#i know it's a weird thing but literally just recently it occurred to me that this is ALL MADE UP.

[jessicas-pi]

look, I've decided that everything george lucas was involved in is canon star wars, and everything else is basically fanfiction that I can approve of or disregard at will.

This is going to be a very important part of my life philosophy come this August.

#like literally if the show does something i dont like i'm just going to act like it did not happen #i'm going to be so deep in denial y'all #no jacen? wdym??? he's right over here learning how to cheat at sabacc from chopper #wildly ooc characters? yikes. dave your earlier fics were a lot better. #ezra or sabine dies? sorry can't hear you over the sound of them adopting 5 kids and living happily ever after #i know it's a weird thing but literally just recently it occurred to me that this is ALL MADE UP. #NONE OF THIS HAPPENS FOR REAL. THIS IS ALL A CONSTRUCT OF A HUMAN PERSON'S IMAGINATION #THERE IS NO RULE OR LAW ANYWHERE THAT SAYS WE HAVE TO RESPECT WHAT SOMEONE SAYS HAPPENED NEXT #we can JUST IGNORE IT #and there will be fans like 'but it happened in the show it's canon' and cool! fine! i literally could not care less! #IT'S SO FREEING!!!! JUST STOP CARING BABEY!!!

[homunculus-argument]

You ever done something your whole life, and then pause to realise that you never see anyone else do it, and start to wonder if that's actually abnormal?

Whenever I'm asked a question, I don't just give the straight literal answer to the straightforward question, I kind of half-instinctively analyse what component of the answer is important in this context, and word my answer accordingly. Guess I learned it from home - if I heard my sister calling me from the other side of the house, asking "what are you doing?", I knew she wasn't asking because she would literally want to know what I was doing, she was asking "why are you not doing the chore that you were supposed to be doing?" What I was not doing was the important part.

This has been useful at workplaces and in practical life. If a shift supervisor asked me "any plans for the weekend?", I could assess that they don't actually care about what I am planning to do this weekend, they want to know if I could pick up a weekend shift, and therefore my answer doesn't depend on whether I actually do have plans, but whether I'd want to pick up the shift instead. Whether I'd be going out, or at home doing nothing, is not the important part, the important part they want to know is whether I could be at work.

If a doctor asks me "how many cups of coffee do you usually drink in a day?" and we were discussing something that has to do with my alertness levels, I could assess that she isn't interested in just that one type of black bean brew, but she's asking how much caffeine I am consuming in a day. So while simply answering "I do not drink any coffee at all" would be the correct answer in the literal sense, it would be useless in practice if I'm also neglecting to mention that I drink 3 large caffeinated energy drinks every day instead. The exact beverage is not the important part, the important part is the caffeine.

Just the same as if I a doctor asked me "how many glasses of wine are you drinking in a day?" and I would answer "none" because I am not drinking from a glass, but downing a whole bottle every day while chugging straight from the bottle. The specific serving presentation is not the important part, the important part is the amount. I don't drink anymore, but just to name an example.

And apparently other people just.... Don't do this?? They just literally answer the exact wording of what they're asked, and if someone doesn't know the exactly perfect way of wording what they need to know, they're not getting that. I made a poll recently about how much time people spend in bed and whether or not they're disabled, and a lot of people on the notes said they answered "I do not spend any time laying in bed" because they are spending their days laying on the couch. Being myself, I had assumed people would do the same thing as I always do, and just instinctively concluded that the specific location in which they're laying down isn't the important part, the important part is whether they're laying down at all.

It would have literally never occurred to me that the way I operate things is weird, if if hadn't come to me as a genuine surprise that other people just don't do that.

[typical-simplelove]

Welcome to New York - M. Barzal

Here's just a little thing I wanted to share!

It’s been years since you’d seen him last. You still remember that final party the weekend before he left for his first official training camp with the New York Islanders, the true real last time you saw him. You remember giving him a small hug, holding him tight as you wished him luck, a promise to keep in touch soft on your lips. He was one of your closest friends and maybe more, but that never happened, and you wished for nothing but the best for him. 

Now, all these years later, sitting in your small condo, right along the Long Island Rail Road, easy for your commute into Manhattan each day, you hold your phone, the weight heavy both in your hand and on your heart. You lost touch with Mat during his rookie season, but who blames you or him? He was busy being the rookie sensation he was, and you were continuing your education. Even during the summers when you were home, little to no contact occurred. You saw each other from a distance, but nothing ever came of it. 

Now, with a job transferring you to the Tri-State area, you can’t help but think about Mat. His mother thought so, too, because she sent you a text, full of Mat’s contact information, hoping you’d get in contact with him and rekindle that friendship. 

How would you even go about reaching out to him? There was no way it should have been this difficult, though, right? It was just Mat. He was literally just some guy, so what was the point in freaking out about it? In the worst-case scenario, you could just brush it off, claiming his mother made you reach out to him. 

Without thinking, you sent off a small text. You started with a small “hey,” continuing with your name, and a refresher on how you knew him (just in case), before following up with a, 

I recently moved to Long Island for work, so your mother gave me your number. I would love to grab dinner when you’re free and catch up. Let me know!

It took you four attempts to figure out if you used too many formal sentences, a weird amount of exclamation, or had the appropriate tone. By mentioning his mother, it was obvious this was a no-stakes situation. 

After an extensive amount of contemplation, you sent the text. Whatever. He could ghost you, for all you cared, but it didn’t matter. The text was sent. If his mother asked, you could say you tried, and it wasn’t like there were any extreme expectations on your part. It is what it is. 

That is until your phone (perpetually on silent) lit up, signaling a text. He responded. 

Welcome to New York! I’m happy my mom gave you my number because I’d love to catch up. Let me know when you’re free and we’ll figure something out. 

You smiled at his words and tried to ignore the warmth bubbling in your stomach. 

It sounded like a new soundtrack was waiting for you.

#claudia writes #mathew barzal #mat barzal #mathew barzal x reader #mat barzal x reader #mathew barzal fic #mat barzal fic #nhl fic #hockey #op: 2024

[amuhav]

Get to Know Me - Sims Style

tagged by @dandylion240 (if anyone else did too I’m sorry, I’m not seeming to get notifs for tags rn???)

tagging @keibea​ because we need more TS3 rep in tag games like this tbh.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

Old age. Because it means my sim actually made it that far and I just love seeing their life play out. Some of the more quirky, simsy ones are great though. Death by Jellybean or Cowplant come to mind lol.

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch?

