#like it makes a lot of sense but we don't see it anywhere else!! fucking of course people would try to study the cataclysm!!

[quitefair]

The Temple of Mythal and Greek Sculpture

Or: How Bioware takes from history without any nuance.

--

Picture this. You're me, playing Inquisition for the first time. You get to the Temple of Mythal, the doors shut behind you and you finally get to look around. It's a typical elven ruin for the game, nothing much seems different...

Hold on.

Hold the fuck on.

You know what that is.

You know what that's based on, and for a long time after it tickles you. Oh, maybe that meant something in the grander scheme of things! We've never seen such a blatant reference to a real-life sculpture anywhere else in game (to my knowledge at the time)! Maybe it'll come up later and it'll all make sense!

Here's the deal. I've been bothered by this for years. The more I think about it, the more angry I become. Anger over a single fucking type of statue, you say? There's a lot of other shit to be angry over in this game, and you choose this?

YES! I CHOOSE THIS! AND THIS IS WHY.

--

Picture this. You're me again, aged 14 this time. You're in the Louvre, the first museum of Western classical art you've ever been to. You've grown up in a place where this interest could only be cultivated from extra-curricular reading, and for a kid that age from my country to be ass deep in Greek and Egyptian myth is frankly lmao. Neurodivergent. Anyway.

So we're wandering around the Louvre, I've just taken my parents through the Egyptian section and given them a thorough infodump on everything I know about burial rites.

And then we enter this room. And I very nearly fall to my knees when I catch sight of her.

This is the sculpture the statues at the Temple of Mythal are based on - one Winged Victory of Samothrace.

She is a sculpture from the Hellenestic era, depicting the goddess Nike stood at the prow of a ship. Her head and both arms are missing, save one hand with two fingers (also in the Louvre but displayed separately). She was found on the Greek island of Samothrace, among the ruins of what was known as the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. It seemed like she was displayed at the top of a hill, looming down at all that regarded her.

I’ve had the absolute privilege of seeing her in person twice in my life, both before and after the 2013 restoration. And let me tell you, regardless of which staircase that leads you there, the sight of her will stop you in your tracks.

[Now with people, for scale.]

She is massive. Larger than life, and immediately is the centre of your attention. It's not the fact that she has no head, no arms. No, you will realise the closer you get to her, the more you're able to appreciate the details of this absolutely astounding piece of history.

No. It's because she feels so alive.

The way her robes drape against flesh, wet from sea-spray or rain, yet flowing with the motion of an invisible wind. The wings cast behind her dramatically as her right foot steps forward. Standing tall and proud, unflinching, unbowed against the elements. Even without her arms, you can feel how dynamic the torso and legs are.

You don't need to be an art historian, or even have any knowledge of Greek myth or art history to stand in front of her, as I once did as a young teen, and nearly be brought to tears.

So.

This brings me to the first of the two main gripes I have with the way this sculpture is used in Inquisition.

Compared to the way she's displayed in the Louvre, and also presumably how she was presented to her original audience - larger than life, looming, powerful, beautiful - she is relegated instead to smaller, repeating statues of the same nature throughout the temple.

This diminishes the purpose of the original sculpture, which was to instill a sense of awe and wonder. The singularity that forces you to focus and appreciate the scale and intricacy. The aura, the gravitas of having a single, massive sculpture of such a dynamic figure is completely gone.

And to make things worse, they Mythal-ify her. Adding a helmed head and changing her beautiful feathered wings to leathery dragon wings. They don't even add arms, which is odd because the original sculpture very clearly is missing its arms.

And, may I ask, Why?

It feels cheap, like they saw the Winged Victory and were like 'oh shit this is a cool sculpture, we should add it in game' without giving any fucking thought to what the sculpture means.

Which brings me to the second gripe. The complete disregard for the symbolism of the Winged Victory.

Detail from the Athena fountain, Parliament Building of Vienna, showing Nike the Winged Victory in the palm of Athena's hand [source]

Nike is a minor Greek deity, said to be the daughter of Pallas (a Titan) and the river Styx. Her other siblings by the same parents include Zelus (Zeal),  Bia (Might) and Kratos (Strength).

Yes. That Kratos.

She was one of the earliest gods to pledge her allegiance to Zeus in the Titonomachy, and after the victory of the Olympians, Nike and the other gods that allied with them were allowed to live on Olympus. In her aspect as Victory, she is closely associated with several of the major Greek gods, and in particular, Athena.

There's also her Roman counterpart, Victoria. This version doesn't come with the backstory Nike has, but is more of a general concept of victory. This is the aspect that is present in a lot of the modern sculptures and interpretations of Nike/Victoria:

Left: Detail from the Berlin Victory Column. Right: Detail from the Victoria Memorial, London. Note the similar iconography, of a woman seemingly standing against a strong wind, fabric and cloth adhering and yet flowing against the breeze, wings outstretched.

From this, we can probably extrapolate what our beloved Winged Victory might've looked like. Here's an artist's render of one possibility:

There's some iconography we need to go through before moving on - symbols that are commonly associated with Nike/Victoria.

One is the trumpet as see in the reconstruction above, the sound and symbol of the end of war, of impending peace. Another is the laurel wreath, another Greek symbol of victory and achievement. Famously, laurel wreaths were used to crown victors of the original Olympic games.

This is another conversation entirely, but there’s a discussion to be had about the duality of Elgar’nan and Mythal, in term of vengeance and justice, and how an emotional rage versus a calculated wisdom can be compared to the difference between the two Greek gods of war – Ares and Athena.

If we can compare Mythal to Athena, in the sense of her wisdom in making difficult decisions, then it’s not a stretch to associate Mythal with the symbolism of Nike, and therefore explain the presence of statues similar to the Winged Victory in her temple.

But since Bioware absolutely did not put this in the game for anything other than the Aesthetic, there’s some problems that need to be addressed.

Mainly in the way in which these statues are scattered throughout the temple. If you wanted static, ominous statues to line the walls as your player characters explore, perhaps have like, I dunno. Less dynamic statues that you reference?

Left: Nike of Paionos, Right: Stele 1 of Las Incantadas

Or maybe instead of statues, have friezes lining the walls. Like this one from the equally iconic Pergamon altar, depicting the Giganomanchy.

It’s the same symbolism, the wings, the smiting of foes and victory of good over evil.

And then perhaps, at the heart of the temple... where, y'know Bioware, lay a body of water sacred to Mythal herself, you could've perhaps done something remarkable. You could then have had the most dramatic and beautiful entrance you’d ever seen.

[Nike, at the iconic Daru Staircase, the Louvre]

It was at this moment that Mythal walked out of the sea of the earth's tears and onto the land. She placed her hand on Elgar'nan's brow, and at her touch he grew calm and knew that his anger had led him astray. - Codex entry: Mythal: The Great Protector

Mythal herself strides out of the Well Of Sorrows, the metaphorical tears of her followers that died and kept their knowledge alive in her name. Her (draconic) wings spread out, (restored) hands outstretched to touch her husband, to calm the rage that nearly destroyed this world.

A symbol of victory against the blind rage of a god against His father, the Sun. A symbol of wisdom and grace, against the violence of hatred. A divine sense of something bigger than anything we could imagine.

There's also the lack of iconography regarding victory, instead piling on some cheap representations of what we think of as Mythal. That's another post entirely on the symbolism of the Elven gods, but if Bioware really wanted to hone in on the Athena/Athena Nike parallels, they might have thrown in the trumpet/laurel/palm leaf symbolism with the statues, alongside the dragon wings.

If this were the case, then maybe, just maybe, Inquisition would’ve then earned the use of this sculpture in the game.

Sources not listed above/Further reading if you're interested

https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/a-stairway-to-victory

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1412/winged-victory-the-nike-of-samothrace/https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/hellenistic/a/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace

#da lore #da meta #mythal #temple of mythal #dragon age #da lore and meta #yo this has been simmering and brewing in my brain for like 8 years now not kidding #and im already neck deep in like..... figuring out the evanuris and trying to tie them into real world mythology and thats super fun too!!! #watch as this consumes and destroys me #my writing

[zqmbiescorpse]

𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗥 𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗘..

kaitlyn ka x female reader

a/n: i've been dying for kaitlyn fics, and just the quarry fics in general, because there's hardly any and that makes me want to cry. anyways, first thing i'm hopefully posting so no bullying pls. no werewolves! also sorry if the ending feels like it could be improved, i just really wanted to be finished with this <3

warnings: nothing serious, some making out

word count: 2.4k

(masterlist)

The joyous, fun atmosphere surrounding the gentle flicker of the campfire quickly disappeared, leaving the mood somewhat awkward as everyone who had remained (being Dylan, Ryan and yourself) turned towards Kaitlyn with a disappointed look.

"What?" questioned the small ravenette, sensing the glares from the three of you while she feigned innocence at the situation she, may have, intentionally, created.

"You totally ruined the party man," Dylan absentmindedly responded, taking a sip of whatever beer was left. All of you were a little tipsy, sober enough that thinking clearly wasn't an issue but drunk enough to feel a warm woozy sensation floating around your bodies.

In all truth, you weren't bothered in the slightest by the absence of Jacob, Abi, Emma or Nick. You did like them, sure, though being with them throughout the summer was often challenging - you typically found yourself enjoying the company of the others instead.

