#DONT BUTCHER ME ITS MY FIRST TIME WRITING THIS STUFF

[dootdootwriting]

"bro did you just pick a random manga image off of google and edit it for your 700 event?" yes. and what about it.

good afternoon beasties um so i will be doing a 700 follower event and also trying my hand at writing smut at the same time!! request something for the event to fulfill your wildest desires (sorry) and to watch me flop around writing smut like a fish out of water (×﹏×) (i jest. i am excited for this i think it will be fun!

minors, don't even fucking think about requesting . obviously i can't stop you but PLEASE. for my sanity.

event guidelines:

send in an ask with a genshin character of your choosing and some letters of your choosing from the prompt list below to recieve. smut headcanons (i cannot believe i am doing this but whatever cringe is dead i'm free.)

you may only request one character at a time, however you may request as many letters at once as you want. it'll take less time for me to write shorter requests, however you could just request the whole fucking (lol get it) alphabet for childe (for example) if you wanted

event goes until september 28! and starts now. GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!

rules:

no minor characters allowed. this included characters whose ages are debatable, like chongyun or bennett

please only request male characters for this one! i'm sorry women i'm just very gay (*_ _)人 i promise i drink my respect women juice i used to be one of you guys

minors no requesting. however, most of my blog is sfw! since i'm now accepting nsfw requests i will always tag it

also, other than the no minors rule, i am now accepting requests for all male characters ingame

alphabet i will be using under the cut!! woohoo \(★ω★)/ (minors i will only say this one more time get OUT of here)

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

B = Body part (their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

F = Favourite position (this goes without saying)

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? Are they humorous? etc.)

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? Does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

L = Location (favourite places to do the do)

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

UMMM YEAH SO THATS IT (￣▽￣*)ゞ inbox is open!! RUN.

#DONT BUTCHER ME ITS MY FIRST TIME WRITING THIS STUFF #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin smut #albedo x reader #diluc x reader #kazuha x reader #kaeya x reader #tartaglia x reader #childe x reader #xiao x reader #zhongli x reader #thoma x reader #tohma x reader #gorou x reader #ayato x reader #tighnari x reader

[dreamersville]

FATGUM head cannons

an? i wrote this so long ago i just wanna clear my drafts out😭😭 soo sorry if its bad but you could always send me a request 💜.

- because hes my fav and i love him so much i just wanna tackle his 7 foot ass and love him for the rest of his life... ANYWAYSSSSS 

- this man is known by name (and sometimes order) by every restuarnt in a 10 mile radius of his agency. and i knwo your probably like “he a pro hero ofc they know his name” no. his given name and the first time it happen he was shocked 

- sings in the shower, off key, loud and proud, just straight butchering all and every song in his playlist. 

- his home is custom bulit to him. everything is like 2 feet taller than it would be for somebosy in averge height. somebody (me) said it reminds them of jack and the bean stalk and he doubled over laughing

- kiri and tamaki come over to watch cooking show because one he wouldnt be able to fit as comfortably at their dorms, and two because he got a big ass tv and watching on his tv is so much better, and he got snacks out the ass.  im talking pantry overflowing, with everything. tama used to the system but kiri swears he could get lost in it

- im sorry but, he can only cook stroke inducing food. which makes sense for quirk and what not but dont eat it unless you trying to put yourself in an early in a early grave. smothered everything, if its baked, best believe it was fired first. cheesy everythinggggg like omg, i still love him tho

- his favorite food shows be the baking shows, especially Cupcake Wars. he gets up-fucking-set if his favortite contestant loses or gets kicked off before the finalem hes gonna be talking about it for the rest of the week about how unfair it was and the judges didnt know what they were talking about because how could they not win. 

- relationships hcs or what not

- ahhhhhhh love language is most definitely acts of service and quality time. he livesss for when he got a second to just hold you, or be in your presence. it just so calming to him, the acts of service parts is bringing you food to try. ooo when he went on a mission outside of Esuha City he sends you a selfie with  e v e r y new food/ drink he tries on his mission. so expect a lot of of pictures and sometimes videos from him

- top tier cuddles in that giantic ass bed. and he has a weighted blanket with a big ass fan AND black out curtains ????? need i say more

- drags you down into his baking show addiction, but yall always tend to go for the rivals. so yall make bets on who’s gonna last longer. right now you’re winning 7 - 6 

- but you watch Extreme Cake Makers and write down recpies you wanna try and little things the contestant did so you could test it out. so you have notes deicted to ths and you sometimes go back and rewatch episodes to catch small stuff that you missed. he lovess when you get like this all nerdy and focused, it soo cute ugh. 

- likes to take you through the city at night because its look pretty at night when its lit up. you take a lot of pictures of bridges and in front of different signs and stuff

- omg, if you just so happen to walk past the shower whiles he in there singing his heart out, he’s gonna stop singing and say “take it away babe”. 

- a sucker for your southern nicknames. all the sugar, sweetness, bubs/bubba, honey. say anyyy of these and this man is at your feetready to do anything and everything just to hear you call him that again

- baby be feening for thanksgiving and christmas to come around. first time he was on a long mission, was gone for a week and came back on thanksgiving eve to see that you were cooking up a feast, he was so happy he cried.

ik the ending seems kind meh .. but then again this been sitting in my drafts

#fatgum x black reader #fatgum #mha fatgum #bnha fatgum #headcanon #aka the loml #fatgum fluff #.mha sleep talks 💤

[milo-the-professional-yapper]

Hello! about your malevolent ask

[long ass answer- many apologies]

its a slightly goofy, sort of horror soap opera, in the vein of call of cthulu/tma. I dont find it Super Scary, but idk what your milage for horror is.