I... really don’t like the TS4 MM aesthetic 😅 I really don’t like the clay hair look for my own sims, though think some people do wonderful things with it, and I do like certain Maxis Mix styles, good skin details with clay hair, certain stylised MM styles etc. but the default TS4 clay look is literally why I never moved over to TS4 in the first place, and it took too long for the Alpha scene to really take off in the beginning, so by the time there was enough CC for me to feel I would ever want to jump in, it felt too overwhelming to even try moving to essentially a new medium.

For TS3... I also am not a huge fan of the straight “MM” look either, though I think the distinction is less prominent as it is in TS4. You can easily make most “MM” stuff fit in an “alpha” game simply because they aren’t usually full-on clay the way TS4 MM is, they’re just not quite as detailed as full “alpha” CC. Whereas the other way around isn’t quite as true, intricately detailed alpha stuff might look out of place if most of your other content is vanilla or MM. So I think as well as preferring the aesthetic, I like the flexibility a more “alpha” leaning style can bring.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

Storywise, characters are obviously whatever size I make them lol. 

Uh. I don’t know about weight, because I don’t think any of my sims have put on a lot of weight during gameplay. I have definitely cheated muscle levels though. Traumatic flashbacks to Loch suddenly getting BULKED whilst I was letting him run free during Riv’s BC. Absolutely not you little twink.

Do you move objects?

For gameplay, I used to try to minimise doing so just cos it breaks so much routing and stuff. Now I don’t play so I go nuts with MOO. Who needs working doors or stairs or beds anyway?

Favourite Mod?

So many mods for TS3 are kinda essential to even be able to run the game lol, like almost the entire NRAAS suite. I think I’ll have to go with the Remove Stencil mod though, cos being able to undo EA’s weird obsession with shiny clothes by removing the specular is honestly so lifechanging LOL. no more shiny wool jumpers or oil slick jeans 🥰

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

My first TS3 expansion was Ambitions, because I skipped World Adventures, in fact, I think it was one of the last expansions I bought lol. 

Believe it or not, I do actually own one EP, one GP, and one SP for TS4 lmao, back when I thought maybe, just MAYBE. the game might get better, and I was still trying so damn fuckin hard to force myself to enjoy the actual gameplay. So I have Get to Work, but don’t even ask me what the other two are because I haven’t a fuckin’ clueeeee. 

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

...It just occurred to me maybe it is meant to be “LIV” mode because it’s... like. Living mode. Like, Alive Mode doesn’t make sense. But my brain won’t accept it. doesn’t sound right. Always been “LIVE” mod to me lol.

Who’s your favourite sim that you’ve made?

Oh, jeez. Uhhh, I can’t *really* claim most of my current legacy sims because I didn’t make them, they were born in-game, even if I have tweaked the hell out of them in recent years. So if we’re going for physical appearance, I wanna say actually maybe Sylvie for my TS3 sims? She took so long to get just right, especially because TS3 doesn’t really do curvier sims quite as well as TS4, especially not without a fuck ton of sliders, and I had a really specific look to her face in mind that took forever to get right, had to blend her a custom skin etc. But I am finally super happy with her cute lil sassy round face 🥰 Close runners up are probably Qu or Edge.

God, I’m gonna get so fucking shot for this but here goes. Physically, my fave TS4 sims I’ve made are actually both of Tay’s brothers, Ethryon and Ailos, and also probably father, Qariel. I think because I had a little more experience with using TS4 CAS by the time I got to them, more sliders, more skin details, just generally a fuck ton more CAS CC by then, and more time to tweak them etc. As much as Tay will always be my favourite sim OVERALL... yeah. plznoonekillmebye

Have you made a simself?

Ye. I used to update her like. all the timeee too, whenever I got a new haircut etc. And, ofc, Havoc was my alter ego so she’s like. simself adjacent lol.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

God I hate EA’s hair colours in TS3. their blondes are so yellow, the highlights don’t blend well etc. always make my own. TS4 hair colours make me want to actually die, but then again, I hate the clay hair and cartoony colours of vanilla TS4 anyway, so.

Favourite EA hair?

Favourite life stage?

Young Adult, with Teens a close second. You can do the most with the YA age, but the chaos of teenage years are real fun too lol.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I literally can’t play lmao. I have too much CC in TS3 for it to run well enough to play, and TS4... is it even possible to play TS4? joking joking... mostly. I’m in it for the story.

Are you a CC creator?

No. Never. I do not have a CC page I abandoned whatsoever no idea what you’re talking about goodbye. 💀

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

RBSB represent. 

No I hate everyone equally.

@lazysunjade and @thesimperiuscurse have no choice but to be talked at by me every day. I’m inescapable. 

Do you have any sims merch?

I actually had the TS3 Collectors edition that came with the Plumbob USB and I was devastated when it got broken. Like legitimately heart broken lol. 

Miss her so much I just want her back

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Ew.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I used to try so hard to stick to whatever gameplay threw at me, following the actual legacy rules, not editing sims etc, all to the detriment of my actual enjoyment of storytelling. Now I care maybe a little too much about how posts look that I get into a rut of not posting oops bye 💀

What’s your origin id?

Probably the same as my username here lol, but I avoid origin at all costs so couldn’t tell you for sure tbh.

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

Oh, way too many to choose. For sims 3 CAS stuff, the still active converters like @rollo-rolls, @vmsims23, @simtanico etc. for build and clutter stuff @kerriganhouse, and @martassimsbookcc for conversions. Honestly, I’m kinda out of the loop atm, but there’s just way too many good creators.

How long have you had simblr?

uh. since 2015, I think? let’s not dwell on it 💀

How do you edit your pictures?

Dunno how to answer this? Photoshop, I guess lol? 

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite?

It used to be pets, cos I loved having animals in the game. Now I always forget they exist oop lol. Probably Supernatural. 

#tag game #saviourhide #tagged #dandylion240 #this is so long I almost don't want to post it now ugh #delete later

[skaruresonic]

The idw discourse is so bad, I feel caught in the middle because each time I express how bad the storytelling is, in a new issue or how off model the characters are drawn, idw fans gang up on me. But on the other hand I don't want to be associated with the people who think think it's funny to tweet how Flynn should die or make weird assumptions about Stanley being a bad person ? Like that's weird and cruel. Hate their work not them as people.

I just decided to pretend the comic doesn't exist and it helps lol.

I'm sorry that happened to you. Idk if anyone else will tell you that, but I will, because I know how much it sucks.

One time, I saw a guy on Twitter blame us for his inability to criticize the book in what he believed was a much more "balanced" manner without getting harassed by people.

Digest that for a moment. It's our fault for other people's reaction to us. And instead of rubbing his brain cells together for a moment and questioning the reasons why this knee-jerk reaction occurs, or even reflecting on the fact that it occurs at all and perhaps realizing that the call is coming from inside the house, he fell back on old biases and decided it was the haters who were wrong.