The four of you had stuck together for a large portion of the time, and you felt you'd become pretty close; so close that, naturally, you formed a humongous crush on the confident, very attractive, super cool dark-haired girl that was sometimes a little mean to you.

With Kaitlyn, you could never be quite sure about how she felt about you, there had been a few occasions where you doubted if she even liked as a friend. She was hard to read and you were a bit sensitive so, as you can imagine, things got tricky - having a ton of feelings for her only made you suffer greatly.

Then again, when these times occurred where you were miserable, Kaitlyn would periodically open up to you and let you know that, yes, she did appreciate you. Small moments of affirmation after so much doubt made you feel so unbelievably fuzzy inside. Unfortunately, the pair of you were tremendously insecure, because of this, there was a lot of dancing around each other the entire summer, similarly to Nick and Abi.

Suddenly desperate to relish in what could be the last evening with her, a rapid demand to continue the entertainment of 'truth or dare' came spilling from your mouth.

'Someone's...eager," Ryan chuckled slowly, glancing over at you and then at Dylan with a knowing glint in his eye.

Following this, Dylan offered, "Y/N's just disappointed she didn't get to smooch anyone this evening."

"You and me both, Y/N."

It was such a quiet array of words yet everyone heard Kaitlyn mutter them - nobody said anything back.

You were so hopelessly in love with her, that you couldn't help but hang onto anything Kaitlyn said that remotely resembled a reciprocation of feelings.

Shyly, you lifted your gaze from the muddy floor to your friends around you, careful not to stare directly at her gorgeous face. Whatever you were about to say next needed to be calm, one hundred percent normal and definitely not suggestive of anything.

With a brief amount of consideration and overthinking, you said, "Well, I don't know, what else is there to do right now? We can keep playing without the others."

You needed to stop working yourself up over such minuscule things; with Kaitlyn anywhere near you, you couldn't control yourself. Not being a fumbling mess was incredibly difficult.

"Yeah sure, why the fuck not?" Dylan chimed back in with a sense of glee, intrigued to see what would happen next.

"Cool alright, Kaitlyn?"

Deep down, it was clear to you that she would join back in, but part of you still inwardly thanked Ryan for ensuring that she was interested in continuing.

"I'm in, of course," A short pause. "You're a bit far away from us Y/N, you should get a bit closer, come here..."

Watching as Kaitlyn patted the empty space on the rough log impatiently, indicating you join her, an eruption of warmth covered your cheeks at her attention being on you; her wanting you next to her.

"Yeah, come on over here Y/N!"

Obviously, it didn't feel as special when Dylan said it, though, you appreciated how it got rid of some of the tension.

"Okay okay, yes, I'm coming," You spoke up, giggling, absolutely infected with giddiness that was bursting to show. You're sure it did, a big goofy smile plastered to your face as you made your way to the opposite side of the campfire. Apparently, the delight spread to Kaitlyn since you could've sworn she was attempting to mask an excited grin too.

Immediately, a soft scent of honey mixed with something floral was all you could smell, each and every time you inhaled. It made you feel very comfortable.

"Who wants to start it off this time?" inquired Ryan, yet your attention was instantly torn away from him due to the sensation of a soft, smaller hand brushing over your slightly sweaty one.

There was not a doubt in your mind. You had already jumped to the conclusion that it was intentional. From doing an action so small as turning away from you to face Ryan, how could Kaitlyn's hand touch yours in the process if it were on accident? There was no time to think rationally, you were already freaking out like mad. And she loved it.

"I'll go."

Leaving no room for arguments, Kaitlyn's head whipped back round to face you once more, this time with a playful theme prominent within her features.

"Y/N. Truth or dare," she asked, intently, her pretty eyes trained on your very nervous self.

You couldn't pick a place to focus your line of sight, eyes darting from her straight to the floor and back at your two shaky hands resting in your lap. Not in a million years were you prepared to answer 'dare'. In what world did you have the confidence.

Telling yourself it was the sensible response, you requested 'truth' like the jittery coward you are - to nobody's surprise but to Kaitlyn's disappointment.

"Tryna play it safe, are we, Y/N? I'm not letting you off that easily," was all she said as you sat there, patiently awaiting for whatever abomination that was heading your way.

Finally, you observed as her eyes lit up with a sudden delight; her full attention, once again, solely focused on you, not quite prepared for what was coming next.

"Out of everyone here, meaning me, Dylan or Ryan, who would you be the most interested in dating...and you have to answer otherwise it's no fun."

The situation wouldn't have felt awfully suffocating if it weren't for your stupid crush, which you were starting to suspect Kaitlyn was fully aware of. Her plump lips contorted mischievously into something smug - a perfectly arched eyebrow raised while she continued staring you down.

Because of the intense stare and immense amount of pressure you felt you were under, you missed a faint flash of worry flicker in her eye at your hesitation; uncertain whether or not her question had backfired on her.

Words couldn't describe the newfound urge tugging at your stomach to let her know that you so badly wanted to date her, to be with her, to kiss her. You couldn't handle rejection in the slightest but also couldn't bare the thought of letting this go on much longer - missing your chance when you had it.

You felt yourself tearing apart because of a silly crush on a girl who was way too good for you; evidently taking this unimportant game way too seriously. This time, you locked eyes with Kaitlyn, your heart racing, making an effort to bring any remnants of confidence together to prepare an answer.

"Uhhhh, I'd probably wanna date you, Kaitlyn?"

You had never experienced something simultaneously this underwhelming and overwhelming. Really, your response was very simple, basic, and not that huge. If, by chance, the beautiful ravenette was utterly disgusted by your answer it could be put down to merely a game and everyone would move on. You would be devastated but you'd get over it.

Having said that, repulsion was the last thing Kaitlyn felt regarding your answer, instead, a frantic fuel ignited within her. For a moment, she kind of just gawked at you, a bashful awkwardness radiating from your features.

"Truth or dare," she asked once more, this time the question coming across as more demanding, and a slight shake was apparent in her voice. Desperation spurred over her yet she seemed to be concealing it quite well, aside from the little chew on her lip while she awaited your answer, the nervous habit being the only indication of how Kaitlyn felt.

"Hey, what!" Dylan interjected, "Why are you going again, Kaitlyn? It's Y/N's turn."

Though you had to admit that Dylan's disapproval was amusing, you were too engulfed in whatever was happening between you and her. Nothing but you and her. Bathing in her alluring nature, you really did not mean to take this long to respond, you shouldn't be keeping someone that exquisite waiting.

"Dare..."

To outsiders, the atmosphere didn't appear tense at all. The luminous blaze of the golden camp, flickered and your chest tightened by the second.

"I dare you," Kaitlyn breathed out, her words trailing off implying a wane in confidence. Again, she was doubting herself, even when, at this point, the both of you had been as open as you could about your intense romantic interest for each other without explicitly saying anything.

You observed her complexion closely, each insecurity conveyed on her face made your heart rate increase consequently. You yearned for her to give in and do something to relieve all the built up anxiety, yet couldn't blame her too much since you found yourself incapable of initiating the first move.

An abrupt change conjured. Kaitlyn ostensibly bolder.

"I dare you to kiss me."

Silence. You inched forward but couldn't quite make it all the way. You didn't know what it was, something was holding you back. Also, with the audience of the two boys, you couldn't help your sheepish nature.

As though she couldn't handle it anymore, impatient because of your hesitancy, Kaitlyn took matters into her own hands and closed the gap, her soft lips meeting yours. Certain she would tease you about your failure to for fill the dare, you decided it was best to concern yourself with it later - a highly insignificant worry, really.

The kiss didn't last too long. The bliss you felt quickly overpowered by insecurity, and maybe disappointment too. You had hoped the moment you had been chasing for months would at least be longer than a few seconds. Grateful you got to kiss her, yet, you needed more.

"That was...terrible. I'm sorry," You mumbled bashfully, barely audible for Dylan and Ryan.

"Nu-uh baby, it was good," She whispered back, then tugging your face toward her once more.

Whereas the first peck was delicate, shy and over in a few seconds, in this instance, the kiss was deepened almost immediately. Her gentle hands cupped your flushed cheeks, promoting you to tightly grasp at her clothes. It took all of your power to not let any whimpers or whines escape you, making out with someone while other people were around was embarrassing enough as is.

"Okay...guys..." Ryan, being the first to speak up, broke the immersion, the two of you reluctantly pulling away from each other.

"Totally digging how happy you are right now, but, you know, lodge is empty..." Dylan chimed in, somewhat less awkward than Ryan.

You shared a look with Kaitlyn, your shortness of breath mirrored after your lips had been pressed against one another's for an extended period of time.

"Sounds great, thanks Dylan," Kaitlyn rose from her place seated on the log, enthusiasm oozing from her. "Let's get going huh, Y/N?" She proposed, laced with sultry.

You stayed seated, a little dumbfounded about the kiss and relishing in the electric sensation circulating in your body. Kaitlyn gripped your wrist, gaining your attention as her request caught up with you.

"Uh, yeah...yes we should go," Stumbling over your words, you got up, waved to Dylan and Ryan and began your journey back to the lodge. Incoherent mumbling could be heard from the pair left behind. You ignored it, giggling slightly and walked beside Kaitlyn.

When you arrived, you opened up the wooden door and stepped inside, Kaitlyn not giving you an opportunity to voice your opinion on anything; her mouth soon latched onto yours.