The overarching plot is drivin by the patrions (sp sorry), in the style of a choose your own adventure novel- you can usually tell where the choices are; it'll be something like 'omg arthur, we're at a crossroads- do we go left, to the evil cavern (where the horrors live) or right, to the evil woods (more horrors).' You can also hear more overt RPG stylings in the beginning- dice roll sounds for perception checks, etc. These do fade out after the first season.

Rough outline (some spoilers): John (a spirit/demon type guy) possesses Arthur (a detective from Arkham MA) and, in doing so, takes over his eyes. Now Arthur must navigate the world with only the guidance of the voice in his head. Horrors unfold, walls are walked into the boys are in their get-along consciousness. Think venom, if both of them were way bitchier and prone to swearing. and also eddy was blind.

IS IT GAY: Yes and no. If its a friendship, its really intense- but cannonicaly it has been very firmly stated that they are just friends. However, the relationship is intertwined and deep enough that many people consider it to be queerplatonic- Arthur being aromantic is a very popular interpretation, if that sweetens the pot for you (idk how loosely you're using gay here). Glib answer: its pretty queer, but no kissing.

COOL STUFF:

-A dramatic, intense relationship between a guy and the dude who lives in his head. They argue ( my god how they argue) they make up, they argue again.

-The saddest little english man (arthur) gets chucked off cliffs multiple times. Do you like men whimpering? This is the podcast for you!

-Very impressive voice acting: the writer voices absolutely everyone in the podcast (yes. everyone) and its genuinely almost unnoticeable. You really do have to have it pointed out to you.

-Fun, slightly campy (in the way of an rpg campaign) Lovecraft style horror

-Lovely piano soundtrack

-A gentleman called the butcher shows up in- what season 3? maybe?- and I adore him. Go singing irishman go. You get that violent homoeroticism.

Drawbacks:

Again, I don't really know your taste, but these are some of the things that might turn someone off from listening. YMMV etc.

-LOUD. If you dont like gentlemen yelling DIRECTLY AND ANGRILY INTO THE MIC then this is not for you. If you do like that, then you are about the have the time of your life. There is also just. An incredible amount of panting/heavy breathing. Also directly into the mic, and at length. Like, an 'i am secretly watching gay pornography' amount. I had it going on a speaker once and my roommate had questions, kind of amount

-Almost no women characters: understandable, since a dude is voicing Literally Everyone- but it is something of a sausage fest. Women exist in universe, they just tend to move in the backround/be unvoiced. Lots of 'oh heres whats happened to her' sort of describing around the 'I can't voice a woman' issue. One old lady has a few voice lines and thats it.

-Kind of a soap: This is a draw for me ngl, but if you are looking for TMA 2: the magnusing- she isn't it. Its a LOT lighter than tma, writing wise, and isnt exactly hitting any crazy new twists in its plot (if you've read Any lovecraftian stuff you probably wont be super surprised by anything)BUT. Its still very fun. Two dudes sharing a body, detective roadship shenanigans. They might kiss! Might see some skinned bodies or something.

The dynamics can be a lil repetative (wake up break up back together) and the plot can be a little- ehhhh. due to it being yk, patrion controlled- but that can be fun- it's pretty heavily a choose your own adventure story at heart, so if your down with that (and the sillyness that comes with it) then you'll like it.

-Gore: pretty gory. I enjoy that sort of thing/ am not really effected by it BUT if that not your cup of tea, then you might wanna skedaddle.

🤠 thats all. Again, apologies for the very long answer.

First off- don’t apologize! This gave me everything I needed- thank you for the detailed answer to my question! Looks like I’m giving this podcast a listen- everyone wish me luck 😭

#malevolent #malevolent podcast #you said qpr and I was all in #I’m aroace so I’d love to see better rep of that kind of thing #even if it’s not explicitly stated that it’s a canon qpr

[krisseratops]

Hi! How about A9, B9 and C6? Oh, and D10!

Hiiii hon! Alright lets see...

A9. Who was your first ship?

The earliest ship I remember that I got actually invested in is Reaper76 from Overwatch. I mean, traumatized old gay men who like to shoot at each other and have a HistoryTM? It covers all the basics for me. Also this ship is what made me find AO3, so it kinda introduced me to fandom as a whole and is therefore technically responsible for all the madness that came after it.

B9. Who is your OTP?

You know, I was going to say this is a hard question because I have so many pairings I like in several fandoms and I dont really pick favorites because I like different aspects about them and also Im indecisive. And then I remembered Symbrock. And nothing really comes near the level of absolutely messy devotion of (comics!)Symbrock. So yeah.

C6. Is there anything in canon that made you want to quit the show? What was it? Why do you hate it?

Oh boy, here we go... So not a show, but allllll the shit Cates did with absolute garbage & co and what came after essentially made me quit venom comics and comics in general. Do I even need to explain myself? Like I was keeping up with Venom and also Spider-man and some others because it was fun and enjoyable. And then came the egregious retconning, inconsistencies, character butchering (both how they were written but also literally), characters dying and coming back and dying again and coming back again and fucking gods apparently and how every single issue was The Most Shocking And Dramatic Things The Characters Have Ever Been Through and everything is just edgy and grimdark and angsty and so fucking STUPID and it was just. It wasnt fun or enjoyable anymore, only exhausting and frustrating and sad. And not sad like a sad story makes you feel, but sad like watching something you care about irreparably crash and burn in real time without being able to do anything about it and knowing you can never have it back the way it was (which there is enough of IRL). So I powered through until king in black where I just said "reading this bullshit is draining and depressing and doesnt bring me anything, its not worth it anymore so fuck it" and just stopped. And with my main reason for reading comics gone I ditched marvel comics altogether because lets be honest keeping up with all the different stories and timelines and crossovers and whatnot is exhausting cuz theres just so damn much going on all the time. And why torment yourself with shitty canon when you can have wonderful fanfics tailored to your specific tastes all for free? So I quit comics, read fics instead, got into some new fandoms, indulged my hc and have ever since been living blissfully unaware of the burning dumpster fire (derogatory) that is canon. I only see glimpses of it when it crosses my dash, which I use for cherrypicking for my hc and aggressively ignore the rest.

