naruto’s story.

And I was like lol, I goddamn told you so. But for you it was more important for NaruSaku to lose than Sakura keeping her status, right?

As for who Sasuke should’ve ended-up with? Well that is hard to tell. Ofc, personally due to my preference for symbolism and seeing the power balance, it would’ve been nice to see him paired-up with Karin.

Cuz I feel Karin had what it took to shake him up, cuz she didn’t take his BS. But that’s just me and I would’ve totally been okay with an arc like you proposed.

However, yeah, I don’t see him with Sakura at all , I’m sorry. As much as I would’ve liked to.

Hell, I should’ve been happy as a former SS. Yet I wasn’t.

But I guess this boils down to each person’s principles. And I know where mine lie. :)

#how do i even tag this? #it's so complicated #anti-sasuke uchiha #though it's not quite anti #it just is... #cuz this is a more complex thing

[spookyscientistskeleton-moved]

@dadster-and-skelesons​

I CANT PICK JUST ONE OKAY? THEY’RE ALL GREAT! IN THIS ESSAY I WILL TELL YOU WHAT I LOVE ABOUT ALL YOUR MUSES!

Let’s start with G-man. How do I love this man, let me count the fuckin’ ways! First we got his relationship with Sans. I’ve always wanted a dad figure for him that wasn’t my own Gaster. You gave me a great opportunity for that. I love all the varying degrees of the timelines for them. From a small kid growing up with chronic illness and his dad panicking over him, to full blown fights about his origin and learning the truth of where he came from, to the tragedy of watching his father get yoinked into the void. I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

AND DON’T GET ME FUCKING STARTED ON SWINGDINGS. Oh my God these wholesome struggling single dads in love just melts my fucking heart. I love how G takes a scientific approach to everything but is slowly starting to let things just naturally happen. I love how he’s helping Swap get over his trauma from his previous marriage. Even them getting to the point where the get engaged just kills me. And the whole wholesome goopy dads reuniting in the void together just alkfghsdflkjghsldkfj I LOVE IT *flips table*

Now we move on to Grillby. KLJDFGHLDFKJ I just- I love him so much. He’s so S O F T and just a good bean! His interactions with Sans just also make me melt, but this kinky mother fucker also makes Sans melt in more ways than one lmao; gentleman in the bar, freak in the bed lol. But seriously the way he takes care of others like Ebon during the time just after they’re sealed underground, to caring for his bf, to caring for those of the afterlife in our Dusttale AU just kill me. He’s such a good egg and I’m love.

Then we got Mr. Hot Shot Ferno who’s just a vulgar stink man fuck boi who Red would die for. He loves how sweet and adoring his totally not bf can be. I just love how caring and gentle he can be but also how absolutely gremlin this man can be. He’s the perfect balance of innuendos and class. Love this mans I swear. He’s gonna give Fell a goddamn bi-awakening. Fell would also die for him ngl

And lastly there’s Flambeau and omfg this southern bell little twink is an absolute fucking delight. He’s just a cute kinkster and Blue is like 100% here for that. He’s also just an absolute sweet heart when comforting Blue and I cannot wait for more interactions with this boi. Love him to pieces.

OSIDJFSODIJFSODFIJ WELL UM GOSH WHERE DO I EVEN START

I’m gonna have a lot to say in my inevitable essay to you but ahhh??? oh my god????? thank you?????? I’m so glad you like my assortment of many fire lads and also one (1) skeleton!!! And I realized partway through writing this that it was basically turning into my essay back to you so idk here we go!

I love Sans and Gaster’s relationship so much! G-man has very unique and interesting relationships with both his boys, and I think writing out how he is as a father was one of the things that really helped him blossom into his current characterization. I enjoy the way that their relationship is genuinely loving but complicated. Gaster sometimes struggles to understand what Sans is thinking or feeling, but he always tries, and Sans carries so many conflicting emotions on his shoulders but at the end of the day still just really loves his dad. It feels really genuine and realistic and I just like it a lot!

ALSO SWINGDINGS, I’m definitely getting into this when I write my post out to you, but their relationship is so endearing and just so!!! Charmingly WHOLESOME! You do such a great job with Swap, writing him as someone who’s been through so much but is still so kind and so gentle and just loves his family so much. I feel for G because it really just makes you fall in love with him. I’ve enjoyed seeing the sides of Swap that his and G’s budding romance has brought out of him, and I’m so HERE for Goopy Beach Wedding someday in the future.

Going back to Classic!!! I love me some OG UT Sans, and I love how you write him. His relationship with Grillby has been so sweet to write out, and with all the shit Sans has been through it’s been nice to see him just get to have some uncomplicated fun with somebody, whether it’s just cute flirting at the bar or wild kinky fun in Grillby’s apartment. And that just makes it hit all the harder when you start dipping into Dusttale shenanigans and the darker, more complicated elements of writing Classic boy. 

On that note HOLY MOLY I LOVE YOUR DUSTTALE THREADS SO MUCH???? If the fact that I made a whole-ass playlist for one damn thread wasn’t enough of an indicator lmao. Dusty has this very maliciously cold and cruel side to him that you do a good job of tempering with those moments of genuine grief and guilt, and it feels very much like he’s sort of... playing a role that he feels he has to in order to get this shit done, while also just finally letting loose all of that anger and frustration piled on from endless resets. The fact that I just keep making different Dusttale Grillbys to interact with Dusttale Sans is probably a sign of how much I love him and I am... I am a little sorry for that lmao.

Red!! Red is so great!! He and Ferno are a really interesting match in a lot of ways, and I love the way that they both sort of care for each other. Both of them have their unhealthy coping mechanisms, but they’re always right there to support each other through whatever they’re going through. I think what I love most about Red is something Ferno said in one post ages ago about why he loves Red--that he takes so much shit just all the time but he still cares so much about the people he loves. 

Which is... incidentally one thing I love about how you write Fell too, lmao, and the threads today were such a good example of that. He carries so much on his shoulders and puts up with so much, and of course it weighs on him but he can’t let that show. I can totally see why Ferno, meeting Fell at the lowest point in his life, ended up just so hardcore ride-or-die for him, and why he believes in him so damn much. I also kind of think this thing we’re backfilling with Ferno just having had it bad for Fell for years has been interesting to play around with just... across the board??? and I am so here for Fell’s bi awakening. 