It was hungry, and you returned the passion. Although she may have been smaller than you, she still forced you up against one of the aging walls of the building; her tongue buried in your mouth. There was no fight for dominance, Kaitlyn was in control, not that you minded. It was such a rush, her lips all over your cool skin, your trembling hands in her dark hair, the occasional raspy chuckles from her, and the whines from you. Anything either one of you did spurred the other on wildly.

Eventually, distances had to be created since you couldn't keep going without catching your breath.

"I can't believe it took us that long to do this. We could've been having hot make-out sessions all summer" Kaitlyn beamed with genuine delight, her hands retreating from being all over you to placed on her hips, taking her usual sassy stance.

"I know," You agreed, laughing," I was so scared about being rejected"

"It's okay, I was equally terrified. Better late than never I suppose. At least we know now." The ravenette smirked, gazing into your eyes, entertained by how dishevelled you looked, encouraging her to admit, "I seriously am so fucking attracted to you."

Again, you let out a giggle, a noise that Kaitlyn thought was endearing. "Well, I've been fawning over you for like ages now." You blushed, the confession sparking a wave of heat to pass over you. Even though your actions had already said enough, disclosing the information made your shoulders feel externally lighter.

"It does really suck that it's the end of camp, going our separate ways and all" You continued, dejectedly. You were overjoyed that you were finally sharing these movements with Kaitlyn but hated yourself for holding off this long.

She examined your rapidly declining mood, likewise, she was regretful for waiting, however, not an ounce of uncertainty clouded her mind.

"What is there to worry about? Of course, we can stay in touch, I'm serious about this and...I do want to be with you." She reassured you, offering a loving smile filled with comfort. "Just give me your number, baby."

#the quarry #the quarry fanfic #the quarry fandom #the quarry kaitlyn #kaitlyn ka #kaitlyn ka x reader #dylan lenivy #ryan erzahler #emma mountebank #jacob custos #until dawn #supermassive games #the quarry x reader #until dawn x reader #lgbtq #fanfic #fanfiction #x reader #x female reader

[the-solar-system52]

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. YOU'RE FUCKING KIDDING ME.

(screenshot of past theory)

(end screenshot)

WHAT THE SHIT. WHAT THE FUCK.

IM SCREAMING. IM SHAKING.

IM GOING INSANE. IM EXPLODING.

IM ABOUT TO FLATLINE AND DROP DEAD.

I AM A PROPHET. I PROPHECISE.

Okay my insane luck aside, this is EXTREMELY interesting.

It is obviously a reference to the Charlie Chaplin mirror maze from 'The Circus'.

We will also most likely have some Negative shenanigans in this maze. But there's one theory I've been thinking of for awhile that I want to talk about now.

Who owns the House of Lead?

The House of Lead is the House of Paint's equal. Madras used to own Paint House, but then gave it to Hero. Whomever owns the house is able to, subconsciously or consciously, change the houses shape and form with their mind.

When the House was first introduced, I assumed The Butterfly owned the Lead House, since they fled to it after RGB fought them off. But now I'm not so sure. The House did trap them and make the door vanish, but it's clear The Butterfly is hostile and wants to attack them. So if they were able to control the house, why wouldn't they just throw an imaginary weapon at them or something? As of right now, RGB and Hero are just wandering around the house freely. Plus, we haven't seen The Butterfly anywhere in the house yet, and they'd have to be able to see RGB and Hero to manipulate what they interact with.

So, what if, Negative owned the House of Lead?

I've mentioned before how I think the houses are suppose to be metaphors for Negative and RGB, plus they share a similar black and white design.

In this page, the staircase looks a lot like Negative's eye.

This also puts the events of this chapter in new context. We don't know a lot about Negative's personality or motivations, but I'll still do my best to analyse what this means.

I think Negative wants Hero to tell RGB about him.

First, he traps them in the house, which forces them to have downtime to talk. Then, Hero starts explaining about Negative. Then, the aforementioned staircase.

But then, RGB tries to move away from the conversation and move onto something else. The second he does, they appear in the very symbolic mirror maze. Which I'm guessing will force RGB to confront Negative.

Why he want him to know, I dunno, but it does make sense for Negative to be able to see what they are doing, since it's implied he has RGB's memories.

Though, if we think about the theory that The Butterfly created Negative, or is related to him is some other way, then these parallels would still make sense if The Butterfly was the owner.

Its hard to say when we know so little about both characters goals and motivations, but if I had to take a guess now, I'd say Negative owns the house, but we'll have to see.

ANYWAY AAAHAHAHHSKSPAKAMAKAAOSKKSSJ IM SO EXCITED OH MY GOD AOSKSSSPPAPAK

#tpoh #the property of hate #tpoh rgb #tpoh negative #negative rgb #rgb #tpoh negative rgb #tpoh speculation #tpoh theory

[kimkhimhant]

I love the instinctual gravitation towards warmth it's one of my favourite pieces of fiction,, I'm curious what inspired you to write it/how did you come up with the premise

(no pressure to answer <3)

ahhhh hi thank you so much for the question and for reading TIGTW! i'm so glad you enjoyed it!!

honestly, there were a few things that inspired the particular plot, and all of it had to do with my own analysis of Kim as a character. if you hadn't noticed, i kind of obsess over him.

gonna start with two canon moments that influenced the direction of the story a lot:

this first one: kim staring at his empty hand after chay gets up, after kim himself was unable to say i love you. i think its a beautiful moment for kim's character – the emptiness and visceral loss. he didn't commit any physical harm, but it still manages to mirror the common trope of a character staring at the blood on their hands after killing someone. and the second one: we only see this scene on reflection and not when it happens chronologically, and it's so briefly shown we don't know what happens before or after, but in this moment, Kim looks wrecked. he's sitting there listening to Chay sing his love song in the studio, and he can't handle it. he looks like he's about to have a panic attack, and he gets up and leaves, and we don't know what happens next.

So TIGTW starts with that scene. the "what happens next."

So that kinda sets the stage for what aspects of canon most inspired me lol. I guess the main inspiration for the premise beyond that is personal experience and projection. We see very little of Kim as a character beyond what he shows to other characters in the show. (maybe that's intentional to the story-telling. we know as little about him as the other characters. we get only a couple brief scenes of him alone, either investigating, or playing the guitar/writing while daydreaming about Chay and smiling). but what we do see is someone who's very isolated and who flounders in the face of affection, but seems desperate for those little moments of warmth he gets with Chay. so in comes projection: here's an isolated and lonely boy with a fucked up family and a childhood that likely lacked a lot of emotional warmth – let's give him all the problems that hit closest to home for me.

An opioid high feels like a jacked up version of love and joy and warmth. Kim can't get those feelings anywhere else, but... he could get them here. He's scared of emotional attachment, he's scared of being Known, but a feeling of love and safety that he's in control of, that he can enjoy in private? he'd cling to it.

Im gonna be honest, I didn't have a full plot when i started writing it. I'd only planned up to chapter 11: Kim spiralling after fucking things up with Chay, and then getting shot saving Chay because he was under the influence, and this being the turning point for him getting clean. Everything after that was just the natural progression that seemed to make the most sense for his continued recovery. because i really really wanted to portray a real recovery process, that wasn't just: oh, he has love now, he has Chay and his brothers and he decided to get clean now and that's that. he's sober and recovered and happy and the story is over. because that's not how it works. by the time i finished the main story, i had about a dozen different updated outlines, because it developed more and more with every chapter i wrote lol.

i guess the short version of this answer would be: i saw myself in him, and i wanted to give him healing and a happy ending, no matter how long it takes for him to get there.

sorry for the huge tangent, and thank you again for reading and your continued interest in the story! it means a lot to me, especially because the story itself is so important to me.

#benji talks #asks #the instinctual gravitation toward warmth #kimchay #kim theerapanyakul #kpts #kimchay fic

[coldflasher]

so me and my friend had to put our flash (re)watch on pause for a while bc she broke her ankle so we haven't seen each other in a while, but we finally picked season 8 back up and. god. i don't even have anything funny or insightful to say about it because it's just bad. it's so bad. and i couldn't even put my finger on why it was so bad at first, but eventually my friend pointed out that like. NOTHING happens. the characters literally just stand in a circle and talk. then whenever something DOES happen they go "hey so this thing just happened, hold on a sec while i describe it word for word in case you missed it." there's no action 90% of the time and there's no meta of the week for the most part so every episode feels samey and directionless as we slowly crawl our way towards a resolution of a plotline that isn't particularly compelling anyway

the characters are flat and nothingy. barry, the main character of the show, does FUCKING NOTHING EVER. there was one scene where he was running down the street, which he obviously used to do in every single ep, and my friend was like "holy shit i feel like we haven't actually seen him RUN in ages" and she was right. the man whose WHOLE SUPERPOWER IS RUNNING VERY FAST DOESN'T RUN ANYWHERE ONSCREEN FOR LIKE SIX EPS STRAIGHT. we see him run in and out of rooms but never see a straight shot of him running TO anywhere. WHY?

then there's the fact that the overarching plots are bad. the characters are split into two factions that don't interact at all. iris having time sickness could be cool and interesting and there's lots of potential for interesting character work there, but instead of making anything happen they have her sit on a couch and not touch anything in case she erases it from the timeline.