D10. What is one story idea you really want to read but no one has written yet?

I have a whole lot of story ideas I really want to read (my hcs) that no one has written yet (that would be cuz of me not writing them). But for real, I would love more stories with symbiote & spider-people shenanigans. Like there was this one comic of Peter, Miles and Gwen meeting Venom and fighting Doc Ock toghether and they were kinda buddies? More stuff like that, that has spider/symbiote interaction besides them just trying to kill each other. Maybe it exists and I just havent found it. But like, Venom in spiderverse, they have to team up with the spider gang and they kinda get along because he doesnt have any personal beef with them. He will absolutely recite and discuss Shakespear with that medieval spiderman, be enamored with little Mayday, and be nothing but gentlemanly toward spider ma'am. The other spiders find that "yeah he is freaky and has some dubious morals but isnt actually just an evil monster, he just doesnt like you Peter". The Peter in question does not like it one bit. Him and Venom (barely) tolerate each other, as they always do when they team up, but are constantly petty and passive aggressive towards each other in a funny way, bickering like an old married couple. Because of the nature of their history they also know stuff about each other and will casually drop highly personal details about the other that makes the other spiders go "👀 you sure he's your enemy and not just your ex?". Which Peter likes even less. Other story ideas i desperately need is ANYTHING WITH ANTI-VENOM HOLY SHIT WHERE IS MY BABY!?!?!?! I need stories that let him be a silly dumbass and a pathetic wet beast and occasionally getting railed that dont just exist in my head. But the amount of content on him is just dismal. I often feel like the sole inhabitant of the ghost town that is the Anti-Venom fandom. I've come across one (1) quality fic that portrays him properly (thank you @kitausuret for your invaluable service) and good art is hard to come by compared to other characters. And I realize that if I want more art of him and an Anti-Venom x Agent Venom arch-enemies-to-reluctant-allies-to-even-more-reluctant-friends-to-how-the-hell-did-this-happen excruciating slow burn, I will probably have to do it myself, which hghgnghgnhhh will take forever, but oh well.

Well, this sorta turned into an essay that turned into an impromptu vent post. Hope thats okay and you got your answers!

#Ask #Rant #Headcanons

[yokakaiju]

tristamp thoughts/live watch ramblings

preface: i already have a very bad impression of tristamp. i literally have been into trigun for maybe a week now and i have seen most of 1998, but im trying to go into tristamp with a clear head and view it objectively, but i genuinely looked at the character designs and legatos redesign made me resent it immediately tbh...

ANYWAY, im live watching as i write this, so apologies if its sporatic

okay so the good stuff so far

uhh... its very pretty!!! ill give it that. it really shows the evolution of 3d anime over time, and as someone who typically doesnt enjoy it i think tristamp is absolutely beautiful. first 3d anime i ever saw was knights of sidonia and i have a deep appreciation for where 3d anime is now compared to a decade ago

i kinda like meryls new design the best? i like her hat, its cute. everyone else is so... eh, tho. merylls redesign is chill with me tho

roberto is fine ig. i like old men characters sometimes and like, idk whenever im not sad abt milly not being here im okay enough with roberto existing

now on to my ever growing laundry list of complaints that ik will get worse if i keep watching (spoilers for trimax probably)

one, WHY IS VASH LIKE THAT?? LIKE WHY IS HE SUCH A WHINY CRYBABY?? LIKE SHUT UP DAWG!!! idk, ik vash is a silly emotionally explosive highly insecure funny little fella and i love him for it, i think vash is a great character, but why did they make him kinda a pathetic bitch in stamp? like, i usually dont watch dubs but i am for trigun cause my tv is kinda far from my bed and i dont wanna sit uncomfortably to read subs rn (BLEH!!!), so maaaaaaaybe sub vash is better, and no shade to the va i like his voice a lot for vash tbh, but bro pls stop crying every two seconds im gonna lose it. why is vash lowkey proslavery (THIS IS A JOKE), BUT FR!!! why is he more like... idk chill with plants being used ig ????? im sure hes not really, but like... dude, you arent the same

two, okay this made me actually mad, but why in the actual fuck was knives immediately introduced and why is he like some weird well known plant stealing cave hermit??? like??? no??? he wouldnt do that??? also why is he so present in this world LIKE DOES LOST JULY NOT EXIST IN THIS CANON??? WHAT IS THIS??????? i literally hate this rewrite. like... trimax is right there dawg... you did not have to rewrite literally everything. addition as i watch episode 3, why is he like that? why can he make purple? why does he have razors??? he doesnt talk like that ever??? why is he so??? i hate him actually??? this is not the knives ik and love??? who is this skinwalker????? HE DID NOT ACT LIKE THIS IN TRIMAX WHO IS THIS??? I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THEY REWROTE KNIVES THIS WAY OH MY GOD