And Blue!!!! Sweet little sugar skull!!! We haven’t done too much with him and Flambe yet but Blue is such a gosh darn cutiepie and I’m always happy to see him on my dash! I love all the threads you do with him, whether he’s fanboying over Napstabot or getting all kinds of fucked up on Orange’s edibles. Or getting hella kinky with Flambeau. 

tl;dr you are a DELIGHT and i am so happy we are FRIENDS!!!! <3

#nice things people say to me #long post /// #oh boy!!! it so long!!!!!! #submission

[amberenigma]

stream of consciousness thoughts on ( ovan’s ) will. and about graphics. this is your spoiler warning for volume 4: reconnection.

i spent too long last night playing gu for a hot second and now i have some Thoughts:tm: about plots, ovan, and the notion of will. enjoy some 2015 levels of rambling about objectively minuscule details. 

anyway literal toilet thought but the archives have a very interesting way of creating meaningful iconography using particular design elements of characters ( mainly the infinity eight ) and minimizing it to something both unique and recognizable. namely, the epitaph pattern icons used for each player in the archives---they’ve always been really neat, unique, and it’s been something that the cc2 team has always used in their archives since _02.

ovan’s has changed between trilogy/original gu and volume 4, which i always thought was pretty neat, especially in terms of what’s actually presented.

( but anyone with the book be like: okay but haseo has a different one too in volume 4!! and i say shshshshshshshh this came about purely because of unison skeith’s icon which uses haseo’s epitaph version since he’s.......you know.......skeith’s host. epitaph talk will come up later )

anyway excuse my 5 minute “slap a banner of images” but the difference here is obvious and i just have an appreciation for what it means with aida---mostly that aida was acknowledged and treated as a completely different entity, an anomaly that didn’t belong on ovan at all and depicted as such during the trilogy. but after kusabira fuses back with him as true neighbor ( which i always thought was a very interesting name to give tri-edge ), we get a spiffy new icon for big blue and wah-lah, aida is now cyan! YAAAA!!! whether or not ovan actually accepts her as part of him ( in which he at least seems reluctant in-game, not so much my main verse after 6 years of writing him lmao ) is rather up for debate, but here we can at least verify that she’s not there to be malicious per se ( but that doesn’t quite exclude her as a menace, see haseo’s “it’s kusabira, isn’t it. it’s that aida whispering in your ear.” ), and not to the extent of trying to completely fuck up his day. i found that slight change pretty interesting. this is where i get into the meat of what i wanted to talk about.

the notion of will in .hack---gu in particular.

but first i do wanna say that there’s this blaring fucking pothole when it comes to corbenik and the rebirth that i don’t know will ever be explained. like. if it’s a failsafe that was a one and done thing, then corbenik should have been......destroyed or severely damaged or something.....right...or at least that’s what kind of makes sense to me unless the product of the RA plan really makes epitaphs less prone to the crumbly wumblies like they were in imoq after being salvaged. although that doesn’t seem to be the case given unison skeith is a solid half corbenik/half skeith. it’s bothered me for years and canon doesn’t really lean one way or the other, it just is ( again, i’ve written something out for my corbi blog years ago and tl;dr ovan and azure kite go fish him out of the sea of data, put him together, but he lacks the ability to rebirth again--i need to tag that thread actually ). but maybe he’s never meant to truly disappear as his moniker implies. always coming back ( additionally fitting for ovan, but i digress ). 

will is an interesting concept in gu. and at least with ovan specifically, it’s a strangely powerful trait in him, which may be why part of why he has this sort of enigmatic sort of vibe to him to anyone---this notion of, “i don’t know what this guy wants, but whatever it is, he’ll get it one way or another.” and i think it may really be stronger than at first glance, pivotal almost. we see it twice in dire moments, even though he’s so, so tired.

the first ( and not chronologically, there’s obvious some other off-screen moments we can speculate, these are just two instances that come to mind clearly ) is with the fight with cubia in redemption, where 7 of the 8 are trying to break through ballsack cubia’s final AT field ( forgive me it looks like an AT field what can we expect from sadamoto okay ). yata says they can’t do it without “the epitaph of rebirth”, which always struck me as odd for quite awhile. what did he mean by epitaph of rebirth? didn’t haseo have all of the epitaph data in his pc? he data drained corbenik twice now, they should be okay, no?

but, yata wasn’t referring to corbenik specifically in this case. he was referring to ovan, and in that extension, corbenik as his epitaph. the remnant data skeith absorbed was essentially not enough in this case despite corbenik containing a metric fuckton of data between himself and aida. what skeith can’t devour is human will. ovan’s will.

in the archives, ovan’s specifically noted to have an extremely high mental resilience---it’s the primary trait that attracted corbenik in the first place when searching for a host. this could mean quite a few things, honestly, and taking into account what little of his past we actually know, it makes sense that his sense of direction is incredibly poignant, his will to be essentially unmatched ( although parallel to haseo’s in my opinion, just simply a different flavor ). the man’s just an absolute unit. it’s also noted that ovan didn’t really take into account the repercussions of activating the rebirth and purging the net, thus spawning our good friend cubia, so he truly was just ready to go sleep forever. paraphrasing aura here, the rest of the infinity eight’s praying for ovan to hear their collective voices ( admittedly it just boils down to ovan hearing haseo’s voice, gestures at lost files in the trilogy archives which is a hilarious conversation by the way; “leave me be, i’m tired. i just want to sleep.” ) is what gets him to muster up any remaining strength he has left to come help. 

it’s an interesting sequence of scenes with haseo’s cracked data just magically healing up once ovan enters the picture---his presence alone drives haseo. it’s his image and his voice that’s alongside haseo’s ( which is an interesting choice because it could have been all eight of them in this case ). his will is what catalyzes everything to it’s end, including himself. 

the second is the avatar fight with moralta, where haseo realizes that he can’t do it alone again---and ovan is still surprisingly able to put himself through that kind of strain despite being in the deep freeze for a year ( avatar and all! again! goddamn! ), combining into unison skeith and yeeting the shit out of giant slug baby once and for all. this particular encounter takes a different note compared to cubia considering we hear both of them synced up ( literally all of their dialogue is the same )---and beyond the fact this whole epilogue is about haseo and ovan, it really ends up being the sheer fact that it’s both of them together that overcome and stop moralta from fucking up [the world]. sheer will’s a strong motive for pretty much all of vol 4 though, so this is kinda expected. it’s haseo’s lament at the end that poses an interesting discussion---he couldn’t do it by himself again ( in this case he is referring to everyone as a whole as well before finding ovan, too ). for all of the power that he holds via skeith, kusabira, etc, he still needed ovan there to push to victory. i’ve always felt that was an interesting distinction the staff has made throughout the gu timeline ( in any retelling of it, actually ). even ovan has to let him know that it’s the fact he had a warband of support that got him that far in the first place despite the trauma ovan had pushed him through.