at one point she literally GOES MISSING and barry just. DOES NOTHING?? im sorry, fuck whatever else is happening, you know if iris disappeared he'd be tearing the city apart looking for her but all that happens is cecile is like "omg barry i can feel that you're sad, what's going on??" and he's like "iris is missing, im worried about her." WHAT!! THEN FUCKING LOOK FOR HER YOU DINGBAT!! i've said this before but s1-4 barry would absolutely beat the shit out of this version of himself if he found out about this

and don't even get me STARTED on caitlin and her almost husband, the skeleton fire demon who eats grief---again, this had the bare bones (pun intended) of an interesting plotline; a meta that feeds off people's grief could actually be really powerful and interesting to explore, but he's a magic skeleton from another universe who tricks her by pretending to be her dead husband so it's just stupid. at one point the characters like "why are we doing this plotline now, 7 years after ronnie died?" and i'm like yes, why ARE we? because again, having caitlin fall prey to the manipulations of a malevolent force that feeds on grief would actually be very topical and interesting if it had happened in, say, s2, when ronnie had just died for the second time. if her grief was fresh and raw and painful it could be conceivable that she'd be desperate enough to go "well i thought he was dead once and he survived, maybe he did it again", and cling to that, allowing herself to be tricked into believing this evil sentient flame skull was really ronnie. but it's been SEVEN YEARS and she literally just got a new boyfriend who has no personality and who we never see again, so it doesn't make any sense and i don't care. also the show keeps trying to convince you to care by having caitlin go "ronnie was such a valuable member of the team, you knew and loved him!!" and it's like... did we though? did we really? he's never made a big impression on me personally. the only character who was close to ronnie and actually knew him was cisco and he's not here. they added a few flashbacks and a proposal scene to try and make us care more about the caitlin/ronnie relationship but they didnt do anything for me because i was too busy staring at danielle's terrible wig. like babes that is NOT what caitlin's s1 hair looked like, did you even try

the skeleton fire demon stuff is actually kind of enjoyable to watch at times purely because it's so fucking ridiculous, the whole thing is a trainwreck, so i did somewhat enjoy getting to make fun of it but JESUS CHRIST IT'S SO TERRIBLE. HOW DID THE SHOW FALL SO FAR. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED

#helen's flash rewatch

[sapphire-weapon]

So. I gotta say some shit.

I think we all have a tendency to be more gracious to Ada's character than she rightfully deserves. I'm guilty of this, too. We all want to give her the benefit of the doubt and insist that her character serves a purpose and is worth talking about because she's A. such a huge part of Leon's character and B. the only non-white member of the cast, but like.

There's nothing there.

I noticed this when I rewatched Separate Ways recently (because fuck ever playing that shit again holy fuck Separate Ways sucks to play).

After RE2, Ada isn't a character anymore. She has absolutely no arc; her character never develops or goes anywhere. She's not tied to anyone or anything in the plot in a way that matters -- even her relationship with Wesker doesn't fucking matter, because there's no fallout or consequence as a result of anything she does to/with/for him, whether it's beneficial to him or against him. She has only one facet to her personality: snarky and mysterious. We never see her emote or speak in a context removed from either of those two qualifiers. Ever.

She has some softer moments here and there, but they last for like a single line of dialogue or two and then the scene just completely moves on without them -- so, those softer moments never actually matter anyway.

She doesn't enhance or enrich Leon's character in any way; the only thing her character serves to do is isolate him from the main cast, which gives his character nowhere else to go other than horrible, spiraling depression because every action he takes in his life turns out to be completely meaningless -- because it's not allowed to mean anything, because he's become so far divorced from the central plot of the series.

The only functional purpose that Ada Wong actually has is as a plot contrivance to explain how a bad guy did a thing. Other than that, she exists solely as a pair of legs and tits for Leon to chase after.

We all hold out hope that Remake is going to change this and turn her into a real person with autonomous motivations and goals, and there might be some merit to that, but like

She's not there yet. She's just not. There is no there there, when we talk about Ada's character.

And this tiptoeing around that we all do to try to make it seem like we're supportive of her character just

strikes me as silly a lot of the time, man.

I understand wanting to give credit where it's due, but it's not due for Ada's character. And I understand the desire to not be seen as misogynistically bashing her, but I feel like supporting her character as it currently exists is what's actually misogynistic. Because her portrayal in canon is misogynistic.

And I also understand the desire to not be seen as being a ship war fuckhead, but like. It's not about the ships, man. It's about Ada. Specifically Ada. She just sucks, dude.

And this is coming from the person who has probably written more meta about Ada Wong in an attempt to justify her character than basically anyone else in the fucking fandom.

idk I've just been thinking about this lately while perusing EagleOne fics. It feels like everyone in this ship feels obligated to address The Ada Problem before they can start to justify a relationship between Leon and Ashley, and it's like

No, you don't. Especially in Remake canon, you absolutely do not have to bring up Ada at all. Because Remake seems very self-aware of the fact that the problem with Leon's character has always been Ada, which is why they seem to be actively writing her out of his overall arc.

Like. Let's just call it for what it is. Ada is the worst part of Leon's character. The relationship is poorly written and poorly executed and doesn't make any fucking sense for who both characters are actually meant to be. They actively hold each other back -- not as people, but as characters who are meant to meaningfully contribute to the storyline.

And idk I'm just tired. I'm just tired of always having to do the hand-wringy "oh no no, Ada's really cool and great and I'm not trying to diss on her, and her relationship with Leon actually matters" shit, man.

Because she's not cool or great and her relationship with Leon doesn't actually matter -- and if it does matter at all, it's due to the negative impact that her presence brings -- not just to him, but to the entire fucking plot of the series.

She's the worst recurring element in the entire series, and there's not even a close second.

#resident evil #ada wong

[boilingcowboy]

my post agad head canons:

if these don't make sense or are out of character im sorry lol haven't read the books in a while

-it takes pip and ravi about a year to get where they were before and about two years to make it official to other people

-for everyone else it also takes at least a year if not almost two for pip to restore her relationships with her family and friends, except cara for cara its only about a year

-the hole process of restoring her relationships and why it took that long is mainly cus pip is still pretty cautious about not wanting to raise suspicion

-two years after agad pip cuts her hair (about shoulder length so she can still put it up and out of her face) or rather cara cuts pips hair while they're having a sleepover, its a bit choppy and messy but that's okay (yes this is a hint at the series lol) but also hair has memories and even tho pip knows it's silly but she dose feel a bit lighter

-the first time pip and ravi meet in person its two months after the "hey sarge, remember me ?" text and they agree for ravi to visit pip

-the plan was that they meet up, get food and then go back to pips dorm room to talk about everything they didn't on the phone but the plan kinda goes sideways because both of them end up trying and failing not to cry while sitting in ravis car for an hour after again failing to fully let go of each other after being near each other for the first time in what felt like years

-it takes both of them a while to realise that they can now text, call or see each other if they miss the other person after not being able to but after they realise "oh we are in each others life again like fully" that's when they become the most clingiest bitches to ever exist especially when they start to see each other in person more often

-and when I say clingy I mean CLINGY in like a "somehow they manage to touch each other every 5 fucking seconds" way like they'll be standing next to each other and one of them will loop a finger through the other persons belt loops, bumping into each other while walking, adjusting the other persons clothes/hair, sitting so close their thighs are touching, leaning on each other and that's like only in public it gets worse when it's just the two of them

-they do become less extremely clingy after a few months when they both realise "okay you're not going anywhere, you're not gonna leave me again, at least in the near future" and they feel more comfortable and less anxious (for the most part)

-after pip fully comes back into everyones life again her and cara have a shit ton of sleepovers, both of them sleep better at those sleepovers

-also on that note pip and ravi rarely sleep on different beds, they always end up sharing a bed no matter what cus one of them will wake up during the night and join the other

-the first time ravi stays the weekend at pips he gets one of those blow up mattresses (cus it's like both aren't sure how comfortable the other is and shit and it's all confusing) and they fall asleep talking only for ravi to wake up in the middle of the night to find pip awake (cus one nightmares and two insomnia) and when they notice the other is awake they kinda stare at each other for a sec before pip is like "ah fuck it, can- do you- uh ?" she doesn't even need to finish her sentence

-nightmares!!!! both of them have them and sleeping next to each other helps a lot cus a lot of the time their nightmares are about losing each other so waking up and immediately having that person there definitely helps!!!

-expect that one time ravi got up to get water and while coming back pip woke up from a nightmare and pip still in the nightmare seeing almost nothing but pitch black and a shadow over her punched ravi in the face, they got a night light to turn on whenever one of the got up in the night after that

#pip and ravi #pip and cara #pippa fitz amobi #ravi singh #cara ward #agggtm #a good girls guide to murder #good girl bad blood #as good as dead #holly jackson

[monroeknoxwrites]

post-canon trans!eddie wip

eddie wasn't there for the end of the world. Or the end of hawkins anyway.

He wakes weeks later, in a hospital bed several miles away. His uncle explains that henderson kid contacted him, let him know he was alive but barely.

"I didn't think you'd make it on the ride there," his uncle says, looking at his hands. "But we couldn't take you to anywhere nearby."

He trails off, lifting his eyes filled with apologies. Like he failed him along the way somehow.

'What're you sorry for?' eddie doesn't say. 'You're only the only one who stuck around.'