three, why did everyone get an objectively bland redesign? like... i dont mind vashs hair. idgaf, but i literally hate his fucking totk link "lost power source" green ass arm. why cant it just be an ugly brown robot arm with a gun in it. whys it gotts be all "cool" and "green" and "mysterious", like IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE CYBERCORE TECHWEAR NEOFUTURISM ASS SHIT!!! i havent seeeeeeen wolfwoof in action yet, but i fucking hate his tristamp design. WHY IS HE A TWINK??? WHERE ARE HIS BOOBS??? WHY IS HE NOT A PRIEST??? LITERALLY TURNED A PERFECT CHARACTER INTO A BASIC BITCH FOR NO REASON. also like... knives. why is he... why is he like that. put shoes on plz the sand is hot babygirl. why are you wearing a tumour coat and ugly matrix ass bodysuit? where did your shoulderpadded objectively cooler dio-esque military outfit go? especially tho, i DESPISE legato and livios redesigns. i think they are SOOOOO butt ugly in tristamp and FOR WHY??? WHY DID THEY MAKE LEGATO SO FUCKING UGLY??? LIKE HE WAS SO HOT IN 98 AND ESPECIALLY IN TRIMAX OH MY GOD HES SO HOT LITERALLY DROOLING THINKING ABT HIM RN MY BABYWABY BOOBOO BEAR. THEY BUTCHERED HIM SO BAD AND IT PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH!!! AND LIVIO OH MY GOD WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO HIM??? HIS TRIMAX DESIGN IS OS FUCKING PEAK HE IS SO AMAZING AS AN EYE OF MICHAEL AND ESPECIALLY AFTER HE REFORMS AND BECOMES A COWBOY BABEYYY!!!! BUT NOOOO THEY MADE HIM AN UGLY ASS CYBERPUNK ASS BITCH!!! THEY MADE HIM SO FUCKING LAME AND BORING!!! PATOOEY I HATE HIS FUCKING DESIGN!!!! okay so wolfwood just showed up, can officially say hes the weakest version of wolfwood and that i do not like him. hes giving non sonic fan perception of shadow vibes. ALSO WHERE IS HIS MELANIN THEY TOOK IT AWAY!!! THE MELANIN VACCUM STRIKES AGAIN!!! tbf, he didnt have MUCH but he was a little brown, not literally just a white man

four, where. the. fuck. is. milly. i LOVE milly. she is one of my faves ever, im so sad she isnt here. genuinely...

five and probably last for rn, why is the pacing so bad. like its not good in trigun or trimax really, and especially bad in 1998, but it SO ASS!!! like its so blink and you'll miss it, which kinda stands for every trigun... but expected this to be like at least a liiiiittle better i dunno

conclusions: im gonna keep watching it maybe? but like... i dont like it. its bad imo. literaly have been into trigun for one week and am in mourning that trimax will likely never have a proper adaptation. i just wanna see angel knives in his full glory, not whatever tf tristamp is trying to push here

#rambles #trigun spoilers #trigun #trimax #tristamp #vin speaks

[your-local-ruebit-hole-detective]

An appropriately unhinged review of For the Future.

🔴TOH S3 SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT🔴

RAINE NOOOOOOOOO

oh no… I knew it was coming but I didn’t expect it to be this bad… hunt|0w is canon…. The aroace hunter headcanon has finally died. I’m still clinging onto the delusion of platonic intimacy

and so we circle back to the theme of the last review: FUCK BELOS I SWEAR TO GOD IM GOING TO FUCKING STRANGLE YOU YOU SON OF A FUCKING BITCH-

I should have suspected Kikimora the minute that short bitch appeared onscreen but I was stupid enough to believe they were going to add a whole new character.

EBERWOLF

EBERWOLF

WHAT DID THEY DO TO EBERWOLF

WHAT DID THEY DO TO MY CHILD-

Excuse me, I have a dariw0lf fic to write

(☝️censoring that ship because I don’t want it to clog up the ship tag, it’s small enough that it doesn’t need stuff like this)

BUT SERIOUSLY RAINE!?!?!? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? ARE THEY OKAY??? OBVIOUSLY THEY’RE NOT, BUT LIKE- FUCK.

I wanna scream.

Okay but can we just appreciate how TOH can get its stakes across and be a serious show without killing off characters left and right? Like, I’m so glad they did that, and it really fits the show about finding a group of people who accept you for you. Wouldn’t do to have those people dying constantly.

Tbh, the puppet designs kinda slap-

WILLOW. WILLOW HONEY. DONT BOTTLE STUFF UP, IT DOESN’T WORK.

HIS LAST NAME IS FUCKING THOLOMULE IM GONNA SCREAM-

Steve Tholomule 😔

I just. Raine. My (tied w/ Darius) second favorite blorbo. How did we get here.

I SERIOUSLY DID NOT EXPECT THAT. LIKE, I WOULD NOT HAVE GUESSED RAINE OF ALL PEOPLE-

oh no.

they are flying so many death flags right now.

FIRST I WAS WORRIED THEY WERE A SPY, THEN I WAS WORRIED THEY WERE DEAD, THEN I WAS HAPPY FOR A MOMENT, NOW IM WORRIED THEY’RE DEAD AGAIN- CAN WE NOT HAVE ONE MOMENT OF PEACE AROUND HERE?

no, apparently not.

I SWEAR TO GOD SOMEONE IS GETTING STABBED IRL IF THEY’RE DEAD.

Local decaying corpse is suprised when possessing fellow decaying corpse only adds to the decay, more at nine.

Camilla trying to not be panicked about the BI the whole time was so funny tho diwnfjendhcjwjsj

OH. HUNTER WAS DEAD FOR A MINUTE AFTER BELOS LEFT HIS BODY. UNTIL FLAPJACK STEPPED IN. RAINE DOESNT HAVE A FECKING PALISMAN TO STEP IN-

Hunter might have drowned? Maybe? Hopefully? What am I saying?

Lumity continues to be best healthy relationship, as expected.

Okay, but the look on Baines face after they were just possessed was so fucking… there was just SOMETHING about it. I don’t know what.

Belos isn’t even taking notes from Malachite anymore, he stole the whole damn notebook and he isn’t planning on giving it back anytime soon-

we got a surprising amount of Boscha this ep. I honestly kinda dig the one-sided crush on Amity thing. Interesting story potential.

I seriously didn’t expect Kiki to show up. Camilla butchering her name was *chefs kiss*, though.