The mental gymnastics on display here are unreal.

In this case, I think people are stumbling into the usual fallacious trap of assuming both sides carry equal weight, and thus believe that defaulting to a position of "neutrality" makes them morally superior somehow.

That's kind of what I hate about this fandom - the utter superciliousness. The rotten shit we as a fandom get up to (and no, being a little snarky in a reblog does not count as harassment) while proclaiming love and light uwu. Be nice to everyone, except those freaks over there.

"Neutrality" is in scare quotes here because it's not true neutrality, but a way of posturing to the in-group that you're not Like Us. As demonstrated by my Twitter-user anecdote, people around here don't want to say anything hater-flavored because it risks intense ostracization. That's why you have people jumping down your throat for presenting even mild criticisms. It'd be pathetic if it weren't so annoying.

I'm not talking about people who let well enough alone. I'm talking about centrists who sneer "both sides are bad," as if by distancing themselves from the situation in a smug manner, they're declaring themselves more enlightened than the rest of us.

Honestly, the other side should be just as insulted, but they're not, because this attitude only helps them in the long run.

In reality, this is more like the fishhook situation centrists have with antis vs. proshippers. Saying "this whole thing is stupid" really only benefits antis because they now have grounds to reply, "Yes, this IS stupid, don't you think proshippers are crazy for being upset at something so trivial?" while conveniently omitting the part where antis routinely send proshippers death threats and other heinous material.

Look at it from this angle: the most concrete harm I have seen their side say they've suffered is a deep discomfort and estrangement from the book. Which, yeah. That sucks. But it's also kinda on you to just click away if it makes you uncomfortable.

On the other hand, I have had legitimate crying fits because of horrible messages I received and have told people multiple times about the anon who mocked my recently-deceased mom. Which, unlike clicking away from a blog, I had no choice but to see sometimes because I was still naive enough to believe people would behave themselves in my inbox. In fact, a mutual were recently discussing our anxieties over retaliation should IDW be cancelled. There's stuff about this that you just don't want to think about because dwelling on it will freak you out.

"Both sides are bad" stings, especially in light of knowing the measures I have taken to walk on eggshells and draw proper boundaries. I literally cannot know if someone in this fandom will consider my explanations harassment and dogpiling, so I try not to reblog with commentary. On the reblogging site.

Reflect on how fucked-up that is, to feel uncomfortable adding a tag to someone's fanart because you're worried they might realize you're One of Them(tm) and shun you on that basis alone.

I won't sit here and say I've always been perfect in my conduct, but at the same time, it's just the infuriating experience of double standards all the way down. Somehow it never occurs to them that if I held them to the same standard they hold me, I could call them all out on intellectual dishonesty for refusing to engage with any of our points no matter how calmly or clearly stated because "lol ur just a hater," and tar them with the same brush as those who sent me death threats.

But ofc, things don't work out like that in the calculus of Le Sonic Discourse. It's just a rotten experience to the core.

#asks

[strawbs-screaming]

☆ The Boxers Fears ☆

Enough with the silly, this is a anti silly zone (for this post only) i hc them to have more than these but im putting the most prominent ones here, please feel free to correct me if i got anything wrong

i may be projecting a little here teehee

TW FOR: Blood, violence, emetophobia, mentions of abuse

Glass Joe

trichophobia (fear of loose hair) thanatophobia (fear of death) & athazagoraphobia (fear of being forgotten)

His trichophobia is naturally occuring, loose hair just makes his stomach turn, hes a neat freak because of that

His thanatophobia is also really normal, especially for someone who has come close to death many times thanks to him getting wrecked on the daily

His athazagoraphobia is from a sad childhood memory of his, his mom left him on the street as a teenager for a while because he was angry at her for not respecting his boundaries, he ended up almost dying from thirst & has never contacted his mom ever since

Von Kaiser

Glossophobia (fear of public speaking), Atelophobia (fear of imperfection) and Chronophobia (fear of time passing)

His glossophobia is pretty normal since hes socially awkward and crowds scare him a little

His Atelophobia stems from his childhood, he basically lived on academic validation & any sort of praise he got at work

His Chronophobia just...popped up in his head one day, he was trying to sleep when the thought of not being able to take any mistakes he had done back hit him like a train, it effects him really severely, causing him to overthink everything and then get more stressed about the fact that hes wasting time overthinking when he could right all the wrongs he did and it just turns into a loop.

Disco Kid

taphophobia (fear of being buried alive), claustrophobia (fear of tight spaces) and Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes)

His taphophobia comes from a nightmare he had as a child, it happened after a funeral too so it hit him hard and he couldnt sleep for a few days.

His claustrophobia is also from his taphophobia, hes just scared of being squashed to death.

His Ophidiophobia started to begin after one of his friends got hospitalized from a snake bite & got severely traumatized from it.

King Hippo

Thalassophobia (fear of drowning), megalophobia (fear of large objects) and Gerascophobia (fear of growing old)

His thalassophobia is mainly caused by all the tales of people he heard drowning back in hippo island if they went too far into the deep end, he knows it would take a lot for him to sink but it still freaks him out

His megalophobia is caused by the time a entire brick wall fell down on him, it was ridiculously tall too so it stuck with him for a eternity and still effects him.

His Gerascophobia came to him when he was with his Father while he was on his death bed, his dad tried to keep him calm as he died by talking about growing old, it didnt work on him, at all.

Piston Hondo

Atychiphobia (the fear of failure/rejection), Mazeophobia (fear of being lost)

His atychiphobia was with him (and still is) for a huge chunk of his life, he loved to talk about the things he had & had "weird" interests, due to this he got bullied and he decided to just stop talking about the things he likes due to that.

His Mazeophobia is pretty recent due to him going hiking with bear hugger & losing him, he was pretty much scared for his life because he didnt wanna die in the woods alone.

Great Tiger

Phasmophobia (fear of ghosts), aichmophobia (fear of sharp things) & pediophobia (fear of dolls)

He grew up with a lot of ghost stories & tons of urban legends so his phasmophobia was with him as soon as he could speak

His aichmophobia comes from a "prank" his "friends" did to him during a sleepover while he was trying to sleep, their bright idea was to tear a hole on the door with an axe to freak him out (how funny, right?), he thought they would break in so he held the door, long story short an axe literally went through his hand and hes out for blood now.

His pediophobia is from a old friend of his who had a lot of dolls & had a HUGE crush on tiger, she once gave him a handmade doll of him and he discovered his & her hair and blood along with teeth in it, anytime he sees a doll he gets nauseous because she left a impact on him. (are you seeing a pattern here?)