What he does ask is "What happened?" How much would they tell his uncle? How would they explain the shredded state of him?

Turns out, dustin used jason and his goons as the scapegoats this time.

So the universe does have a twisted sense of humor.

Not that jason was around to contradict them -- he apparently died in the "earthquake".

All that and they failed. Must have. What else could cause that much destruction?

His uncle's info gets shaky after that. He knows the army came in, for diaster relief. Then they lost media coverage.

"A week after the quake there was some sort of aftershock? It destroyed most of what was left standing."

eddie's mouth goes dry.

His fingers fidget with the rough texture of the dull blue hospital blanket, the texture distraction enough for the panic screaming at the back of his mind.

It sounds like bats.

"What, uh. What about the people there?"

His uncle sighs. "You care about those people?" There's bitterness in his tone but only a little. Mostly he looks sad. And proud?

A lots going on, eddie isn't sure if he's processing all this right.

"I guess you would," his uncle interrupts him from asking again.

"You're little friend visited a few days ago. Brought the Harrington boy with him, older, fancy hair?"

"Steve." The name tumbles from his mouth and with it a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Yeah. They told me most of the town was evacuated before it hit. Few causalities. All their friends and families made it out safe."

robin, nancy, the other kids -- they're all okay.

He nods along. Mutters to himself. "Good. Great. I knew they'd do it."

"Of course, this was after they asked about you."

eddie snaps back to attention, shifts in the bed.

"He— /They/ asked about me? What'd you tell them?"

"Why else would they come all this way?" his uncle counters, fussing for a second with the pillows behind him.

"When they came, the doctors said you'd be awake soon. But not soon enough for them." His uncle smirks. "They wanted to wait around until you did. The head nurse chased them out eventually.”

Yeah, that sounded like dustin. Hard convincing that kid to do anything. He was sure dustin pestered steve for a ride here, that's why he stuck around so long.

"I have a number from each of them," his uncle says rifling through his pockets.

"Asked me to call if there was any change. Or let you do it if you were well enough."

"Both of them?" eddie asks slowly, like he's trying the words on and finding they don't fit right.

"Yeah. That dustin kid was pretty insistent. 'Day or night' he said."

eddie laughs, in spite of his confusion, in needing to know what they both said.

"Yeah, he's like that."

"Steve, was it? He practically pushed the kid out the door and handed me his, asked me to just let him know when you were awake again."

eddie doesn't know what to say to that. He's all too aware of his uncle's eyes on him. Searching him.

He pulls a grin, gestures at his healing wounds. "Guess he doesn't wanna see his valiant rescue wasted."

"Hm."

The conversation ends there.

For all the fucking sleeping he's been doing lately, eddie tires pretty quickly. He's nodding off by the time his uncle leaves to talk with the doctor.

He drifts to sleep with the vague impression of arms carrying him. Two sets of voices coming from miles away.

One crying, begging him to hold on.

And the other...

Hang on, man, okay? We're back, we made it out. So you need to hang on. I didn't go through all this for you to die on me!

"Don't be upset."

Not the best thing to hear in a hospital.

eddie had just finished swallowing the last bit goblin shit that passes for food in this place. Apparently different textures are bad for recuperation. Or any texture.

His uncle gives him that great opening line as soon as he's in the door. He's sitting close, speaking low.

"The doctor's coming in now. She's gonna tell you a few things."

eddie taps his fork against the tray to the rhythm of the song he played on top of the trailer. It's been stuck in his head since he woke up.

He continues in silence, waiting, shoulders subtly tense. He can guess what this is about.

"I had to put you under the other name," his uncle says, as delicately as he can. He's looking sorry again and eddie hates it.

A lopsided grin splits his face. He taps faster at the tray yet responses casually, "A few weeks ago I was sure my time was up.

"I think I can handle it."

He kept that grin on his face when the doctor came in. It knocked her off balance a little but she recovered far too quickly. Returns it with a subdued one of her own.

"Miss Munson? Would you mind me calling you Samantha?"

'Actually, I'd prefer if you called me just about anything else.'

"Sam's good."

The doctor hummed meaningfully. She cast a glance at his uncle.

"Sam, there are some sensitive subjects I need to speak with you about. If you'd rather do that in private—"

His uncle didn't move in his chair but eddie sensed him shifting into protective mode.

"And I told you I wanted to be present for this. She's... She's just woken up, it might be too much."

He stumbles over the word like it's wrong coming out of his mouth. With the guilty hesitancy of a kid swearing in front of their parents for the first time.

It lightens the wound up feeling in eddie's shoulders.

"Mr. Munson." The doctor's short tone tells eddie this is a common argument between them.

"Your niece is of legal age. It isn't appropriate for me to discuss these things with you present. The only reason we did beforehand was because her unconscious state necessitated it."

His uncle readies himself for a fight. He's never been a big fan of doctors and Eddie can tell he's extra agitated by the situation. The muscles in his balled knuckles jumped at the word 'niece'.

He cared more about this bullshit than eddie did.

Avoiding a shouting match in the middle of a hospital, eddie cuts in. "Then it doesn't really matter if he sits in on this then."

The doctor clears her throat, gives him a pointed look he willfully pretends not to understand.

"Sam honey, I don't think you quite grasp the nature of what I need to discuss with you."

"Of course not, you haven't said anything yet."

The doctor glances from his uncle to eddie, recognizes her 'polite suggestions' are a waste of time, and surrenders.

Her motherly face drops, continuing in a more clinical vein.

"Very well." She put on the glasses dangling around her neck as she read his chart. It made her appear even more severe.

"The extent of the damage to your chest was significant. In closing the wounds, we had to remove much of the damaged tissue."

Something clicks in eddie's head.

Something he really should have noticed immediately but he was too busy celebrating still being alive and knowing his friends made it out too.

The general soreness that is now his chest distracted him from another feeling: lightness.

The bandages, he didn't think because of the bandages, it all seemed normal!

The doctor mistakes his pawing at his chest, the stunned expression on his face as devastation, her voice carrying a note of sympathy.

"Easy honey, you'll open your stitches."

eddie flops back on the bed, running both hands through his hair. He lets out a sharp sound.

"This isn't easy for one so young. But I can give you the number of a doctor who specializes in reconstructive surgery."

eddie doesn't pay attention to her. He purses his lips, fisting the hands in his hair, eyes dead ahead. It's taking all the scant bit of self control he has not to shout.

His uncle takes the number, ushers her out the door.

eddie catches the pitying look she shots him from the doorway but he honestly couldn't care less.

Once she's gone, he throws his hands into the air and crows. Bad idea. Intense pain blooms in his chest and he's curling into himself, wincing before dissolving into deranged giggles.

"Careful!" His uncle scolds. "She's right about one thing: you're going to pull those stitches if you don't settle down."

"Looks like. Saving the world isn't the only boon. I got out of all this," he gasps between laughter.

His uncle shoves a paper cup of water in his hand, shaking his head but not commenting on what he said. He's used to him not making sense.

eddie needs another dose of pain meds for all his antics. Worth it.

He helped vanquish vecna and lost his tits in the process!

eddie rides the high of his prize all day. The nurses label him a menace; pestering them about how long until he can get the bandages off. Pacing the wing once they release him from the IV.

It's hard staying still.

He bets they wish he was their quiet unconscious patient again.

#stranger things #eddie munson #trans eddie #steddie #steve harrington #spoilers

[joneleslament]

I personally don't believe Legoland was pre-cyclone. I believe it is and only was post-cyclone.

Let me explain myself before you start telling me I'm wrong

Jane Doe was the one unidentified body of the cyclone disaster. She was unidentified because she lost her head and it was never found, Nor could anyone in Uranium recall her

And you might say "Oh but she just came to Uranium after her parents got arrested so nobody got used to her yet" that's where your wrong. Penny Lamb had a criminal record by 15 years of age and her brother Erza sold his medication to collage kids for money, I've never been to Canada yet but I'm sure anywhere in the world if a pair of kids that young came anywhere with a history of parents that grew weed and did and still does all that stuff? That news would spread like wildfire

And if Penny had a brother how was she unidentified if Erza could very well have went to the corner himself and outright told them she had gotten on the ride and it must be her. But again how in God's name would a card like Penny Lamb be left to a Jane Doe after all the stuff she's done back when she was 15?

Now think if Jane was originally someone else

A girl who did in-fact joined the choir late and didn't bother to talk to alot of people around Uranium because she planned to pack her things and leave as soon as she graduated

Excluding herself from any social gatherings, Any school events that aren't mandatory, only going out to get food so she can continue to live. Someone who never made friends because she didn't want to say goodbye

Someone nameless.

Think about it; With Jane originally being Penny there's a shit tone of plot holes but if Jane was someone totally different who never made herself known because she had the same goals as everyone else in the choir, It makes sense.