the series has been consistent about ovan’s ability to push things the extra mile, even for things that he may not personally want, even if there’s few people he’d undoubtedly be alongside. his involvement makes all of the difference, and that’s powerful in it’s own way ( he is the antihero after all ). we see the power ovan has by guiding the events of gu throughout all three volumes, but we really see just how strong he is when he’s actually on-screen the few times he’s there for more than 10 seconds. it’s kind of fucking insane such a laidback personality has that much influence on the outcome of incredibly dangerous/dire/important situations.

when he knows exactly what he wants, he knows exactly what makes people tick, and what makes the world around him change. ovan’s will is a terrifying weapon and it’s one of my favorite details about him. 

and last thing that just came to mind from playing around last night..

in one of the demo trailers, haseo’s monologue expresses the emotions he’s experienced throughout playing to that point---specific people embody specific emotions, and in ovan’s case, he’s associated with despair. despair drives ovan--haseo’s correct about that honestly even if the context of what he knows boils down to the fact ovan’s burdened with aida and saving his sister ( things we see in the archives explicitly point out that the indou parents are straight up dead ). this man has lost so much, is losing too much, and is on the brink of losing even more during the events of gu and it shows. despair is a powerful force, a reaction to the things one has experienced and an outlet for all of the things it can cause. a man with nothing left to lose is the most dangerous and the most powerful of them all even in silence---and somehow, somehow ovan has managed to keep his edge despite being on the brink of death himself in the real world. that’s fucking scary.

#( ╳┊ headcanon. ) #i guess?? i don't have a tag for whole ass rambles but this is a huge part of his character. #god i just [clenches fist] love ovan so much he's so [clenches other fist] shrimptresting......even after 10+ years.....

[shinneth]

subject to future deletion

Normally I wouldn’t resort to that and I might end up being too lazy to do it anyway, but between getting sick again, dealing with some very intense verbal abuse every day irl, and the monthly burdens of the gender, I’m really not in a good place right now and I need to vent something. 

It’s officially gotten bad enough to interfere with my ability to write, even though I’m at a point in my current story that I’ve been very eager to reach... and every step of the way I’m struggling to write it and I hate what I currently have and it’s taking everything in my current power to not just scrap it entirely. 

Basically, I think I’m failing as a writer.

The irl stuff is actually not what I’m gonna get into because it’s really nothing new and it’ll probably resolve itself, but the side-effect of suffering that kind of negativity is that it enhances lingering negative feelings you’ve had about other things.

Namely, things you do to get away from the pains of the real world. The things you do to have fun and get some enjoyment out of life, no matter how challenging it is to be in this thing because it’s so wrongfully derided and demonized by the majority of your peers.

I try to keep telling myself it’s just because I’m still relatively very new to the fandom compared to my contemporaries, but as I’m typing this right now and listening to my favorite wrestler Shelton Benjamin in an interview, immediately I see the pit I’m starting to fall into. 

Like, it’s uncanny. This is what he said as I started on the above paragraph:

“If I sit and constantly compare myself to other people’s successes, you would drive yourself crazy. Because no matter what, there’s always someone who’s gonna be more successful.”

“I need to remember where I come from; how far I’ve came.”

Basically, in the very small world of Stevidot (and to a lesser extent, SU’s fandom as a whole), despite my efforts, I feel very much like the Shelton Benjamin in a small, dedicated group of talented Stevidot content creators.

Which is to say, I’m basically a midcarder in the mix with a bunch of top-tier legends. Shelton graduated from the same group as some modern very well-known mainstream stars that I can easily associate with a very well-known and accomplished Stevidot contributor.

Shelton graduated with the likes of John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Dave Batista, and Randy Orton. At least half of those names should be at least vaguely familiar for my followers as most of them have had such great success that they’re known in avenues beyond wrestling (save for Randy Orton, but he’s well past outshined his father as a legendary wrestler who’ll never be forgotten). 

I could easily say Watcher is the John Cena of Stevidot, while Platon’s probably the Brock Lesnar... sinderella0069′s the Batista. But I honestly don’t feel like I’ve done enough (or stood out enough) to even be a Randy Orton for this pairing. I’d at least give that honor to Ig just for being so active with it on Tumblr despite the wave of hatred thrown her way (even though she’s shifted focus onto Stevinel now). 

Again, I keep trying to tell myself that it’s because I’m not even remotely as tenured in the fandom as any of them are. 

Then I see this said in a review on a very recently-made Stevidot story...

And said reviewer has not once ever left a review on any Stevidot story of mine. Not even a follow or a favorite or a goddamned kudos. Considering I currently have an actively-updated Stevidot story going on (and a two-shot that I just did last month), I highly doubt my stuff was just overlooked.

Now, is it true that Stevidot is hard to come by? Of course it is. But this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a fellow Stevidot fan lament about the lack of Stevidot content while completely disregarding anything I contribute.

I know there’s one that outright doesn’t like my content based on personal taste (nothing to do with Stevidot itself, just how I execute it). There’s another big-name who shows no interest whatsoever in reading what I have to offer - and at this point I feel that’s for the best, because I have a feeling they’d hate my execution as well. 

While I’ve always primarily written for myself, I also felt a great fulfillment for providing content for a niche crowd that really deserves more than what they have. I think Stevidot’s a fantastic pairing with tons of unexplored potential and should be much more readily available than it actually is. Even if I tend to not get many reviews, I keep track of the site traffic every day on my stories and I know for sure that there are people reading my stuff. Since I’m really bad at leaving reviews myself, I go out of my way not to whine about not having very many overall for my series since I’d be a huge-ass hypocrite to do so. 

However.

Statements like the the aforementioned review and statements I’ve seen elsewhere by those who I know are at least aware of me are like stakes through the heart.

Because it can only mean one thing: my content doesn’t count.

I’m honestly not sure which is worse for me; being critically panned for the stuff I’ve put my all into over the past year, or being treated like my stuff doesn’t even exist. 

I prided myself on contributing as much as I did for Stevidot over this past year. Quantity doesn’t = automatic quality, but I’ve got 20+ years of writing experience in, so even someone with a shit self-esteem like myself can’t just say I’m an objectively bad writer, because I’m not. 