Don Flamenco

autophobia (fear of being alone), Entomophobia (fear of insects) and monatophobia (fear of dying alone)

His fear of being alone is getting better suprisingly, it originally stemmed from his dad abandoning him at a beach "to teach him a lesson" for a few hours. (holy fucking shit)

His Entomophobia just popped up one day, hes just naturally repulsed from bugs

And his monatophobia also came from the beach incident since he had a heat stroke along with it.

Bear Hugger

Tomophobia (fear of surgery) and the fear of being crushed to death (i couldnt find a official name for it)

His tomophobia is mostly prominent thanks to his families history with sketchy doctors & surgeries done im the worst way possible, he kept hearing tales of people dying from surgeries and that literally drove him mad

His fear of being crushed to death is mostly obvious when hes chopping down trees, especially tall ones, if it leans his way even a inch he'll change positions to make sure he doesnt become a human pancake™

Aran Ryan

Bathophobia (fear of deep holes), emetophobia (fear of vomitting)

His emetophobia is self explanatory, throwing up just disgusts him & leaves him feeling awful.

His bathophobia is from his teenage years where he fell into a well & proceeded to lie there for days until he got discovered by his dad, he refuses to go near deep holes and will hold onto anyone or anything near him if he has to go near one.

Soda Popinski

Methyphobia (fear of alcohol/getting drunk) & scopophobia (fear of being stared at)

Since he used to be a former alcoholic, his methyphobia becomes really visible at any events that have alcohol, he doesnt wanna go back to those times so he avoids it as much as possible

His scopophobia is from his teenage years where his alcoholism was developing, he kept being judged by people thanks to his alcoholism, whenever he walked into a place he would be known as the "alcoholic" of the room

Bald Bull

Trypanophobia (fear of needles), Hemophobia (fear of blood) Pungophobia (fear of being stabbed)

His Trypanophobia was basically with him all his life, he does his best to hide it away since he thinks its "childish"

His Hemophobia started after a nasty fight, he couldnt handle seeing that much blood all at once & passed out

His Pungophobia is also from said nasty fight, he got stabbed in the stomach when he was a teen & pretty much almost died

Super Macho Man

nyctophobia (fear of the dark), Ornithophobia (fear of birds

His nyctophobia is pretty normal since it was with him through out all his childhood.

His Ophidiophobia started after he almost had a eye pecked out by a seagull.

Mr Sandman

dystychiphobia (fear of accidents) & Catagelophobia (fear of being ridiculed)

His dystychiphobia stems from a car crash he got into when he was 14, nothing really bad happened thankfully but hes still working on not being scared of accidents

His Catagelophobia is very recent & shined bright after his TD match with mac, he didnt go out for a few days after that

#emetophobia tw #Violence tw #mention of abuse #mention of death #mention of alcohol #punch out wii #headcanon #punch out #don flamenco #bald bull #punch out headcanons #piston hondo #glass joe #aran ryan #great tiger #von kaiser #disco kid #super macho man #mr sandman #(Chucks this post through your window)

[adhdsocialist]

ok so saw a post recently that implied that thing again where critiques even jokey ones of usamericans are always completely void of nuance. and uh. i dont think thats true.

I just dont really like how I'm not allowed to live my life without understanding the cultural and sociopolitical intricacies (and culture) of a country I'm never going to visit, that don't expand my understanding of my own country's culture and history, coming from people who have no interest in learning about my country at all.

I dont know any of you and you have no interest in knowing me. My ability to spot american anti-blackness isn't helpful in a country with a different kind of anti-blackness.

Its an expectation of American ideas from the citizens of a country whose governments goal is colonialism and a frustration to not fall into the category of people who automatically understand Americanisms.

I dont know what Walmart is but i've Never Needed To Care. How is saying 'I'm not actually interested in every monster energy drink because its the worst brand on the market here' dismissive of American minority groups. I dont really care and its weird to insist that me trying to curate an online experience relevant to me is Xenophobic. idk. block me if its upsetting.? Theres literally millions more people in your country to interact with, and likely a couple thousand young people here who are willing to memorise this shit, but I'm not super interested personally.

'oh no perry hates americans' NO! perry hates having important info about his immediate surroundings squished because he is required by the internet to know about Joe Biden. its just funnier/easier/less frustrating to say 'lol americans are annoying' when this occurs.

#hope i'm not sounding too harsh but like. sigh. #also obviously this frustration about american stuff doesn't apply to people who I actually know and engage in fun discussion with #if you aren't expecting me to know or retain information about a country with little to no relevance to me #and remember relevance includes a close friend being from there #then I dont mind as much :) #people who this post doesn't apply to include: Shelby who has not tried maltesers by god girl we are gonna get u some #fingers crossed nobody looks at this and goes 'ah so you are willfully ignorant.' #because um. the point is that im the opposite of that and im tired of allocating brainspace to something both irrelevant to me and upsettin

[neverbelessthan]

15 QUESTIONS FOR 15 FRIENDS

I was tagged by @adickaboutspoons and @edsrosetattoo. Thank you for thinking of me! ❤️❤️❤️ I love this shit. And sorry for taking so long to do it, I had so. much. uni. work.

Are you named after anyone?

Katharine Hepburn. And my mother gave me her middle name ('her' as in my mother's, not 'her' as in Hepburn's - although, Houghton? What a bitchin' middle name jfc), which has pissed my sister off literally from the day I was born because she got given a(n arguably lovely) random middle name instead. Suck it.

When was the last time you cried?

Today.

Do you have kids?

Yep.

What sports do you play/have you played?

I’m an equestrian (dressage, specifically) although I’ve been out of it for a while because I had to have some surgeries, also because I’m broke, and horseriding is basically like burning money. Also figure skating. Group sports are the devil.

Do you use sarcasm?

I honestly wouldn’t know how to get through life without sarcasm. I’m like, 75% sarcasm (in person, at least - online I tend to be a bit more sincere because I generally obsessively re-read anything I post or comment before letting it loose in the world and if it comes off too sarcastic in my own head I’m like dude … stop being a dick).

What is the first thing you notice about people?

I’m hyper-sensitive, and I have acute sensory-sensitivity issues, so generally I pick up on the minutia of how someone presents at any given time (sometimes because it’s all my brain can take in, because wider general observations are too much), like I’ll pick up on shit people aren’t even aware that they’re putting down. Ask me how much fun I am at parties.

What’s your eye colour?

Brown. Very much towards the uniform brown/black end of the spectrum though, not hazel.

Scary movies or happy endings?

Neither.

Any talents?