#FtF #for the future #toh #the owl house #toh spoilers

[especdreamy]

I know that you moved on from SU and don't really talk about it that much anymore but I was wondering if the writing was actually objectively bad. Kind of going back to that ask from days ago about toxic fans/non-fans being right since almost everyone in their mother hates SU for even little or irrelevant things.

First I'm gonna say I have absolutely no idea what ask ur talking abt bc the only ask I got recently was an anon saying they recognized me from that fandom, and the one su-related ask that i remember answering before that one was almost a whole year ago asking me about some drama (?) involving a big artist in the community.

But to ACTUALLY answer your question: I dont think the writing is objectively bad? There's a lot of stuff that's REALLY GOOD! Pearl's whole character is fantastic. Rupphire's relationship is awesome. Steven's whole arc is a greaf message to send to children!

It just so happened that my favorite characters were Peridot and Lapis, and while Peridot was handled pretty well, Lapis' arc and character ware absolutely BUTCHERED by the time she got her episode in future. And it left a godawful taste in my mouth. And like...just so many plot points that were left unanswered between the two n shit lmao. So I did have a Bitter relatiosnhip with the show afterwards and I DID have an awful experience with the fandom (mostly personal shit tho) which certainly made it so I ended up separating myself from the show almost entirely which i'm still trying to...rekindle per say?

It's partly the reason why I currently try to keep my expectations low for dsmp lore. Like yes I do have stuff that I wish woudl happen but atp if I let myself wallow too much in what could've been its gonna completely kill my enjoyment for this story and characters and tbh I don't want to be miserable like that again LOL

Long story short: yes I have my picks but at the same time saying that the show has objectively bad writing is just plain wrong lol.

#Dreamy answers #Anonymous #Ask to tag

[polycrowtruther]

AHHHHHHH i just read two of the works in your shadow of yotsuya collection ITS SO GOOD ITS SO GOOD OH MY GOD i dont think ive ever read a SOC fic that i've loved quite THIS MUCH AHHHHHH AHHHHHH its got me kicking my legs and giggling. first off the whump is amazing i love it its beautiful and your WRITING i need to pull specific quotes but i'll get those later AHHHHH the fact that its polycrowstoo?!!? YESSSS!!! YES!!!! YES!!!!! the OCS you write are so so like fleshed out its beautiful usually-sometimes im like "okk watever im not like emotionally tethered to their wellbeing" when people add ocs because i want to read about the characters from the canon and stuff but all the characters you've introduced are SO SO SO SO so so so so so so amazing.. obv oiwa is amazing and having the sibling bond between her and kaz shot and killed me and the 3 sisters were so SO good, (also ms. able was so cute she reminds me of the woman who owns a crafts store near where i live who lets me take free buttons sometimes) ,, AAAAaaa even the villian whos name i forgot how to spell, , mr. v something? like him being coocoo bananas is cool and having the connections with nina.. ugh oh my god kaz not wanting to tell them stuff because he doesnt watn them to be paranoid.. SCREAMS!!!! its so good ITS SO GOOD AHHHH this is one of those fics i wanna print out and get a hardcover copy of so i can annotate it and sleep with it under my pillow etc ok now i gotta show u the parts i loved the mostest (but there was NOT A SINGLE PART i didnt like bcuz all of it is amazing10/10 beautiful showstopping): -ok 1stly the DICTION the ADJECTIVES YOU USE ahhhh okay "A haunting image she had supposedly made, her dead eyes staring at the heavens as if she would tear them from the sky for what had been done to her." GAH DAMN!!! this is such a beautiful line its so poetic

-also "Stray cats, slow doves," and the rest of that paragraph is pretty too but i really liked that line its so like.. not quaint but i cant think of another word.. i love your descriptions of kaz's childhood with jordie D: heartbreaking at the same time tho -"He dashed the thought of it against the stones." -OH AND the hollow beings paragraph part Hollow beings filled themselves with whatever they could get a hold of, and they were both so very hollow in the wake of what they had been through. YES YES uguahfUAEGDUHB this part especially aaaaaa -ALSO all the dog references reminds me of that other soc poster who writes about the dog metaphors.. yesssss yesss!!! YESSSS aegsfgbdsnfibvdddr -He rapped his knuckles against the door twice, and it opened to reveal two girls pushing a large cart, with a third girl trailing behind them. <-- i hadnt noticed it before but that must be waynoka..rip (and The ghost shook her head sadly, “It’s no use, they can’t see me. Haven’t been able to since I got out of the basement.” OWWWW my soul. it hurts in my heart) -the gorier parts where kaz was being tortured were SO GOOD too ahhhhhhh the 'decaying' and 'carving' i felt like i was reading ummm what was that book. we have always lived in this castle or like.. the castle of otranto. verygoth lit vibes it was really fluid.. yssss that and the descriptions of the basement and the corpses definitely were giving edgar allen poe

-also kkaz's drugged speech was so funny. and also sad but mostly funny "Such a ‘powerful’ Grisha he had made. He couldn’t even withstand a kid who bent spoons and talked to ghosts. "

-"“The Shadow of Yotsuya was a vegetarian,” Kaz snarked, “But the Butcher’s Blade on the East Stave loves to chew up his victims. He prefers them stubborn and skeptical, too, I hear.”" Oomgg i didnt catch the reference to the 2nd part when i read it the first time,,,

OH ALSO i loved that you had kaz like translate/interpret what she was saying that KILLED me but also i reallyliked that it wasnt an exact copy of what waynoka said,, ""Kaz pursed his lips at that. “I’m not good at being strong or happy.”" i love that all the dialouge had to be like...filtered through kaz's fucked up lense from the barge, esp cuz the sisters relationship is such a close mirror to his and jordiessss HHsfadfbgfgdghtrfgbhgtr i loved that it was so similar u write SO WELL aeugsbfiefrgrerfgrtghjmhgfdrghygfSAFDGUISEDGVRSIUONGSN

i just realized how much i typed D: sorry for lowkey rambling but i LOVE THIS FIC!!! i also saw in the authors note thing at the beginning of the spirit of grief that you just had surgery and ur in pain :( i hope you feel better soon

Ahh! Thank you so so much! I am truly honored to hear you like the story so far! Shadow of Yotsuya was a lot more of my own personal brand of brain rot compared to some of my other fics (I am such a horror fan, and I couldn't help but sprinkle some horror into the GV), so every time I hear people like it I giggle and kick my feet and scream and chew at the walls. Ahh! Thank you, I don't think I could ever really articulate how happy this makes me to read!