But apparently it doesn’t matter that I put in over half a million worlds in the name of Stevidot to a good chunk of the very tiny Stevidot fanbase; according to them, my contributions are irrelevant.

Is it my fault?

One thing I will admit is a detriment to my particular brand of Stevidot is that, save for one story (which happens to be by far my most successful Stevidot story in terms of recognition numbers), the rest of my series follows a continuous narrative that greatly deviates from canon as of Change Your Mind. I’m also notoriously a very verbose kind of writer - I have the tl;dr curse something fierce. 

So all stories I’ve written since my main 3-act series (which ended up being nearly 200k in length on its own) have been direct sequels to that. Because of the heavy deviation from CYM, the environment of the following stories is very different and easy to get lost in if you skipped GA entirely. 

Because there are so many dangling threads and new opportunities to be had after GA ended, I basically committed myself to my AU.

It’s not like anyone else is going to explore these possibilities.

Beyond that, honestly, I just don’t want to rewire my brain back to the canon status quo - not after the shitloads of character development I’ve not only given Steven and Peridot, but nearly everyone at this point has had a moment or two of really intense character growth. 

I like having Peridot co-star with Steven. I like having her become a more competent and active teammate than she’s portrayed in canon (while still giving her comic relief moments). I like that I didn’t redeem the Diamonds and instead had them killed off to force our protagonists to deal with the fallout of the collapse of a mighty empire on a much grander scale than what’s going on in the actual show.

In a way, this AU of mine has helped me cope with the shortcomings of the show itself. I already went on a stupid tirade once about how the sadistic nature of my writing has basically made me no-sell whatever trauma Rebecca Sugar’s throwing on Steven and upsetting everyone else. I’m still fairly certain I’m still outdoing her in that department. 

And because 100% of my passion for creating Stevidot is through this narrative I weaved, I have no desire to leave it. 

So I’ll admit my stories aren’t exactly the most accessible to the average reader who hasn’t been following my work since Day 1. 

Then again... I first got into Sinderella’s series completely ass-backwards at first. I eventually read it in the proper order, and like many of the great Stevidot epics, it’s canon divergent from a much earlier point in the series, so it was very easy to get confused about why certain things happened differently at first... but ultimately, I wasn’t that bothered by it because I just wanted some good Stevidot. I’d figure out the finer details later. 

I really do owe this author more props than I’ve actually given - she’s one out of two readers I know for a fact have been following my series since the beginning without missing a beat. I’ll probably review her newest story sooner or later now that it’s complete. 

Not gonna lie, though... when I saw our numbers side-by-side like this:

Considering they’re very similar stories (Stevidot smuts that were originally meant to be one-shots), mine is over a month old and hers is only a few days old and there’s already that big of a gap in our numbers? 

It’s hard not to feel like a failure; like I did something horribly wrong to suck this bad by comparison. 

I really should stress that I bear no ill will against Sinderella or any Stevidot author; this isn’t a competition, so this isn’t a matter of popularity. I knew coming into this that I wouldn’t get popular overnight; especially not with such an unpopular ship being the focus of my story. 

But when other Stevidot stories get frequent reviewers that I’ve never seen once acknowledge my stories even passively, I can’t help but feel like I’ve massively fucked up somewhere. That despite all my efforts, I might as well be invisible. When they say “Oh, good thing your story is here! It’s been such a Stevidot drought around here until you came along!” to other authors after I’ve written half a million fucking words in under a year for this ship...

You know, is it unreasonable to feel that I utterly fucking failed in several ways? 

I guess it’s no wonder why I’m struggling to keep writing. I still want to - like I said, I’m at a part I’ve been eager to write for a while now - but ever since I started it, I’ve just hated almost all of what I have so far (almost 8k words). And I’m really having trouble trying to salvage it.

I’m honestly not the type who’d scrap all my progress and start from scratch once I’ve gotten this far in. But maybe I’ll have to make an exception this time, because I think I finally made the mistake of trying to write while being mentally and emotionally distraught.

I thought I’d calm down once I wrote all this out, but honestly, I’m not really feeling it. Now I’m wondering if I should have just reached out to someone instead of making this, because now I’ll come off as a whiner with my pansy-ass first-world problems. 

But then again, I’d be an asshole to subject anyone to my idiotic woes. 

Maybe this’ll pass. I’m hoping it’ll pass. I really, really really really don’t want to lose my drive to write again. I was used to it coming and going in short and random spurts for almost all my life - then it finally came to me and stayed with me just a little under a year ago, and I’ve been desperate not to let it go because I’ve been more productive now than I’ve ever been in my 20+ tenure as a writer. 

I don’t want this to go away. There’s still so much more I want to tell. 

But then my logic goes... if you tell the story and no one’s there to hear it, is it ever really told?

#irl shit #stevidot #fanfiction #writing #self-esteem issues #self-worth issues #a cry for help #or therapy #or something #I probably shouldn't have made this #where did i go wrong

[sigmalied]

Sig’s Anthem Review

Verdict

BioWare’s Anthem is a genuinely fun and engaging experience that sabotages itself with myriad design, balance, and technical oversights and issues. It is a delicious cake that has been prematurely removed from the developmental oven - full of potential but unfit for general consumption in this wobbly state. Anthem is not a messianic addition to the limited pantheon of looter shooters because it has somehow failed to learn from the well-publicized mistakes of its predecessors. 

Am I having fun playing Anthem? Absolutely. Does it deserve the industry’s lukewarm scores? Absolutely. But this is something of a special case. The live service model giveth and taketh away; we receive flexibility in exchange for certainty. Is Anthem going to be the same game six months from now? Its core DNA will always be the same, but we’ve already begun to see swift improvements that bode well for the future. 

Will my opinion matter to you? It depends. When I first got into looter shooters I was shocked at how much the genre clicked with me. They are a wonderful playground for theory crafters, min/maxers, and mathletes like myself who find incomparable joy in optimizing builds both conventional and experimental by pushing the limits of obtainable resources ad infinitum. The end game grind is long and at times challenging as you make the jump to Grandmaster 1+ difficulty in search of top-tier loot to perfect your build. This is what looter shooters are all about.

If you don’t like the sound of that, you’ll probably drop Anthem right after finishing its campaign. But if you do like the sound of that, you might find yourself playing this game for years.

TL;DR: This game is serious fun, but is also in need of some serious Game & UI Design 101. 