She'd have no friends so nobody in any of her classes could tell the corner anything, No shop workers probably didn't know more than maybe what groceries she bought every time she came, There's the possibility her parents were either out of the picture or didn't care enough to identify her; Neglectful or downright horrible parents are things that can happen in the real world and which we see with Mischa, Noel, And Ocean

And let's be honest, Ocean's parents were most likely not the ones to come claim her, It would most likely be people from St. Cassian and around Uranium considering how loud and "overpositive" she was which was most likely a huge contrast from everyone else

Constance we know had parents who ran the Blackwood Café which would make her well known among the town

Noel we know has a mom and was the only openly gay kid in a homophobic town and he was always told to dial it back so by that logic he had to have stuck out alot, Making him known

Mischa was the town's teenage fuck-up, He stole communion wine, He seemed to have caused some problems here and there which again makes him known

And Ricky was always acknowledged as some helpless boy because he was disabled which caused everyone to treat him hell-of-a-lot differently which obviously made him known and we know he had helicopter parents so-

And Jane? Well if she were Penny she would be well known enough to at least have a name to her corpse. But no Jane didn't get that, Which means she must have been someone duller, Someone more forgettable.

Someone nobody would know even existed till she was dead

Someone like the nameless person we see in at the fair with the choir.

And Karnak stated multiple times that he didn't know who Jane was and he genuinely feels guilty about having these CHILDREN die without doing anything so why would he lie when he can very well make them so much happier by telling Jane who she was, Having her remember so she has her own song to sing and not one of a nameless face

Think what you will but I highly doubt Penny was pre-cyclone with the amount of plot holes in that theory. But rather Penny is post-cyclone thus leaving the Cyclone's Jane Doe to a new story to begin but never an old story to tell.

(I suck at explaining shit😭)

#rtc musical #ride the cyclone #jane doe rtc #rtc headcanons #rtc theory #ocean oconnell rosenberg #mischa bachinski #noel gruber #constance blackwood #ricky potts #the amazing karnak #penny lamb #legoland

[08theverysmallhuman]

THANK GOD SOMEBODY IN THIS FUCKING FANDOM LIKES IGAGURI!!!!!!!!! OH MY GODDDD HE IS LITERALLY JUST A LITTLE GUY WHAT THE FUCK ARE HATERS SO MAD ABOUT!!!!!!! I thought the more recent scene with him and Isagi where he was given advice was incredible and I really hope we get to see more of him in future arcs still because he’s Isagi’s pal and first real rival!!! He’s silly comic relief yeah but he’s also genuinely likable and has a VERY heavy and real reason to be so driven and passionate to stick in Blue Lock! And I am SO happy seeing somebody else who likes him here FINALLY! FINALLY!!! THANK YOU

THAT MAKES WHAT. FOUR? IGAGURI ENJOYERS IVE SEEN ON HERE?? WHAT THE FUCK

FOR FUCKING REEEEAL !!!!! They're mad he's still in because it makes no sense well first of all he quite literally is established to not want to train if he doesn't have to and call him lazy and it doesn't make sense he's still in WHEN IN CANON he works hard enough to be good enough to run with the beasts blue lock is cultivating, to the point where he's actually straining his fucking body and injuring himself on equipment and throwing up???? Brother if you fall face first on a treadmill set to max you are not getting back on I don't know what to tell you. He's decided to train the thing he's good at, the same thing everyone else in the series is doing, the thing that Real Life Soccer Players accepts as an actual strategy and people are getting on his ass about it cause they can't fucking accept that he's a genuinely GOOD soccer player who's playing with actual superpowered geniuses

He's also like??? Really nice compared to some of these guys?? He talks a lot of shit but like it's comparatively tame and not really all that different from like regular team animosity? You got other people on this team saying some real out of pocket shit and you're on this guy's case about it ISAGI's ruder than this guy. He's genuinely happy for his friends when they reach a new level in their progress, he's comfortable asking them for advice and help with practice, he's literally isagi's hypeman on the field and he's cheering for every goal

It's literally just because they find him ugly there's literally no other reason. He's not even ugly he's bald but he looks fine dude he's literally living in a fucking temple what do you want from him. He might not even wanna look like this he very adamantly hates the thought of continuing to live in the temple let a man be

And yes his backstory is literally The most interesting one to me hands down I need to know what his home life is like I need to know his dad his mom his friends how he got into soccer in a reportedly strict shrine especially with his personality being like Super Not Buddhist, he prays to ask for stuff and not anywhere else, his jersey number is literally a reference to the 108 earthly desires Buddhists are meant to stay away from, that he specifically indulges in while he's away from home I wonder if he's used to being squished in a room with multiple people and that's how he finds such bizarre sleeping positions cause it's so open suddenly I need to know if he makes it out which he fucking better if he goes back I'm destroying all life on the planet let my boy go

Not even gonna get into the it shouldve kira argument I've said it a million times they only want him back because he's hot but kira was not fucking making it in blue lock . you want him to but he just fuckin wasn't maybe one day I'll get into it but you know in your heart of hearts Pretty Boy McSwaggy here was getting his fucking shit rocked

Igarashi Gurimu is a GREAT LIKEABLE AMD COMPELLING CHARACTER and just because he's not exactly bishie IT DOESNT MEAN HE'S A BAD PERSON?? Ive literally seen 'igaguri would be a pervert igaguri would be homophobic' he's literally one of the few people in blue lock who hasnt mentioned girls or romance bud. And my guy put up with shidou dude I think we're Fine

#blue lock #08.text #blue lock igaguri #08replies #the igaguri slander literally put me in this situation i was so confused on how he was in any way annoying enough to warrant all the hate #and now he's my special little guy #igarashi gurimu

[aerodaltonimperial]

So obviously Vamp and I have been tearing our hair out since last night trying to make sense of this new direction of the Darby/Nick/Fox/Christian/Lucha storyline, mostly because it just doesn't line up with everything else anymore, and finally we were like the most obvious reasoning tends to be the correct one, which means it isn't supposed to make sense because it no longer does. I really think that we were correct in that Darby was originally planned to win the TNT belt last weekend, and they changed the plans; this is why it feels like the story took a hard right turn. Because it did LOL.

One of those things that always ends up tripping me up is remembering that these stories are living, breathing ecosystems that can and do change at a moment's notice for a wide variety of reasons. So when you try to use the old pieces to justify the newest parts, they don't match. This is why Christian's focus swung around to Darby instead of Nick, where it had been, and why the comms didn't match the acting (Vamp pointed out that comms kept saying Nick was so mad at Darby for Fox, but!! Where?? Their Wed match undid all of that in one fell swoop!). But it's worth noting that most of the time when a storyline changes, they pivot away and leave things sort of just open. They haven't done that here. For whatever reason, despite Darby not being anywhere near the TNT belt anymore, all our players (minus Swerve) are in a holding pattern. They aren't shifting the story to something else, they are filling time and keeping everyone exactly where they were.

This means that most likely last weekend's outcome was changed, and as far as we can tell, there would only be two reasons for them to scrap that and push it later, which we assume they are since Christian cannot seem to stop getting all up in Darby’s business. (We thought originally that Darby was actually injured, and so they changed a potential title run, but I think he's proven that isn't the case.)

The first reason would be them pushing Darby’s win to WrestleDream, since it's in Seattle. I wouldn't necessarily put it past TK to do this, but it felt VERY short notice since Darby was literally doing a press tour two days before the PPV. We can't rule it out. They could easily be keeping them in this holding pattern because it got shifted a month later, even though I really don't see why anything would matter that much since Darby’s shot at the TNT title came a ridiculous 6 weeks after he "won" it anyway. (We have thoughts on why that happened, too.) BUT. You know. TK doesn't sleep for like 5 days and fucking invents new PPVs, so, anything is possible. 🤣 Maybe someone decided this was SUPER IMPORTANT, idk.

The second reason to push a storyline out and keep everyone in a holding pattern is because a player you need is unavailable at present. And as far as we can tell, there is only one person out who would be important to this storyline. (Swerve has, at this point, exited the narrative, as he has moved on to Adam Page.) Initially, we toyed with Fox not going to London having changed things, but he is right back in the story where they probably wanted him, and his lack of involvement doesn't explain why Christian and Lucha are inexplicably still tied to this. To be completely honest, we can't make this fucking story work without Jack. We have no other options!!! Everything else has been struck!! WHY.

I suspect we are going to see more of this holding pattern? And obviously we have gone through a lot of what this means for Nick, what this means for Darby, etc etc. But, man, what a wrench this threw in our theory crafting. It really took us awhile to just be like NOTHING HOLDS ANYMORE BECAUSE SOMETHING CHANGED.

I assume Vamp will be along shortly to add to this. There's some weeeeird pieces that don't line up with actual histories (like Christian taunting Darby that he will never have a belt when... Darby is the longest running TNT champion?) but DO line up with the parallels they seem to be running, so it's kind of a mess. I'm thinking that we are putting 10x more hours into this than they are. 🤣

#jack perry #darby allin #christian cage #deep dive ring posts #here we go again #ya girls on our theorycrafting once more

[quinloki]

"I think that's a great fic idea" good news, it is, or something very similar. Inspiration is very clearly taken from @/turtletaubwrites series Numbers Game. The reader is a financial advisor who worked for Buggy, who then ends up under Croc and Mihawk because Buggy gets in trouble for ignoring her advice and fucking up the financials. Not trying to start anything, I don't think it's stealing to riff on smth but people should maybe be a bit more up front abt where they take inspiration from. At least give the OG a shout out lol

This is one of those things where there’s not an easy cut and dry answer I can give you or agree with, and I’m going to do my best to lay out why that is.

Is it possible the idea came from the person you’re referencing, but looking at the interactions for the first chapter I don’t see Alexa anywhere, not in the likes or comments.