I’m weirdly excellent at claw machines? Someone pointed out to me the other day that I’ll need to budget half a suitcase and a not-insignificant amount of my travel budget to The Claw Machines because Japan is full of them, and it honestly hadn’t even occurred to me. And by ‘weirdly excellent’ I mean weirdly excellent - like I can’t remember ever having started on one and not ended with a sizeable audience. I recently had a worker at one stop me mid-game to open the box and reshuffle the toys and then watch over my shoulder because he thought I was cheating. I’m also really good at mimicking people’s handwriting. I don’t have a gag reflex. I have full-body hyperextension, so I can do weird/terrifying joint-related things. Are we supposed to be picking weird stuff? I do have normal talents but they’re boring.

Where were you born?

Sydney, Australia.

What are your hobbies?

Sculpture, photography, crochet, knitting. I like small-scale art - miniatures, origami. Music (I play the piano, cello, guitar, and sing). I like plants (hoyas, particularly). Is travelling a hobby (my brain would like me to accept that no, it’s a coping mechanism for escaping the nihilistic futility of existence :)? I’m doing two university degrees right now, so I find that my hobbies don’t get much bandwidth and when I’m not reading about neuroscience or philosophy I’m usually just staring into the middle distance letting my brain power down for 5 minutes. Is that a hobby?

Do you have any pets?

I have a cat. And some tropical fish. And a semi-domesticated water dragon named Richard.

How tall are you?

5’2”. Or, as people often enjoy pointing out: pocket-sized.

Favourite subject in school?

I hated my school, and therefore generally hated all subjects by extension. I loved anything creative: art, music, drama, creative writing, but I was too much of a social weirdo to not get bullied about it all, so I stopped bothering because I wasn’t willing to make/do what I really wanted to because I was too terrified of getting shat on about it, and there didn’t seem much point in doing any of it halfway. Plus it was an academically selective smartypants-assface school, so they didn’t put much stock in anything creative, unless you could top the state in it, and I didn’t really want that sort of pressure, thanks.

Dream job?

Some sort of very well paid, very infrequently required consultant.

I tag, with absolutely no pressure at all (and with profuse apologies to anyone who hates these things or who has already done it and i somehow missed you doing it because i’ve been buried under research and only on here sporadically the past week): @jessystardust, @majesticartax, @follows-the-bees, @theangelyouknew, @iamadequate1, @jeffsinnbythesea, @tositandadmire, @ameryth74, and literally any other mutuals who I haven’t tagged and who haven’t done it that would like to do it. I get such insane social anxiety about participating in these things, but also I love them: The Horrors. Also I know that I didn't tag 15 people, but … anxiety (I've tried to not include people who I've already seen tagged, and have literally gone through the last 50 or so posts of the people I have tagged to try and make sure they haven’t already done it, because i’m an idiot, and you know, being an idiot like that takes time).

#tag posts #me #a lot of me #possibly too much me #sorry

[emptymanuscript]

You know, I just saw a post supporting the writer's strike and saying there are plenty of old shows to watch... and it occurred to me that it might be good to share some shows we love just in case people haven't seen them yet.

Places that make it easy to find where to watch things: Reelgood and JustWatch. Check both, they sometimes conflict, get it wrong, etc.

My Recs (in hopes others will add) (admittedly the low hanging fruit):

The X-Files, 1993, 11 Seasons, free on freevee, available on Hulu, can rent or buy other places. If you haven't seen X-Files, you're missing out. It was a smash hit in the 90's for a good reason. Two detectives, a believer and a skeptic, try to solve unsolvable mysteries in the midst of grand conspiracy. And find, somehow, that as much as they annoy each other, they need each other.

Babylon 5, 1993 / 1994, 5 Seasons, free on Roku and Tubi. An Epic Space Opera that never quite got the success it deserved. It is one of those things whose influence is written all over modern sci-fi and fantasy without much acknowledgement. This is the interplay of empires and mythology, double dealing and political cruelty.

SPACE: 1999, 1975, 2 seasons, free on Crackle, Peacock, Fubo, Pluto, Freevee, Plex, Shout, and Roku. I dare you to listen to the theme song and not feel the groove of this classic campy space opera. When Earth's moon is ejected from orbit to hurtle through the galaxy, the people of Moonbase Alpha have to confront new alien weirdness every week. Part of what makes it so good is that the show takes itself completely seriously, there's no wink and nod in here.

Kindred: The Embraced, 1996, 1 Season, available as a slime tutorial. It's Vampire: The Masquerade as a cheesy soap opera. There are constant reminders of what the clans are like in the most pointed, ridiculous dialogue you can imagine. Had the lead actor not died, this show might have found its place in a couple of more seasons, as it is, it is deliciously campy and dumb. Days of our LARP.

Profit, 1996, 1 Season, available as a slime tutorial. What if the Antagonist was the Main Character. Profit was ahead of its time. It would be right at home in the modern streaming era but it absolutely didn't fit in its own day and age. Profit is dark and twisted (For people who follow me, see if you can find an early inspirations for JJ) with mature and uncomfortable themes. One of its benefits is that it was network televison, so it couldn't show all the gratuitous violence and sex that it would be given if it was made today. It's psychological violence and murder off screen, which, if you let yourself get into it, can grow into worse things than can be shown. Profit is about power, greed, and ruthlessness and what happens when someone even more ruthless and immoral than you shows up.

Farscape, 1999, 4 seasons and a TV movie, available for free on crackle, peacock, popcornflix, shout, freevee, pluto, roku, and tubi. In spite of my picture, this is live action space opera, but it is looney tunes, literally in one episode. This is what happens when the Jim Henson company decides to make a space opera as far away from Star Trek as possible. It's zany, over the top, sometimes hilarious, often creepy, and there's only one human who is far out of his depth.

Blake's 7, 1978, 4 seasons, available on BritBox, and you should be able to find all of it with a little searching on youtube. Like Farscape, this show focuses on escaped prisoners but when they find an advanced spacecraft, they decide to become freedom fighters against their fascist regime instead of just trying to escape. Darker than most of what you could find on US tv until fairly recently. These are wounded people in hostile space.

The Outer Limits, 1995, 7 seasons. Free on Roku. This is a sci-fi anthology series. Some episodes are more interesting and thought provoking than others but overall a lot of good stories.

There are now 12 series with 44 seasons between them totaling up to 880 episodes of Star Trek. That's about 3 months straight of 24 hour programming if you ran it back to back with no pauses at all. That's a lot of show. Mostly on Paramount+ but it's probably not terribly difficult to find the material less officially. It may not all be your cup of earl grey but there's a lot to try out to see if you like it.