I wrote a lot more about individual aspects of the game beneath the read more, if you’re interested. I’ve decided not to give the game a score, I’m just here to discuss it after playing through the campaign and spending a few days grinding elder game activities. There are no spoilers here.

Gameplay

The Javelins are delightful. I’ve played all four of them extensively and despite identifying as a Colossus main I cannot definitively attach myself to one class of Javelin because they’re all so uniquely fun to play and master. Best of all, they’re miraculously balanced. I’ve been able to hold my own with every Javelin in Grandmaster 1+. Of course, some Javelins are harder to get the hang of than others. Storms don’t face the steep learning curve Interceptors do, but placed in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, both are equally as destructive on the battlefield. 

I love the combo system. It is viscerally satisfying to trigger a combo, hearing that sound effect ring, and seeing your enemy’s health bar melt. Gunplay finally gets fun and interesting when you start obtaining Masterworks, and from there, it’s like playing a whole new game. 

Mission objectives are fairly bland and repetitive, but the gameplay is so fun I don’t even mind. Collect this, find that, go here, whatever. I get to fly around and blow up enemies while doing it, and that’s what matters. Objectives could be better, certainly. Interesting objectives are vital in game design because they disguise the core repetitive gameplay loop as something fresh, but the loop on its own stays fresh long enough to break even, I feel.

The best part is build flexibility. Want to be a sniper build cutting boss health bars in half with one shot? I’ve seen it. Want to be a near-immortal Colossus wrecking ball who heals every time you mow down an enemy? You can. There are so many possibilities here. Every day I come across a new crazy idea someone’s come up with. This is an excellent game for build crafters. 

But... why in the world are there so few cosmetic choices? A single armor set for each Javelin outside the Vanity store? A core component of looter shooters has always been endgame fashion, and on this front, BioWare barely delivers and only evades the worst criticism by providing quality Javelin customization in the way of coloring, materials, and keeping power level and aesthetics divorced. We’re being drip-fed through the Vanity store, and while I like the Vanity store’s model, there should have been more things permanently available for purchase through the Forge. Everyone looks the same out there! Where’s the variety? 

Story, Characters, World

Anyone expecting a looter shooter like Anthem to feature a Mass Effect or Dragon Age -sized epic is out of their mind, but that doesn’t mean we have to judge the storytelling in a vacuum. This is BioWare after all. Even a campaign that flows more like a short story - as is the case with Anthem - should aspire to the quality of previous games from the studio. Unfortunately, it does not, but it comes close by merit of narrative ambience: the characters, the world’s lore, and their execution. 

(For a long time I’ve had a theory that world building is what made the original Mass Effect great, not its critical storyline, which was basically a Star Trek movie at best. Fans fell in love because there were interesting people to talk to, complicated politics to grasp, and moral decisions to make along the way.)

While the main storyline of Anthem is lackluster and makes one roll their eyes at certain moments or bad lines, the world is immediately intriguing. Within Fort Tarsis, sophisticated technology is readily available while society simultaneously feels antiquated, echoing a temporal purgatory consistent with the Anthem’s ability to alter space-time. Outside the fort, massive pieces of ancient machinery are embedded within dense jungles in a way that suggests the mechanical predates nature itself. The theme of sound is everywhere. Silencing relics, cyphers hearing the Anthem, delivering echoes to giant subwoofers… It’s a fun world, it really is. 

As for the characters… they might be some of the best from BioWare. They feel like real people. Rarely are they caricatures of one defining trait, but people with complex motives and emotions. Some conversations were boring, but the vast majority of the time I found myself racing off to talk to NPCs as soon as I saw yellow speech bubbles on the map after a mission. And don’t even get me started on the performances. They are golden.

The biggest issue with the story is that it’s not well integrated with missions. At times it feels like you’re playing two separate games: Fort Tarsis Walking/Talking Simulator and Anthem Looter Shooter. And the sole threads keeping these halves stitched together during missions - radio chatter - takes a back seat if you’re playing with randoms who rush ahead and cause dialogue to skip, or with friends who won’t shut the hell up so you can listen or read subtitles without distraction. I found it ironic that I soloed most of the critical story missions in a game that heavily encourages team play.

Technical Aspects: UI & Design 

This is where Anthem has some major problems. God, this category alone is probably what gained the ire of most reviewers. The UI is terrible and confusing. There are extra menu tabs where they aren’t needed. The placement of Settings is for some inane reason not located under the Options button (PS4). Excuse me? It’s so difficult to navigate and find what you’re looking for. It’s ridiculously unintuitive.  

Weapon inscriptions (stat bonuses) are vague and I’ve even seen double negatives once or twice. They come off as though no one bothered to proofread or edit anything for clarity. Just a bad job here all around. And to make matters worse, there is no character stat sheet to help us demystify any of the bizarre stat descriptions. We are currently using goddamn spreadsheets like animals. Just awful. 

The list goes on. No waypoints in Freeplay. Countless crashes, rubber banding, audio cutouts, player characters being invisible in vital cutscenes, tethering warnings completely obscuring the flight overheat meter… Fucking yikes. Wading through this swamp of bugs and poor design has been grueling to say the least. 

And now for the loot issues. Dead inscriptions on gear; and by dead I mean dead, as in “this pistol does +25% shotgun damage” dead (this has been recently patched but I still cannot believe this sort of thing made it to release). The entire concept of the Luck stat (chance to drop higher quality loot) resulting in Luck builds who drop like flies in combat and become a burden for the rest of the team. Diminishing returns in Grandmaster 2 and 3; it takes so long to clear missions on these difficulties without significant loot improvement, making GM2 and GM3 pointless when you could be grinding GM1 missions twice as fast. 

At level 30, any loot quality below Epic is literal trash. Delete Commons, Uncommons, and most Rares as soon as you get them because they’re virtually useless. I have hundreds of Common and Uncommon embers and nothing to do with them. Why can’t we convert 5 embers into 1 of the next higher tier? Other looters have already done things like this to make progression omnipresent. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here, BioWare. It’s already been done for you. 

When you get a good roll on loot, the satisfaction is immense. But when you don’t, and you won’t 95% of the time, you’ll feel like you’ve wasted hours with nothing to show for it. We shouldn’t be spending so much time hunting for useful things, we should be trying to perfect what’s already useful.

It’s just baffling to think that Anthem had the luxury of watching the messy release of several other looter shooters during Anthem’s development, yet proceed to make the same mistakes, and some even worse. 