My sisters were the inspiration for the trio, so hearing they aren't boring ocs makes me feel a little less self conscious haha! I get that feeling sometimes too, where I care more about the pre-established characters than the OCs, so I really tried extra hard to make them feel like they'd naturally be a part of the Grishaverse - even though I lie awake at night knowing full well I have taken so many creative liberties with the extended lore and cultures that Leigh created! I'm so happy they don't feel out of place!

I really enjoy delving into perspective and how each Crow is technically an unreliable narrator because their own past experiences skew how they are interpreting what's going on - once I finish the series I was even considering going back and writing a bonus little ficlet where we see the Verzamelaar mansion indecent from Jaya and Kishori's perspective to show just how scary Kaz can be sometimes, but I have to actually finish the story first haha! And trust me, we are going to get a LOT more polycrow content now that the crows are starting to catch up on what has been happening

Please never apologize for being enthusiastic - this literally made my month reading it and I'm not even exaggerating. Plus I know I can't be the only one who gets excited when people comment on their fics! Seriously, you are far too kind, I really can't stress how cool it is to see quotes of my own writing analyzed and talked about back with me. Like. That is my literal dream right there! This is super sweet! Ah!

#shadow of yotsuya #six of crows fic #answered #polycrows

[evandorepart2]

about my novels. well i have lots and lots of ideas at all times. too many ideas. but most of them are usually reused concepts. basically just running one idea through my head til the point it breaks apart and i piece it back together and boom! novel idea. but i have three that im going to be focusing on.

the first one - funny enough is the only one that doesnt follow that format. it came directly from my brain and developed in a way that was so unprecedented that i have no choice but to write it out. its called Love To My Dear Yorick, its an experimental psychological horror and tragedy told in the second perspective told through a series of letters and play-like prose about a woman named Ophelia who can see ghosts, set during the midst of a cultural revolution. themes of identity / morality and mortality / the idea of being a Character. vaguely inspired by hamlet in the way of taking textual symbolism and motifs and butchering it for my own purposes. the summary is: your name is Ophelia. this is not your story.

^ very near and dear to my heart and i want to do my dear ophelia justice. i have many many thoughts about her and the story basically comes down to me wanting to tell her story but no one gets to know her but Me. she is not me but she is Mine if you know what i mean.

the second one is completely tonally different and was a culminations of ideas ive tossed around in my head since very young. its a urban fantasy young adult novel with the Main goal of course being to tell my story but to also have it. Meaningful. in a way i dont think a lot of ya achieve nowadays. its called To The Sea. it follows a third generation selkie who sets off from home to discover her family, history, and self with the help of a blind seer claiming to be her best friend. it has heavy themes of family and that feeling of a lack of belonging and the need to 'discover' yourself. its probably my most...clear? novel for lack of a better term. theres not much experimentation in terms of the contents itself and im going to be fairly straight-forward with it.

as well as finally get out my very complex and long thought out selkie lore ive been developing over the years under the idea it existed in our world and what the affects of human influence would Do to it. anyway.

the final one is...for lack of ability to explain in a less pretenious way- an experimental speculative fiction antinovel. its existential horror. the working title is What Do Rabbits Do When the Wolves Come? which may or may not be changed. its the least planned of the three in the way i have No Idea how i am going to tell it. i know pretty well whats going to Happen but the actual..getting that across is going to be fairly difficult. it follow a young girl named Bunny who wakes up with no memories of who or where she is. shes joined soon by another who functions as a caretaker in their strange world of layers and machines and cult-like groups of surviving humans. things arent as they initially seem of course as Bunny ventures into discovering the truth of this strange world by venturing deeper down. themes of reality / capitalism and religion / defamiliarization.

i want to heavily experiment in the presentation and writing of this one which is honestly going to be quite difficult as i ascribe heavily tp patterns and forms but i just want to have fun and play around lol

so ummm yea those are my things i want to write ^_^ or at least the Big Ones in terms of like. novels and stuff hehe i like them all but love to my dear yorick is definitely my favorite in terms of. i am just hopelessly in love with ophelia. she is so so tragic and deserves so much more than she got...i mean i am the author i can change things but of course not lol but i do actually have a dedicated sideblog for the story which is @/ophiliatic where i keep track of like. insp stuff so you can def see what im leaning towards tone-wise

#text

[ofcowardiceandkings]

I think you mentioned listening to podcasts? Do you have any favorites to reccommend? I've run out of content :(

that i do !

im not entirely sure what kind of podcast you'd be interested in but i'll throw out a few of the goodies in my huge library of stuff , i'll miss out a few of the HUGE podcasts that have been all over tumblr though

a LOT of it is true crime or human interest stuff , or history because im nerd ,, and a few of these dont have nearly enough attention so [shrug] i'll try to keep this short i guess lol this isnt EVERYTHING ive got in my library or listened series' by any measure

i AM gonna pop a shout to both Stuff You Missed in History Class and Stuff You Should Know from iHeartRadio because their HUGE archives have kept me from losing my mind many times over , and they cover a wide range of both important and wacky topics