1899, 2022, 1 season (cancelled), available on Netflix or wherever else one finds shows. This is my only modern show because I know it didn't get a lot of viewership in spite of being brilliantly twisty. 1899 is one of those shows that it is very hard to talk about without spoilers. I think it is however immediately obvious that the cruise ship Kerebos, en route to New York, is not at all in the situation it appears to be in. It is magnificently multilingual with the ability to communicate when you can't speak each other's language front and center in the narrative. It's sadly cancelled and the creators are on record that they don't want to finish it in another medium so we'll never know exactly what happened but there is wonder to be had from this first season.

Magnum P.I., 1980, 8 seasons. Free on freevee and Roku. 1 season available with Amazon Prime, rest for rent or purchase. Mix a lovable goofball naval vet with PTSD and a very stiff necked British curmudgeon vet with PTSD and you get a fun mystery every week in paradise. Magnum shrugs off most of his work and pawns it on to his friends getting by on charm and some wit.

Murder, She Wrote, 1984, 12 seasons. All available for free on Roku. 6 seasons available for free on freevee. Note that one of the primary writers for Murder, She Wrote was J. Michael Straczynski, this is the job that got him the ability to make Babylon 5. Jessica Fletcher is a charming and clever lady who has retired to the placid sea side village of Cabot Cove to write mystery novels but somehow always ends up at murder scenes. It has been estimated that if Cabot Cove was real, it would be the murder capital of the US.

Tales from the Crypt, 1989, 7 seasons, available as a slime tutorial. To get it to lucky number 13, I present another great anthology show. Every episode a different tale of the macabre or horrific. The crypt keeper is a charmingly gruesome host and there are a few episodes that have stuck with me since I first saw them in the 90's.

Hopefully one among these number can fulfill your needs and if not, hopefully someone else will tack on a few more. I know I left out plenty of my own favorites. There's lots to see while your current faves are on hiatus. There might be a brand new fandom waiting for you.

#writer's strike #tv recommendations

[myrddin-wylt]

Your right about RusAme & FrUk

I've been in the fandom since 2012 and those where the only ships I was into at the time. Things have sure changed now but it still similar. Some RusAme fans have grown up and stuck around (me) which is why I think I see more domestic content then before, but immaturity and maturity still divides the groups.

RusAme also does have a lot of adult creators but they are a minority. I think most of them would also agree to this as I've even seen some call themselves immature. I'm also no beacon of maturity myself, which is probably why I sit between the two.

I have also met a lot of fans who've been abused and those who wanted to move on really enjoyed FrUk and those who couldn't move on were into RusAme. That doesn't really change much about the immaturity argument because it's still apart of that reason for sticking to one over the other. It's mostly the difference between people's mindsets. FrUk fans want something good, better then what's currently possible for them and RusAme wants something messier and worse but somehow works. I know some adults into RusAme have had some horrific relationships but they still read it. I've had some real tough ones but I never really think about it when I read or see RusAme content so I don't know how much it's correlated.

I feel like someone in the mental health field could have a field day with Hetalia fans over this stuff because now you have me analyzing myself over my interests.

oh, RusAme does have some great adult creators, especially artists! come to think of it, I think there are plenty of adult artists who ship RusAme; I think the age disparity is in the writers. you make a lot of really good points here though, especially for people who have been through manipulative relationships and don't find RusAme as enjoyable anymore.

Also something that didn't occur to me - and is likely a much smaller factor than the others- about fewer adults shipping RusAme may be the current political climate. like.... right now, the country of Russia is a mafia/pariah state hellbent on a very, very public and highly visible genocide. US-Russia tensions are the worst they've been since Peak Cold War, and it's not sexy, it's terrifying. and that's just... it's really hard to indulge in the escapism of hetalia when that's going on in the background. like literally every time I reblog something with hws Russia, I think of my friend in Kyiv. every single time, without fail. and suddenly RusAme isn't really cute to me anymore, because then I wonder about our friend fighting in Donbas and how I haven't heard anything about him since March.

and you may say that, well, that only started in 2022... but it didn't. this is definitely the most visible it's been recently, but Ukraine started in 2014, and I remember that vividly because it felt a bit weird back then too. I also remember Syria and Chechnya and even Georgia somewhat. and as interesting of a character as Ivan is, the irl backdrop right now is that Putin has been using the Russian state to commit genocide for the past two decades. and by no means am I shaming anyone who does engage with hws Russia content - I still do it. but man, am I aware.

#ask #anon #meta #hetalia meta #rusame #:/ #mmm our friend is probably dead honestly

[granulesofsand]

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to read my question

TW: mention of wanting suicide, SH (some details), feeling trapped

I have something I've not heard anyone else talk about, and I'm wondering what could cause it. Could it be programming? Are there other possible explanations?

I'm not going to make assumptions one way or the other, or jump to any conclusions! I just want to understand

Firstly, I've tired to SH several times. But when I hold the knife up to my skin it feels like there is literally an invisible force stopping me. I physically can't do it. I have one similar memory as a teenager re breaking rules. I wanted to go somewhere I wasn't allowed, but I physically couldn't cross the threshold. Like there was an invisible wall there. Body just wouldn't do it

I had the opposite experience recently where I didn't want to SH but felt a really strong compulsion to (when fighting to go out and socialise instead). I managed to make a compromise and just scratch instead, but it was a near thing. How come I can do it only when I don't want to?

Secondly, suicidal ideation. Whenever I really want to do it, my body shuts down. Like I'm paralysed. As in: I'll be really thirsty but unable to reach for a drink. I can make small movements with my hands but actually moving is impossible. Thinking slows down and while the thoughts are kind of there it's hard to even think them (or anything)

That might sound like a good thing, to be prevented from doing that! But it's scary and I feel trapped. Like my body & life doesn't belong to me

I've not heard from anyone else with an experience like this

Have you come across anything like it before?

Tapestries

🗝️🏷️ RAMCOA, abuse, self-harm, deprogramming, bright images

This is like that other system who ended up quite probably being programmed. I want to say that this is possible without conditioning, and it would be true. But this is also one symptom, and one strand is not enough to encapsulate a tapestry.

I like that as a metaphor (you can skip down for a more concrete response); while some woven pieces use the same yarn for every warp column or weft row or both, the final product can still be large or complex.

Many tapestries use many yarns, varying in color, texture, and weight. There are lots of ways to fit a few strings together, and the differences might only be noticeable within context.

Possibilities

Basically, it’s very possible for both this forcefield stop and tranced self-harm to have sprung from typical (heavy) dissociation.

Going by your name, it could be an alter influencing external behaviors (consciously or not) or one of the defense mechanisms that your brain took up to survive.

It doesn’t have to look helpful to have been defensive, but you might be able to find an apparent reason for it within non-RAMCOA trauma. This type of bodily override is well-recorded in DID systems, so it needn’t indicate anything further.