Nothing needs to be said about visuals. They are stunning, even from my perspective on a base PS4.

Sound design is the only other redeeming subcategory here. Sound design is amazing, like the OST. Traditional instrumentals meet alien synth seamlessly. Sarah Schachner is a seriously talented composer. 

I’m just relieved to see the development team hauling ass to make adjustments. They’ve really been on top of it - the speed and transparency of fixes has been top-notch. They’re even working on free DLC already! A new region, more performances from the actors... I’m excited and hopeful for the future. 

#siganthem

[hellsbovnd-archive]

I did a lot of screencaps today so I tossed them into queue! And by ‘a lot’ I mean like... 10... They’ll post throughout the day tomorrow. I only managed to get through Percival, Wren, and one Leon screencap before I got pulled to do other things, but I wanna get some of Jan and Rose too at some point! (Rose needs non-armor glamz tho and I know I do want to do a shoot of Jan in ‘uniform’ at some point)

And some 3am thoughts below the cut because why not. (Also I’m hungry again.)

I have been thinking a lot about Leon lately.

I’ve played the same character, more or less, for what will be three years this July, though Leon’s been a concept I bounced around in my head for about a year before that when my main was still on Malboro. (Malboro friends may vaguely remember a beta!Leon who was actually an arcanist with the guild, who was meek and shy and who was easily intimidated into giving information; this arcanist concept would eventually be merged into a journalist-with-the-echo character concept I also had at the time, and would then go on to pick up crime shit later when I started Ebonguard to spite everyone who said it couldn’t be done.)

And in those three years, he hasn’t changed a whole lot? He got nabbed into a relationship early which has provided me endless hours and innumerable sessions of entertainment (you want angst? We got angst. You want fluff? They do that too. Sit down for six hours and Just Go; what happens next may blow your fucking mind) and he wound up in positions of leadership as a result of my OOC circumstances. But that’s kind of it. 

I tried running a character arc for him once upon a time, but it didn’t do super well and I ended up cancelling it (it’s now existing in a weird space both within and outside of canon events; I can’t decide what I want to do with it since it was never completed and I don’t RP with/Don’t Fucking Like any of the participants save like 2?? anymore).

In the time between then and now I’ve done a lot of DMing but that kinda forced me to sideline Leon or make him into more of a “taskmaster” character, who while IC present for the events that unfold around the party, never really acts to affect them, because as a DM I personally feel like it’s bad form to make a scene all about my character, or to take away player agency in any way and make it so that only I have the power to actually push the plot forward. I know that on the exceedingly rare occasion that I get to be a player, that kind of stuff makes me tune out.....really fucking quickly.

So as a result I haven’t really spent most of that time actually playing my character, and as it just so happens the overwhelming majority of the people I have DMed for have pretty much just used me for my DMing skills.... Cuz they didn’t wanna do it, but they also didn’t actually give a goddamn about me as a person, lmao. Which, yeah, I can tell a story--it’s pretty much my only marketable skill on this hell of an earth, and I like telling stories, but going through all that effort, creating a narrative, making NPCs, writing “lore” on magical artifacts, scheduling and running events, logging them, tying them together and keeping track of the party’s progress neglecting the character I actually play in order to tell these stories for other people, only to have them spit in my face the instant they feel I’ve outlived my usefulness, y’know, fucking sucks.

And there’s still more to do. There’s never nothing to do. I need to organize two plots for Ebonguard, one of which requires outside collaborators--I need to slide coords/officers some incentive to help me solicit for Modus I think, but there’s also another pretty big plot that we have in the oven that I’m kicking off... Oh shit, today. I have no plans. The plan will reveal itself as I do it, I guess. I wanna organize some RP for INK too, we’re all kind of in pre-expac lull mode and we all have like seventy billion alts now including a small gaggle of disaster Garleans. I have been kind of neglecting INK lately. I pitched the idea of running Leon’s character arc as an INK plot to positive responses but then I got ahead of myself and kicked off Jan’s character arc like an idiot. I love playing Jan and I’m very excited for his story, but he’s hot out of the oven and Leon needs it more. But I hate FC leads who make shit about their character on principle, so I don’t wanna do more than one character arc at a time.

I have basically no motivation or reason to actually play Leon. I love his concept and I will always love his concept, and he’s going to stay my main because uh, I’m poor and I’m also not levelling everything again if I don’t have to. It’s not a problem with his core concept so much as, I guess, the fact that nothing has happened to really challenge him since I started playing him. Modus Operandi will change that obviously but I’m probably going to end up the primary DM there anyway if I don’t get lucky with collaborators, but without characters around him that give a damn that doesn’t really even mean anything anyway? He has basically zero meaningful RP connections, he’s overshadowed by pretty much the entirety of my cast of myriad alts at this point, and when I play him I don’t really get to play him anyway. And when I DM there’s like a 50/50 shot that people will just spit in my face 6mo down the line and tell me they’re doing me a favor. His first best friend rerolled and his second one turned out to be a massive PoS OOC so yeet.

idk. I love DMing and story-telling, I love INK, I love Ebonguard which has treated me incredibly well for the past 2 3/4 years, I love Ed and the scant few RP partners I do have on Leon, and I’m really excited for Big Plans, but running all of them once, and all of them for the most part entirely solo until very very recently when Ebonguard got coordinators and INK got officers (kiiind of?), and even now like 50% solo, and at times running them in parallel with each other, has really put a damper on my ability to enjoy writing Leon. I love Leon, but I look back at 3ish years of RP and see I have absolutely nothing to show for it. None of the plot threads I wanted to explore were ever explored, and there were times I had RP partners who actively tried to get rid of the threads by solving them with some handwave that Leon never earned. His character, apart from some bits and bobs that he picked up along the way, is exactly the same as it was on July 3rd, 2016.