BomBARDed (ongoing) this is the only fiction podcast i have happening right now really but its DAMN GOOD ONE .... it's an actual-play D&D 5E podcast in the DMs own musically-inspired world, focussed on a group of multiclass bards going to music school !! and all players (+DM) are members of the Texas band Lindby !! and they actually use and play music in the show with one original song an episode !! Kyle's worldbuilding and storycraft are truly incredible, and (Nick) Goodrich, (also Nick) Spurrier, and Ali's characters are in depth and interesting as well as an absolute powerhouse :') i actually made a piece for its first fanzine, Bardic Dreaming, which published earlier this year and is free to view now, all the players and the community are super wholesome its just very good overall 💙

History & Humans;

Fall of Civilisations (ongoing) legit one of my favourite podcast finds, im so glad my youtube autoplayed one of these ... it took me like 2 hours to realise it was 1) not the same as what was playing before and 2) had been on for 2 hours and wasnt near finished lmao. anyway, this is a series by historical fiction writer Paul Cooper, and is honest to all thats good one of the best documentary series ive encountered in years - and ive consumed a LOT of documentaries. it covered the downfall of various civilisations through history, and the episodes run from an hour to FOUR hours depending on the topic. its so chill to listen to and just get done, but over the pandemic all of the episodes have been given full movie-quality video versions too on youtube if youre more of a visual person.

Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast (on series break) yeah that says that lol ... its a SUPER niche topic but its very interesting and treated very well despite being kind of comical at times, the hosts are just naturally funny lol ... it delves around from the history of cannibalism in whole regions to specific incidents as recently as the 1970s, and of course the first episode is about the Donner Party, and it covers things ive never heard of despite being kind of important ?? anyway Alix and Carmella are good eggs

Sawbones (ongoing) i probably dont need to mention much here other than say that Justin and Sydnee saved me from being SO BORED sooo often, the history of medicine is wacky as hell and its what most of my history GCSE was on so [shrugs]

Cautionary Tales (on series break) this was a wild-card find lol ... it's by Tim Harford "the undercover economist" who writes for the Financial Times, and its topics kind of weave modern topics and science with how to learn from historical errors ... its a bit weird but well worth a go, also each series has a few celebrity guest voice actors which is pretty awesome

Ephemeral (ongoing) this is a very strange but thought provoking series about sounds and other things just barely saved. topics include the last castrato, the hello girls, hand-stamped records, the spread of kīkā kila music, and acoustic fossils of wild places.

Neat! The Boozecast (ongoing) history and bartending whats not to like lol ... hosted by Teylor Smirl and now their dad Tommy, they're just digging around in how important booze is to human culture

True Crime (white collar and weirdness);

Swindled (ongoing) this is an amazing show full stop. A Concerned Citizen details some of the most impactful and unruly things to happen in white collar and corporate crime. very factually accurate but given the sheer bullshit of the topics the deadpan snarking is [chefs kiss] absolutely warranted ..

American Scandal (on series break) this one is a series within a series type, and spends a few episodes at a time poking holes in some of America's biggest scandals, from a dramatised but fact-based point of view. such as what the hell was going on with Enron, how big tobacco was forced to own up to covering its own ass, how Iran-Contra happened, etc. it also now has a sister show called British Scandal, which does the same thing for British cases but with a slightly different format.

Missing in Alaska (finished) this was a fascinating series, a deep dive into what happened to two US government officials who disappeared on a small chartered flight in Alaska in 1972. it goes some really strange places, but it actually turned up a lot of previously unknown information through the audience. John Walczak's new series in a new feed is Missing on 9/11 which looks into what happened to Dr Sneha Philip.

Pretend (ongoing) Host Javier Leiva holds interviews with anyone living a lie, or who have been touched by them. con artists, snake oil salesmen, former cult members, catfishing victims, anyone and everyone.

Power: The Maxwells (finished) hosted by journalist Tara Palmeri, the story of media tycoon Robert Maxwell from nothing to empire to mysterious death and the scandals uncovered after he was gone.

Lets Talk About Sects (ongoing) Sarah Steele covering cults from around the world, in particular those in Australia - where she is from. She often has former members on the show to share their stories, and share knowledge of how they left. each story has the relevant content warnings at the start of each episode.

Brainwashed (finished) investigation of the CIA's covert mind control experiments, centred on the experiments performed at a hospital in Montreal, and its cultural impact.

Dr Death (2 series finished) two series investigating huge cases of fraud and medical malpractice, and how they were brought to a stop. series 1 covers Dr Duntsch and his horribly butchered neurosurgery, series 2 covers Dr Fata and his fraudulent cancer clinic

The Immaculate Deception (finished) untangling the weird and disturbing fertility fraud of Dr Jan Karbaat, who fathered children himself through his fertility clinic, and the impact of his deception. later episodes also touch on other similar cases.

True Crime (Violent/General);

The Casual Criminalist (ongoing) Simon Whistler of-the-many-youtube-channels cold reads a script about the case of the day, with some of his daft commentary thrown in.

Southern Fried True Crime (ongoing) Crimes from the American South hosted by Erica Kelley, she puts all the facts out there but refreshingly for true crime she doesnt hesitate to tell you if she thinks someone is human garbage lol

They Walk Among Us (ongoing) probably one of the most popular UK crime podcasts, very measured and well put together, not weird or annoying about it either.

All Crime No Cattle (ongoing, feed slowed down for now) specifically about crimes from Texas, hosted by Erin and Shay, they're very sensitive hosts and a lot of the cases they cover shed light on why the Texas criminal system is how it is or show an impact at a national level

Canadian True Crime (ongoing) Canadian crime from an Aussie who's lived there for a decade, Kristi is again a sensitive and measured host covering some important topics

True Crime (Violent/Deep Dive);

Hitman (finished) journalist Jasmyn Morris digs around in the sticky tangle around a book published by fringe publisher Paladin Press, and its apparent use as a blueprint in the killing of a mother, her friend and her 8 year old boy for financial gain.