I don’t even see anyone I follow in there either - which is to say that fandoms are HUGE and we don’t actually all know one another. (And that’s not to say there isn’t overlap in moots, just not with that particular story.)

Now, it’s possible there’s proof somewhere, but my point is that it is statistically just as possible that it’s just a similar idea. I wrote Quicksand’s reader as being a good office worker and coordinator - they weren’t specifically the accountant, but that could also be where the idea came from.

Reader being a competent and useful person makes sense when you’re talking about the Cross Guild. Neither Crocodile nor Mihawk are particularly patient people, and Buggy is enough frustration/comedic relief on his own.

If I shouted out to everyone who had inspired every part of what I write I’d hit tumblr’s post character limit before I got to the story itself. There’s a balance in there somewhere but it can honestly be case by case.

Despite your claim of not trying to start something it very much feels like you are, and while I appreciate you wanting to see credit given where it’s due, inspiration is so interwoven and complex, it’s hard to say exactly where an idea comes from for someone. So I’m going to assume that the vibes are unintentional - I’m sure you very much mean well. (If clarification is needed I’m not experiencing any negative emotions as I say this. I’m worried the vibes are there, but I will believe they were not meant.)

Heck, I had a story idea for a Eustass kid story I was (still am) excited about and when I shared it with my friends someone mentioned it was similar to something Mombat on Wattpad had wrote. And they’re right! The setup of the reader was similar - but I didn’t scrap the story idea because the story itself is going to be different.

And I know it is gonna be different, cause I had read that story by Mombat with my own eyes! And honestly it’s very likely where the inspiration sparked, even though I didn’t consciously make the connection until someone said something.

But there’s bound to be a lot of similar ideas in a singular fandom, because we’re all working with the same source material.

Now, I appreciate the intent, cause we all wanna look out for one another and such, but calling out possible sources of inspiration is maybe a bit much. Though I will say if there’s a dozen points of commonality, then it’s probably worth the mention.

here’s a bit of food for thought - Eustass Kid calling the reader Mouse is something I’m fairly well known for, and it wasn’t even my idea - and the friend I picked it up from had picked it up from someone else. Kaku calls reader Filly in most my one-shots but that’s from another friend. Penguin and Shachi calling reader lil’ Shoal was all my idea, but also I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else thought it up too.

Now, my long and exhausting reply aside, I do want to thank you for putting turtleaub on my radar. Her writing looks wonderful and I love how organized the blog and posts are. I am delighted to have something new to read even if my to read list is painfully long already. And there’s a possibility of making a new friend somewhere in there too \o/

#quin answers #anon asks #this got longer than I meant #and I’m behind on making breakfast xD #things are complex though #almost always #those knee jerk reactions can be rough #stay kind out there #the key phrase in your ask that made me nervous was #Very Clearly #it’s a strong assumption to come in with #and then say you’re not trying to start anything ^^;

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Rise of the Guardians

So I vaguely remember watching this movie at a Walmart once while I was waiting on my car to get fixed. Fuck all if I remember anything about it though other than that people ship the ice twink with Elsa or whatever. So I kind of went into this one for my first active watching of it with bare expectations. How did I end up finding it then?

The Guardians are a group of mythical beings composed of North (Santa Claus), the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and their newest recruit, Jack Frost. Together, they protect the children of the world from the villainous Pitch Black (the Boogeyman) from spreading fear across the entire world. A pretty solid setup with some good payoff, but... there are problems.

I think my biggest issue with Rise of the Guardians is... well, its ambitious. A bit too ambitious for its own good at times. It has so much it wants to establish with these characters and how their roles and powers work that it sometimes bogs itself down with all of the details and... overcomplicates things a bit too much? Like on its own, we all are familiar with the concept of Santa or the Easter Bunny, and I do appreciate how creative this movie is with executing them and the work that they do. But sometimes, it just... gets in its own way? If that makes any sense?

So a simple premise that bogs itself down in the details. Ok, what else is there about this movie to redeem it? Lots, surprisingly! The Guardians are all really fun characters in their own right, and I loved the dynamic developed between them. Jack Frost is our focal point out of all of them, and I really liked him! He's an angsty little ice twink who can't been seen by almost anyone because no one believes him, so he has plenty of baggage for compelling drama. My one issue with him though is that I don't think Chris Pine's voice works for his character design? Like I look at that character and I do not think the voice of a man cresting his mid 40s. Its just a touch weird in terms of casting.

The other Guardians are also really fun and unique takes on characters we all already know. North is a delightfully different take on Santa, still just as jolly as we know him to be, with a slick action-hero element of him to the side. The Tooth Fairy has a very sweet, fast-paced energy to her, while the Easter Bunny brings a great edge of sass to compete with Jack throughout the film. The Sandman, while not saying a word, is probably my favorite of the bunch though. He's just so charming and sweet and while he isn't in much of the movie, he makes such a strong impact every second he's on screen.

Of course, we also have our villain, Pitch Black. He's sinister and manipulative, if not a bit... predictable? Like we've all seen this kind of villain before, he isn't doing anything new, but he works well as a foil for this team, especially for Jack and I think he's an ok antagonist overall.

Visually, this movie is beautiful, so unlike almost anything Dreamworks has ever made before, with gorgeous effects and fantastically animated action sequences. The character designs are so... un-Dreamworks, but they work so nicely in the world they inhabit. That world itself is beautifully built, especially in its more fantastical setpieces like the Tooth Palace or the North Pole. The score was also lovely to listen to, capturing the sheer creativity of this movie so nicely.

At the end of the day, I think that's the perfect word to describe Rise of the Guardians. It's very creative, with a lot of love and thought clearly poured into it. It really is a shame that it didn't go anywhere further into a series or more sequels because I would have loved to see more of this team and watch them just... be together. They're that fun to watch in action. Same for the movie itself. It's good!

Overall Rating: 8/10

Verdict: All hail the Ice Twink

Previous Review (Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted)

Next Review (The Croods)

#jen watches #dreamworks watch #rise of the guardians #dreamworks #jen tortures herself with every dreamworks animated movie ever

[blackjackkent]

Here is the thing that bothers me, as someone who works in tech, about the whole ChatGPT explosion.

The thing that bothers me is that ChatGPT, from a purely abstract point of view, is really fucking cool.

Some of the things it can produce are fucking wild to me; it blows my mind that a piece of technology is able to produce such detailed, varied responses that on the whole fit the prompts they are given. It blows my mind that it has come so far so fast. It is, on an abstract level, SO FUCKING COOL that a computer can make the advanced leaps of logic (because that's all it is, very complex programmed logic, not intelligence in any human sense) required to produce output "in the style of Jane Austen" or "about the care and feeding of prawns" or "in the form of a limerick" or whatever the hell else people dream up for it to do. And fast, too! It's incredible on a technical level, and if it existed in a vacuum I would be so excited to watch it unfold and tinker with it all damn day.

The problem, as it so often is, is that cool stuff does not exist in a vacuum. In this case, it is a computer that (despite the moniker of "artificial intelligence") has no emotional awareness or ethical reasoning capabilities, being used by the whole great tide of humanity, a force that is notoriously complex, notoriously flawed, and more so in bulk.

-----

During my first experiment with a proper ChatGPT interface, I asked it (because I am currently obsessed with GW2) if it could explain HAM tanking to me in an instructional manner. It wrote me a long explanatory chunk of text, explaining that HAM stood for "Heavy Armor Masteries" and telling me how I should go about training and preparing a character with them. It was a very authoritative sounding discussion, with lots of bullet points and even an occasional wiki link Iirc.

The problem of course ("of course", although the GW2 folks who follow me have already spotted it) is that the whole explanation was nonsense. HAM in GW2 player parlance stands for "Heal Alacrity Mechanist". As near as I've been able to discover, "Heavy Armor Masteries" aren't even a thing, in GW2 or anywhere else - although both "Heavy Armor" and "Masteries" are independent concepts in the game.

Fundamentally, I thought, this is VERY bad. People have started relying on ChatGPT for answers to their questions. People are susceptible to authoritative-sounding answers like this. People under the right circumstances would have no reason not to take this as truth when it is not.

But at the same time... how wild, how cool, is it that, given the prompt "HAM tanking" and having no idea what it was except that it involves GW2, the parser was able to formulate a plausible-sounding acronym expansion out of whole cloth? That's extraordinary! If you don't think that's the tightest shit, get out of my face.

----

The problem, I think, is ultimately twofold: capitalism and phrasing.

The phrasing part is simple. Why do we call this "artificial intelligence"? It's a misnomer - there is no intelligence behind the results from ChatGPT. It is ultimately a VERY advanced and complicated search engine, using a vast quantity of source data to calculate an output from an input. Referring to that as "intelligence" gives it credit for an agency, an ability to judge whether its output is appropriate, that it simply does not possess. And given how quickly people are coming to rely on it as a source of truth, that's... irresponsible at best.

The capitalism part...

You hear further stories of the abuses of ChatGPT every day. People, human people with creative minds and things to say and contribute, being squeezed out of roles in favor of a ChatGPT implementation that can sufficiently ("sufficiently" by corporate standards) imitate soul without possessing it. This is not acceptible; the promise of technology is to facilitate the capabilities and happiness of humanity, not to replace it. Companies see the ability to expand their profit margins at the expense of the quality of their output and the humanity of it. They absorb and regurgitate in lesser form the existing work of creators who often didn't consent to contribute to such a system anyway.