I’m semi-considering a soft reset; major beats of his story staying the same (relationship with Edda, role as Crow, leader of Alizarine) while erasing everything else which, granted, because roughly half of all the RP partners I have ever had have turned out to be absolute shitstains (terfs, etc) is not actually a whole lot to erase, because a lot was already retconned anyway. But I dunno if that would actually fix anything.

tl;dr 

#ooc ( player speaking ) #[ wow this got long ] #[ i just needed to vent abt leon a little ]

[tanzani-coil]

gHANITH PLEASEEEE

yOU’RE THE BEST AAHHH OK

who hogs the duvettanith. you’ll find her in the morning with it wrapped around her, however when she wakes up she’ll always rearrange it so its draping over ghastly too and he’ll wake up for a few seconds to see it and he’ll smile and cuddle her and fall back to sleep again with them both under the covers

who texts/rings to check how their day is goingghASTLY. WITHOUT A DOUBT. i feel as though his average day is a bit less action packed than taniths, so he always has the time to check up on her - and if he doesnt have the time, he MAKES the time (you’ll find tipstaff grumbling about it somewhere)who’s the most creative when it comes to giftsi feel as though ghastly isn’t really into presents much, i mean being 400+ years old i can imagine coming up with presents got a bit old after the first century. and tanith i think on her jobs and journeys comes across like, not ‘gifts’ as such but little knick knacks and thingymabobs that she’ll know ghastly would just LOVE who gets up first in the morningghastly I think has settled into an (unhealthy) routine of going to bed at silly o’clock in the morning after really getting into something he was sewing, but then waking up quite early to start another working day. tanith usually stays up with him, sitting in the back room of his shop with him, both listening to ghastly’s blues playlist while he works, and then both of them going up to bed together at the same time. you wont see her out of bed any time before 9am, though (ghastly always makes her tea in the morning, regardless of whether shes likely to fall back to sleep again and never drink it)who suggests new things in bedyou’d think tanith, being the younger, more experienced one would be bringing new things into the bedroom but my god ghastlys has way more kinks than given credit for and taniths not complaining eitherwho cries at moviesman………… i feel like generally tanith does and as much as she’ll try to hide it ghastly always knowswho gives unprompted massagesTANITH. she’ll come in to the back room of the shop from the kitchen, cup of tea in hand for ghastly, she’ll look at what he’s working on and smile, see that he’s clearly been hunched over it for hours and massage his shoulder muscles. completely unasked for, but ghastly appreciates it all the same. she’ll always peck him on the cheek before leaving toowho fusses over the other when they’re sickghASTLY IS SO OVER TANITH’S HERO COMPLEX. HE DOESNT CARE HOW LONG AND FIERCELY SHE DEFENDS THAT SHE ISNT SICK. HE’LL STILL WRAP HER UP IN BLANKETS AND GIVE HER TEA WITH HONEY IN IT AND MEDICINE AND “STOP BLOODY MOTHERING ME” DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO STOP IT. who gets jealous easiestaight, so like…. i’m gonna struggle to word this but bear with me. (also im really sorry) so like, in mortal coil when erskine is flirting with tanith we clearly see that ghastly got kinda down about it, but i dont think its jealousy?? its more of, whenever someone whos just that much better looking and that much better at everything than ghastly is comes along, ghastly sort of sinks into an instantly hopeless, acceptance and almost numb state and he just sort of gives up at whatever hes talking about, whatever hes doing. because thats just what hes been conditioned to do. 400+ years of constant rejection ALL THE TIME?? hes just learnt that the second someone better comes along, whatever chance he had is gone. the conversation he was having with someone is instantly cut short, and ghastly just doesnt exist anymore. completely invisible. every. time. so i think that rather than getting jealous about it he’s learnt to give up, and i think that it took tanith years to uncondition that response out of him because she’ll never, ever cut him off for someone else, and she’s sure as hell not going anywhere, so?? and everyone can see the transformation too. aight sorry i went on a tangent there but my point is, ghastly doesnt get jealous. tANITH. HOWEVER. MY GOD. when tanith gets jealous she doesnt just get jealous she gets jEALOUS. it takes tanith every ounce of will power not to get snappy defensive and the so, so unnecessary staring-downs. valkyrie never lets it slide and always finds it really, really funny (especially because its so bloody obvious that the jealousy is completely irrational because this is ghastly we’re on about)who has the most embarrassing taste in musicghastly has quite a solid, sensible mature playlist for when hes working or relaxing but tanith is like………….. look its tanith ok who collects something unusualtanith collects thingymabobs from where ever she’s at, but… she sort of leaves them all around the house. the conversations at this point aren’t even questionable anymore. “ghastly don’t suppose you’ve seen my demon-baby tooth anywhere?” “top shelf on the right, next to your brain muncher book.” “aight thanks.”who takes the longest to get readytanith, being brought up as a hidden blade, can be fully awake and ready to kill someone within 0.5 seconds of waking up. she can pull a tank top on, slip on trousers and boots and ready to go within two minutes. ghastly? god no getting ready is no joke he didnt make his own clothes only to look like an uninformed peasant with them on, no. he doesnt joke around when getting ready plzwho is the most tidy and organisedghastly. every bit of thread and fabric is organised by type and then category and then colour and then and then. he’s often found himself glancing up from whatever hes looking at to find tanith gazing at the walls of his shop, almost lost in the fabric - not that he’ll ever tell tanith thatwho gets most excited about the holidaystanith doesnt get batshit crazy but she’s gotten ghastly into celebrating christmas at least a tiny bit, even if it means just taking him out to a bar and taking shots its still fun y’know? better she figures than staying in and working.who is the big spoon/little spoonghastly is absolutely the big spoon, always wrapping his strong arms around tanith, keeping her warm. he tends to tuck his head into the crook of her neck, too. tanith doesnt even try to hide how much she loves itwho gets most competitive when playing games and/or sportstanith which i feel is p obvious we all know how she is when fighting. she has a secret love for board games and WILL NOT. LET. ANYONE. LEAVE WITHOUT FINISHING MONOPOLY. GODDAMN YOU’RE NOT HERE TO BE WEAK AND LEAVE HALF WAY THROUGH OK SHE’S HERE TO RIDE OUT THAT GAME TILL THE VERY ENDwho starts the most arguments….. um. oh man, ok. so like??? look tanith doesnt like authority and ghastly is stubborn as hell and arguments like… idk how to word it, i guess tanith can let an edge creep into her voice when she brings up the fact he is/was an elder and ghastly notices it every time and things get a bit tense and uncomfortable for a while but they let it go every time. i saw a post on here about how ghanith hardly argue and i 100% agree w that tbhwho suggests that they buy a petit was all valkyries fault. bringing back that gigantic german shepherd from america got tanith talking and now she wants a pet because shes fallen in love with this dog and she wants a pet but?? dogs are a lot of work and ghastly and tanith just dont have the lifestyle to take care of one, both of them being busy and flexible in when and how they work. thats when tanith sorta realises that a CAT, HOWEVER, (bECAUSE I’VE SEEN THAT POST SOMEONE DID ABOUT GHASTLY HAVING CATS AND!!!!!!!!!!! 10000% AGREE) would still be a pet of their own but independent enough to be ok with being on their own for periods of time and the cat will find its way into ghastlys work room and surprise him by either rubbing itself against his legs or actually jumping up onto his work space and then climb onto his hunched shoulders while he works. he grumbles about it and complains that theres cat hair everywhere but he wouldnt change it for the world. whenever tanith walks in the cat always greets her and she loves it.what couple traditions they havesteak is Their Thing™. ‘nuff said.what tv shows they watch togetherghastly kept going on about this tv show which tackles everything hes passionate about and it pin points exactly what goes on in work spaces which is pretty much fucking around 90% of the time and he has all of its seasons recorded on his tv recorder which he still hasnt gotten round to watching it all and finally tanith is curious enough to see what this amazing show really is like and she ended up falling in love with brooklyn nine nine really, really fast. and rosa diaz. big crush on rosa diaz from tanith.what other couple they hang out withvaldug naturallyhow they spend time together as a couplesee what I adore about their relationship is that it was p much built on the two of them just being so, so ridiculously comfortable in each others company and talking to each other for hours on end and just sort of being there for each other, and i think that (besides from hardcore sexy times obviously) they love to spend time doing their own things with /each other/. tanith’s found herself getting passionate about ghastlys work because she loves being with him while he does so, with him talking to her about his mother and the war and anything and everything.who made the first movetANITH W THE STEAK im gonna cry brbwho brings flowers homeghastly is a romantic shit but he’s never really had room for flowers amongst all of his delicate fabrics at home, but tanith will always find some from somewhere, even if they are just pretty weeds she picked from the field down the road, and take them home to put into a jug of water to sit on the kitchen window sill. who is the best cookghastly. tHE most domestic to ever domestic. he can cook and he can cook good. tanith can settle for pot noodles but shes thankful for his cooking nonetheless