Because they can occur naturally, however, they can therefore be installed by abusers. If you already know about a programming history, this doesn’t invalidate anything. It isn’t a definite no, and especially the sh is worth looking into, whether it’s programmed or not.

Perps could use the stop to insure only they control what harm comes to you or to keep you more obedient outside of their gaze. Having a system inflict punishments or follow through rituals without perp intervention suits programmers, and this one is widely seen in survivors.

For the Future

It wouldn’t be weird either way, and progress from this point looks fairly similar; talk to alters, build trust and get them updated on safety and daily life in the present, and working with them and their trauma as you form a relationship.

If these things happen again, maybe try reaching out to see who (if anyone) is doing it and why they feel they have to. You can converse with parts of yourself or the collective without that sentiment belonging to any alter, like a singlet’s inner dialogue.

You’ll be okay, even when it’s scary. Spend some time brushing up on coming skills and self-care if you can, it helps to lessen the blow of any discoveries or problems y or encounter. Good luck, and remember that you’ll see the tapestry in time.

[alexdelray1]

Miles 42 x F Reader

Attention! Angst! Death and other events occurring in Marvel.

I recently watched Avatar. This new part and this part from 2009. Awesome and now I want to be blue and be at least 2 meters high. And I want to say that each of the earth numbers used is not accidental.

I feel like a win when I lose.

-Who are you to me anyway?- Miles asked me.

-Your girlfriend on Earth 42, but don't worry. Miles from the dimensions above the earth 1000 are not my type. - I replied with a laugh during the last sentence, looking at Gwen apologetically.

How are you girls, guys and non-binaries? Here is your favorite and unique Spider-Girl not in her universe! My name is Reader Hardy and at the beginning my destiny on Earth 42 was to be Black Cat, but after an incident where there was no hero there, I had to give up being a hot cat. It's a pity, but at least girls are constantly attracted to me, not to mention boys. Supposedly, I'm a normal teenager who goes to Visions school, listens to Ayesha Erotica, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani, but at night and sometimes during the day I am the iconic Spider-Girl. And you can ask. Why Spider-Girl and not Spider-Woman? While thinking about my identification name, I realized that for now I see myself as more of a girl than a woman. Okay, we have to stop this monologue.

-Really?”-Miles asked.

-Yes. Men below 1000 Earth are mostly hotter. - I replied and took off the mask. We're at HQ and Gwen is giving Miles a little tour.

-No, it's not about that. I'm your boyfriend on Earth 42?- he asked, surprised.

-Buddy, by this logic you are someone's boyfriend on every earth. For example, on Earth 8, you are Gwen's husband. That's how it works. For example, I'm dating Peter on earth 901220. And, for example, our Peter is with Mary Jane on earth 616B.- I explained to him.

-Doesn't that make you feel a little weird?- Miles asked me with a grimace.

-Only a little, but it's not that bad. For example, we won't have such an attitude because my Miles is your opposite. Literally. - I wanted to reduce the tension.

-That's true. Once Reader showed me a picture of him and he's a total geek and you're a nerd. - Gwen laughed.

-Seriously...! Oh, I'm sorry, but I have to sweep up. There will be a canon event soon. - I said and opened a portal to my earth.

-Wait! Canon what?- Miles asked.

-Gwen will explain!- I said and entered the portal.

I found myself in an alley next to the police station and everything.

I closed the portal and put on the mask. Thanks to my nets, I jumped onto the police station building. Nice view. It's already evening which means my shift starts now. Why should I sit at the police station? After all, the American police will shoot me and maybe my mother will.

I swinged (I don't know what to call it) to the building opposite and was about to swing somewhere else but I heard an explosion and screams coming from the police station. Oh no. Please, I beg you not.

My reaction was quick and in a few seconds I was already in the ruins of the previous building.

I saw the bodies of policemen and policewomen. I quickly picked up the four bodies and set them down far away from the building, and did this a few more times. My mother was nowhere to be found. I moved the bodies that I could get out a little further away from the living. I heard sirens. Police from another station, many ambulances and the fire brigade will be here soon. Wait what's that?

-Reader....Reader......- I heard groans from under the rubble. I quickly pushed them away and saw my mother whose legs were now just a memory. The only thing that kept her alive was that the large stone on her legs stopped some of the bleeding.

-Ma!... Mrs. Hardy!- I said and crouched down next to her.

-Spider-Girl? Please, please tell me, is my daughter safe? - my mother asked me.

-Your daughter is safe because she is right here.- I replied with tears in my eyes.

-Reader? I could have guessed. The secrets, the oddities, the excuses. Reader, please. Let me see your face one last time.- my mother said. No one could see us through the rubble and smoke. I took off my mask. My face didn't look good at all. Tears and bulging eyes.

-My brave daughter became a hero. What a pity that I won't be able to see your next actions. - Mom smiled weakly.

-You will see. The rescuers will come for you soon and everything will be fine.- I said with false hope.

-Reader remember, with great power comes great responsibility.- Her eyes had no life left in them, she didn't move.

-No, no, no.... MOM! - I put on the mask and stood up, the services started searching the area for more victims.

-Here!- I shouted and when they started getting closer, I left.

I ran into my room and quickly changed into my normal clothes. I couldn't stand it and fell to the floor crying.

After a while, Miles ran into my room, but when I first looked at him, it looked like he was happy about something earlier, but when he saw me, his smile disappeared.

-Reader! What happened? - Miles asked me and knelt down next to me. I couldn't answer. The TV in my room was showing the news.

-Ladies and gentlemen. Today at 7:25 p.m. a police station in Brooklyn exploded. 20 people died and 15 were injured. The dead were Carl Grayson, Mark Smith, Jannie Queen, Camila Hardy.... the serial criminal Prowler was seen at the scene. It is believed that he is the reason and culprit of the massacre... - I didn't listen anymore.

-Prowler, he killed my mom.- I somehow managed to say.

-Wait, doesn't your mom work at the 99th Precinct in Brooklyn?- Miles asked me.

-No, Miles, she worked on the one that's in ruins because of that son of a bitch. - Miles didn't tell me anything. I looked to the side at something glowing purple under his coat.

-Miles, where were you then? - I asked him, looking into his eyes.

-Ummm, at home.- he replied, avoiding eye contact.

-You're lying.- I said and got up and he immediately followed me.

-Not at all.- he said, trying not to avoid eye contact.

-You're a Prowler... How could you?! I trusted you! - I started screaming and crying.

-It's not like that! I didn't want to kill your mother.- Miles tried to explain.

-You wanted to kill everyone! You knew this would happen! I hate you! YOU KILLED MY MOTHER! - I screamed.