Consequently, the more I hear about AI lately, the more hopeful I am that the thing does go bankrupt and collapse, that the ruling goes through where they have to obliterate their data stores and start over from scratch. I think "AI" as a concept needs to be taken away from us until we are responsible enough to use it.

But goddamn. I would love to live in a world where we could just marvel at it, at the things it is able to do *well* and the elegant beauty even of its mistakes.

#bjk talks #ChatGPT #technology #AI #artificial intelligence #just thinking out loud here really don't mind me

[canyoufucksoniccharacters]

ilvr

Our favorite boy!! I think this is a good way to start talking about the heavy hitters for this blog, and gets us on our way to talking about the blue blur himself.

Unfortunately, I'm probably gonna be breaking a lot of hearts on this one, probably. Let's get to it, why don't we?

Can you fuck Silver The Hedgehog?

Alright, let's get started. As always, we're gonna look for an official source- and Sonic Channel is the only official source on this matter. I've got to clarify, again- these ages are no longer listed. They were removed around the time of Frontiers' release; around October of 2022, specifically. So, these are taken from the Wayback Machine.

Alright's let's see here...

This is... Our youngest yet! Or, well, allegedly youngest, anyways. Again, these ages no longer hold any weight (if they ever did, anyways, which they likely didn't.) since they're unlisted. Unlike the other ones, this one doesn't seem to be sourced from anywhere. I could check every single manual for every game Silver has been in, but that's way above my paygrade. I checked 06, and ages are listed absolutely nowhere. However...

I can tell you for sure that this age is actually not baseless. Let's quote Shun Nakamura, game designer for Sonic Team. Before the release of Sonic 06, The Sonic Stadium conducted an interview with Nakamura. One of the questions was this;

"Silver is young and a little immature, but that's also what attracts me."

Silver was, from the start, written and designed as a young and inexperienced character. It really does show, too- in just about all his depictions, he's much less mature than both Sonic and Shadow, the characters he resembles the most. He's just about always depicted as a rookie, still learning; which is admittedly not inherently a trait of a young person, as even adults are still learning every day and can be inexperienced in whatever field they're thrown into, but it's very clear Silver's youth is meant to be linked to his inexperience.

Additionally, this isn't an outdated statement at all- after all, IDW can help us out here!

This is repeated again in Issue 64, the one right after the one this is sourced from, Issue 63.

Note the different background color... Despite everything else being the same.

These profiles are used on the start of Issue recaps. Although you might question me using IDW as proof, there's good reason to believe it's either canon or pretty damn accurate to the source material. In the form of...

Confirmation from Ian Flynn himself! Reminder, he's the main writer for these games now! He wrote Frontiers, and likely will keep writing Sonic Games going forward. He also writes most of the stuff for IDW, so that's worth taking into account. So either IDW is canon, or it reflects the canon of the games.

To top it all off, a personal point that I'm bringing up purely for my own nerdy reasons- Silver's inspiration.

Here's a quote from the leaked script of Sonic 06;

"He possesses some special powers which can draw upon the Emeralds. It is unknown how he got these powers, though. Essentially, think Trunks from Dragon Ball Z."

The character being talked about here is Future Trunks, a time traveler from the future who goes back in time to warn the cast about the Androids that destroyed his future, so they can train in preparation for the invasion, as well as giving Goku medicine for a heart virus he succumbed to in the timeline Trunks comes from.

Trunks, much like Silver, is young and inexperienced- being 17 years old at the time of his arrival in the present. He does later go into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, a space where one year inside the chamber equals to one day outside of it, so by the end of the arc he's older, but still- he's young, most certainly underage, inexperienced, rash, and has a very strong sense of justice. Trunks is the direct inspiration for Silver, it's has been stated as such. So, with all this, it makes sense that Silver would be younger than everyone else around him, as was the case for Trunks.

So, with all this, Silver is undeniably younger than everyone around him, and it can't really be by a slight amount, otherwise it wouldn't be considered an important part of his character. This still holds true to this day, if IDW is anything to go by. Although he does have one slight saving grace- the passage of time. Time absolutely does pass between Sonic games, with at minimum a year and a half having passed since the modern series began (1 year due to Sonic's birthday in Generations, 6 months from the Forces timeskip) as well as, less verifiably but still worth taking into account, the PSN description for Sonic Heroes saying the game takes place 5 months after Adventure 2. There's some leeway for him to be of age in modern day, and it will get more likely as the series goes on, but it's a small margin.

Conclusion:

Silver is, most likely, underage. He's seemingly the youngest non-child character, he's consistently portrayed as inexperienced and naive, and overall, it's very very unlikely he's an adult. The chance isn't 0%, admittedly; again, the passage of time in the series gives him some leeway, and that leeway will only get larger as the series continues, so there's some small chance that he's an adult, aka able to consent, but it's small. You would be playing a risky game, and I could not possibly bring myself to endorse it.

So, the verdict is;

You, most likely, cannot fuck Silver The Hedgehog. There's a small chance that you can, but it's very small, and I would not recommend risking it.

not sorry for the Dragon Ball side tangent. it's good. really good.

#silver the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #sth #status: likely unfuckable

[morgan-n-cheese-91]

I think is really funny when people are like it's Anakin's own fault that he fell and it's like yeah did he make that choice in the end. In the end was it his choice completely? Yes and I won't argue that fact.

What I am going to argue is the fact that you do need to look back and see the factors that went into that choice. Let's break this down from the beginning of when we meet him and how that seems to have alter the fact that leads to this ending choice.

First we're introduced to him he's out in the market by himself find these strangers basically brings them home him and his mom share like the little stuff that they have. We then find out that he is a slave to a bug man, which that can be an entire another thing of the dehumanization of the slavers so that the general population was watching feels not connected and refuses to like feel sympathy for them in the same way that like the droids Stormtroopers and the clones are all dehumanized. But that's the point for another discussion. They run some tests on him and they're like oh my God this kid is the most powerful fucking being in the galaxy. That right there kind of sets him up as a bargaining chip not going to lie from that moment on Qui-Gon doesn't want him to be free because he's a person. Qui-Gon wants him to be free in that moment and continuously on because Anakin is so strong in the force and he's scared that something is going to happen and this really powerful kid is going to become a really powerful adult that's going to hurt somebody. And not even in like a caring about other people kind of way but in this kid's going to be used as a weapon why not make him our weapon first.

So he makes a bet with Anakin's owner that if Anakin can win in a fucking death race after cheating at dice. Anakin becomes in the terms of the time and place becomes Qui-Gon's property, with the intention of setting him quote unquote free. And I think the worst part about this is that when he frames it to Anakin that this is going to happen he frames it like he tried so hard to free both him and his mother not mentioning the fact that it was a "can I also free the mother as well? no she's too valuable. okay" there was no fight for Shmi not at least the same amount of fight that there was for Anakin.

Then we all know Anakin wins the damn race earns his freedom has his entire life been told how the Jedi are these mystical warriors who are bringing Peace and freedom to the Galaxy yet can't be bothered to help his mother his best friend and his community who are all slaves. It doesn't seem too far of a reach for me for that to be corrupted later on in his life of that what is this peace and FREEDOM that they are talking about when they couldn't help your people. And then is he going before a council is very important people and they basically test him on his like abilities in the force which like that makes sense intro exam. But then to be told that you're too angry about your past of like 3 days ago about being a slave and you're too attached to your mom who up until 3 days ago you've never been apart from and being apart from ment something really bad is going to happen, like being sold, so you are not being welcomed into the place you were taken from your home for and the girl you met 3 days ago said you could live with her but your mom is still a slave and not categorized anywhere as a human with rights so she could be beaten, assaulted or killed with no repercussions from the government or the people who are supposed to free the galaxy.

And then after all of that you do actually end up getting to train and be a part of the culture that you were told you were too angry for to attached to your mother for only because the man that quote unquote rescued you dies and his final wishes that you are trained. I don't know about most people but I feel like that would create a lot of resentment not only of the child who is being trained but also the feeling of guilt and that someone else resents you because the only reason you were there is because someone died. That is a lot of pressure to put on a child. Which makes it very easy for someone who is actively trying to groom a 9-year-old let's repeat that groom a nine-year-old into being the evil version of himself.

Which then also brings you on to the point of for a community that seems to very much centralize itself around its children it most definitely failed one of its most vulnerable by letting a 9-year-old be accessed by the most powerful man in the galaxy the fucking chancellor who is at least 50 years his senior with no supervision or activized dismay. Hell I wouldn't want to politician alone with a fully grown adult most of the time let alone a 9-year-old traumatized child. So does no wonder that by the time that he was in crisis he did what any logical person would have he went to the person who had been giving him support and trust for the last 14 years. Unfortunately due his past treatment that was not the people who actually could have helped him but rather the person who wanted to maintain control over him.

Tldr: it isnt any wonder why Anakin fell. He through a majority of canon was treated as something to be used or discarded rather than a person and that was used against him by Palpatine.

#star wars #anakin skywalker #I hope no one gets from this that I like Qui-Gon Jinn #Between the shit he pulled with Anakin #And the absolute fucked up way he treated Obi-Wan #I really don't care if he does fit the mode for the Jedi #His behavior to people who are supposed to be reliant on him as minors it's not be coming no responsible