TL;DR: i really, really need to get out more

#LONG POST IS LONG #ghanith #ghastly bespoke #tanith low #ask #sp

[mikcwhcclcr]

*.:｡✧*ﾟ｡The issue of “clicky” rps seems to be worst than ever recently and it breaks my heart, for members and admins alike. This is an issue I find quite frustrating as I see my friends who are admins feel like shit about it and also to know that there are so many people not having fun in rps, which is what rping should be all about. So here is a little “guide” if you’d like to call it that on how to address this issue and start just having fun again *.:｡✧*ﾟ｡

I’m going to star out with the general stuff and then dig into some twitter rp and appless rp specifics

First off, I know there will always be a few rps that will just be “clicky” and won’t change, but there are a lot of things you can do to avoid/fix this and if you feel like you don’t fit in just leave and be nice about it. Manners are a great thing to have.

Also, the most important thing to remember is you get out of it what you give to it. You have to try !!!

*.:｡✧*ﾟ｡So members, listen up:

So yes people are more likely to interact with their friends, I feel like thats just a natural instinct. I know for me I 100% have more muse with characters who I’ve formed a connection with their mun.

So most importantly remember that there is an actual human bean behind each character and half the fun of an rp is making friends (at least in my opinion) and it’s not that hard if you just try. 

Don’t make your first message to someone “hey wanna plot”, no ! just talk to them at first and try to connect with them. Plus trust me, it makes plotting a lot easier when you show you want more than just a plot with the person.

When joining an already established rp make sure you come in with plot ideas, because most likely people have a lot of established plots by then and it can be harder to think of new ones without your input. A lot of established member really do want to plot and give you what you want so you have to know what you want (what you really really want).

Also joining into an already established rp, you will have to work a little harder to get immersed into the group, that’s just how it is.

Nothing kills me more than someone who joins, throws in an intro asking for plots and then expecting everyone to come to them. I wish it was that easy but it just isn’t. Some members are really on top of that and will come to you first but you also have to take charge and message people. So don’t leave after one day if you haven’t put in effort to try and connect with members.

*.:｡✧*ﾟ｡Ok Admins your turn now:

If you do get complaints about things getting “clicky” do take note of that and address it, that can really help those who feel left out feel like they matter in the rp.

Also sometimes members might not even realize they’re making people feel left out and most likely they’ll try to fix the problem if it’s brought up.

Giving specific time for ooc chatting and plotting right when the rp opens is fantastic, 10/10 recommend. Maybe even throw in some ooc nights to just encourage people to connect with each other.

Have events and tasks that encourage more interactions or even pair people you don’t see interacting a lot together, it might lead to some cool plots.

Don’t let mean and hateful messages get to you, there are just some people who will be salty and like to complain like it’s their goddamn job, smh.

*.:｡✧*ﾟ｡Twitter rps !!!

Take into consideration that member who are more active on the tl are just more likely to interact with each other more. I mean if you rarely see someone on the tl there isn’t much to go off of and interact with.

But also don’t be afraid to reply to people you haven’t yet, maybe there will be a spark and it will always make them feel noticed which is important.

Make posts that are easy to reply to, ones that can easily start a conversations. Sometimes I see ones and I’m like I really don’t know what to say to this.

Also remember in a bigger rp the tl can move really fast and there’s always a chance it’s just hard to keep up with and notice things so post as much as you can so you’re seen more on the tl.

*.:｡✧*ﾟ｡Appless rps <3

I can not stress enough how important it is to be friendly and try to connect with each mun. Sometimes it can be hard to find muse for replies to a writer you don’t know. 

Also message people and start threads specific for them. It can be hard to find muse for open general starters, for me at least, and I’m sure a lot of other people. 

Again the people who are more active tend to respond to each other’s starters more or put more effort into those threads. That might sound shitty, but it’s true. More developed plots and connections are just easier to write.

Also just IM a lot. I’m stressing this making connections thing a lot because it really is so important. 

Throw around head cannons, make edits, just do fun things to keep plots interesting and fun. 

*.:｡✧*ﾟ｡Overview 

get to know people ooc !!!

give the group an actual chance even if it might take a few days to feel apart of it. I know sometimes this can kill your muse and that’s understandable, but do your best.

Don’t send admins nasty messages and don’t send rpts nasty messages about them. There really is only so an admin can do and they are doing their best.

Plot. Plot. Plot. !!! Unique ones too, have fun, flesh them out, commit to them.

Don’t be afraid to message people first if you don’t hear from many members, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with things.

#rpt #rp guide #twitter rp #appless rp #rpc #here's the thing I said I was doing #this is all just my opinions and tips based on my own experience but I hope this helps