-Reader!- Miles took a step back.

-Go away! I do not want to know you! The only reason I'm letting you go innocent now is because Spider-Girl will take care of you! And God knows if you try to talk to me again, I'll break your neck.- I threatened him. Miles left my apartment with a serious expression on his face.

I sat on the bed and the tears flowed mercilessly. I looked at my 'watch'.

"Canon event completed"

#spider verse #x reader #across the spiderverse #fem reader #spiderman #spider woman #earth 42 miles morales x reader #earth 42 miles x you

[ballwizard]

oh btw my ACE ATTORNEY dual destinies post game review. LONG RAMBLE CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS BELOW.. BEWARE!!!!!

ok SO. ending-wise it was fucking awesome. funnily enough while me and sal were on our own between playtime we ended up both getting spoiled on fulbright dying and something odd happening to him. On accident. So we both kind of knew what was coming, but not how or why. and id say it actually didn't take away from the surprise considering by the point you really hammer down on it, it's pretty obvious imo LOL. ALL the disguises threw me for a fucking LOOP!! i was like. Huh??? THIS GUY??? ironically all the big ones he did before the breakdown were ALL characters i voiced which was really really fun for me. i think the choice to have him impersonate phoenix last was so cool and the new sprites he gets RULE SO HARD. genuinely thought it was sick as hell. i miss you bobby every day of my life

something really funny that occurred was : Throughout the entire game sal decided they HATED Simon blacjquill. like genuine vitriol at seeing him. when we found out he was on deaths door they were like KILL HIM‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ OT WAS SO FUNNY. but by the end of the game they did nearly a complete 180 on him and he was the first character they doodled after finishing the game.Thwy were sooooo mad about liking him now

speaking of liking characters: my top fave new characters were DEFINITELY bobby fbright & damien tenma. i already talked about fulbright yadda yadda he's cute yadda yadda need him expoditiously yadda yadda cool ending. Damien on the other hand was the only side character that we were consistently SO happy to see literally EVERY time. (Excluding Bobby). Dude fucking rocks he's so weird and he owns. Cawwww caw caw caw

casewise i think the weakest might have been the monstrous turnabout? even though i LOVED damien the rest of the case was. It was okay? but with the rest of the cases being so interconnected jt just felt kind of out of place. hypocritically i found jinxie and filch and labelle kind of annoying despite liking damien... eye dee Kay. My Opinion. my fav case was the very last one i think. i would say it was the academy one but means just felt like a kinda weak villain. especially since it felt really obvious from the beginning with his whole shtick (which was ALSO annoying) and also his whole. Him. but i liked the whole bit with scuttlebutt & the trio. it was very cute. Also elephant in the room, robin, i felt DEFINITELY could have been handled better. but it really wasn't THAT bad, and i like that he retained her like, testosterone rage screaming despite him "getting revealed". In my beautiful mind they're gender fluid. Smiles serenely. it was also nice seeing klavier again but his 3d model is NOT DOING HIM WELL . i like his gay little intro animation though

oh yeah and the 3d. since we were playing the original trilogy concurrently to dd, we got to compare how the characters look pretty often and i found that it's kind of weird, but i understand why it was done & honestly it allowed them to do more fun stuff. like having bobby wave out of the window or all the shit with recreating the silhouette of the statue was REALLY fun to see and I thought it was cute as hell. Simon does look like he's poking himself in the eye though. the normal art in the game was cute too & i thought the cutscenes were fun when they showed up!

comparing it to the original trilogy, without rose tinted lenses of nostalgia & with direct referencing via.... playing them both at the same time... i really think it was a solid game. one thing i really, really liked about it vs the trilogy is that it's a lot more... easier?? straightforward?? it's hard to put into words but i NEVER felt like i had hit a dead end in investigating and didn't know where to go. the notes system as well as the button to look back at recent dialogue are SUPER helpful, and even if i might not have used them All the time, they really helped when we needed them lol. i LOVE. not having to present every single piece of evidence to a random during investigations and just PRAYINF that one of them make something happen. and especially since i was playing with someone else, and therefore took what could be week + long breaks between playtime, it was really useful to get back into the swing of things. ANYWAYS

Overall it was a really fun & engaging play!! me & sal enjoyed it a lot and it's got our gears turning and steam smokin and shit. we actually finished the second game right before finishing the last case of dd and it was fucking awesome. we started trials & tribulations (one case in!) and after that we might hit up the investigations games... and THEN we'll play spirit of justice. so that's the game plan teehee

Thank you for reading if you did lol ^__^ ❤️🌈‼️

#aa thoughts #A bleeehhhh. Long ramble under cut chock full of Dual Destinies spoilers. BEWARE!!!!

[chabbit]

I’ve been reading a lot of FF7 fic recently, and it’s been really interesting to see the situations in which characters kill off all the Shinra higher ups and all the situations where they... don’t.

In real life I don’t think a military coup is ever a good thing, but in this series? Very often fics end up in this weird situation where all of the main characters (usually the SOLDIER Firsts and sometimes a time-traveling Cloud) are both extremely powerful physically and not really that averse to murder. Like, their jobs are murder. In canon, Zack alone fucking destroyed an entire army once he was separated from Shinra. In a fic where all of the Firsts have soured to Shinra but still don’t choose to just Do A Coup, there needs to be a convincing reason, you know? Why aren’t you just murdering all the president and board of directors? Why is Hojo still alive??

Like it’s easy to come up with something like, “Oh we need to wait until we find all the pieces of Jenova before we make a move,” or “The President will activate Deep Ground or some other fail safe and it will be an actual problem,” or sometimes even “This character who should be doing a coup has been so conditioned to taking orders that it genuinely doesn’t occur to them that they can.” But sometimes none of these reasons are brought up or addressed, and characters who can literally solo entire armies just keep repeating “Oh we can’t fight Shinra!” ...Why not, though? What’s stopping you? It’s not a case of characters not realizing that something is an option or holding the idiot ball, they’ve definitely considered fighting Shinra, but they’ve decided for some reason they can’t. What is that reason??

Anyway, sometimes I think it’s good to step back from your plot and be like “why aren’t they doing X?” And if there is a reason, great! Clue me in! But if there isn’t... what would happen if they did?

#sorry this is a borderline wank post so I will not be tagging it #there was one fic in particular recently where all the characters are canoncially crazy op #like soloing entire armies op #but when shinra starts fucking them over they're just like :( oh no we can't do anything #yeah in real life politics are complicated and there are laws but there is pretty demonstrably no government other than shinra here! #just take over! it's fine! you are army veterans and the other army commanders fucking suck! they'll follow you! #this is more of a personal gripe than anything haha i just couldn't stop thinking about it