Camp Hell: Anneewakee (ongoing) this series is exploring how a wilderness camp "correctional facility" was endorsed by the Georgia care and juvenile reform system, despite widespread abuses and shady practices the whole time. warning for csa and child cruelty throughout.

True Crime Bullshit (on series break) this one is a huge huge rabbithole but a very interesting one where the host Josh Hallmark has spent years digging into the life and potential crimes of Israel Keyes. Keyes is often mentioned as a serial killer with no pattern, but in picking it apart thats not quite true, and has sparked some re-evaluations of missing persons cases and stumbling upon information the FBI has redacted organically. there's also a series in the middle looking into the crimes of Kelly Cochran

Forgotten: Women of Juárez (finished) this series looks into the huge numbers of missing women of Ciudad Juárez, the strange circumstances surrounding them, and the potential cover-ups and corruptions on both sides of the border, trying to give a voice to all of the forgotten women and girls and their families without answers. the series itself is finished, but a spanish language edition is being released every week now.

aaaaaand i'll call it there before i list everything lol, i hope you find something to plug your boredom hole with !!

#audio #rory's ramblings #podcasts #asks #anon #long post

[alwaysabeautifullife]

How did you learn so many languages. Do you have any tips?

Yes!!!! Yes I do!!!

Everything I wish I could tell myself before starting my language “journey” lol:

🦩Dont be intimidated

Don’t be intimidated, specifically by doing listening or speaking practice. I know in the US (or for most English speakers), when we hear someone that speaks perfect English but merely has an accent we think “they don’t speak English”, but from experience this mentality is not shared with other languages. When you know even a little bit of a language or can’t speak it very well, natives speakers are really really encouraging. I think since we view not being 100% fluent without so much as an accent, as “not knowing any of a language” we are hard on ourselves and give up pretty easily.

🦩Listening practice is as important as studying vocabulary and grammar

When you listen to native speakers talk, you are training your ear even though you don’t understand it. Listen and listen, eventually your brain stops picking out English words that aren’t even there, but rather, starts to catch patterns in the language (for example, the same words sticks out to you over and over).

🦩Set realistic and doable goals or you’ll get discouraged and quit

If you are a busy person, make small goals to fit language study in. Don’t tell yourself that you need to master _____ within a week. Instead give yourself 15 mins of reading in the evening, and 25 mins of language listening in the morning. It’s also easier to add the language into stuff you do on a daily basis anyway. For example if you are religious, find your prayers you pray daily in the language you are learning.

🦩learn to read the language first (obviously this tip might not be applicable for character based languages like Chinese)

I know everyone says “immersion is the best and most important part of language” but honestly, a lot of our native speaking knowledge comes from our literacy education. When we are taught how to read, it’s through reading we can discover new words through context. It’s also easy to pick up new language reading since it’s available anywhere, where immersion is only available when you are surrounded by native speakers. The first thing I do is learn how to read and write the language, then the entire language becomes accessible to me.

🦩Spend time perfecting the sounds of the language that are most difficult for you

The vocal sounds of a language is the foundation of a language. I know we are all impatient and want to simply learn as many phrases as possible as fast as possible, but if you get down the unfamiliar sounds of a language that don’t exist in English, you’ll have a better foundation of the language and your speaking and listening will be better from the very beginning. So take the time to practice those weird sounds by looking into the position of the tongue and where the sound comes from, from the chest to the lips. Look into how tense the mouth is, how much air comes from the lips, what the sound is like next to other sounds. When you master this speaking becomes more instinctual and it’s easier to pick up the language.

🦩Search YouTube, google, Instagram IN THE LANGUAGE YOU ARE STUDYING.

Don’t search “korean music” or “korean kids tv” or even “korean vegetables” in google. Just translate how to say them in a translator app, then copy and paste them into the search bar. This way native korean information, videos, posts will come up. For example, if you’re in the mood for some horror comics, and want to read/watch them in the language you are learning, go to the translator app, and figure out how to say them, then search it. It works way better, even if the translation isn’t correct or more natural, you’ll still get the information, posts, and videos you want to see.

🦩Find ways to practice speaking the language (I use HiNative) and don’t be discouraged by corrections.

Getting corrected does not mean you’re wrong, corrections are the most useful part of learning a language. If you are the type of person who is sensitive to criticism, you need to remind yourself corrections are NOT criticism. They are NOT a reflection of your progress, they are NOT you failing! You will always be corrected as a language learner and the sooner you are gentle with yourself in learning the sooner you will learn more. Get those first corrections out of the way, allow yourself to butcher pronunciation, get corrected for the first 10 times, let it sting a little and move on. Eventually you will be begging native speakers to tell you every little detail in where you went wrong!

🦩Tv and Books seems to be more useful for immersion and listening practice then music does

So far in my experience music is its very weird and abstract, and the things said in music aren’t really useful in speaking? It’s good for gathering vocab, but if you want music listening practice that’s music based try searching for rap in that language, although obviously you’ll be picking up a lot of informal language in music/rap. Tv shows however are typically how people really do talk, so turn off English subs and just listen! Books are really useful for learning new vocabulary, but sometimes written language is different than spoken (often), although when you speak it the way you’ve learned from a book the worst you’ll sound is “formal and poetic”.

🦩Look up “insert language you are learning phrases and words that aren’t useful or correct”

There so many programs and books that teach you phrases you’ll never use or that are only appropriate in very specific situations. I don’t know why language programs do this, but learning which ones are weird or only in specific settings before you start learning really helps. Chinese Especially does this...like I learned so many phrases and words that natives will never use and have no purpose???

🦩Know the different subjects of learning a language and which apps to use for that

Everyone uses Duolingo, but this app alone won’t make you speak a language. Duolingo and Memrise are great for memorizing vocab, but, is it vocab that in the context of your reading and listening practice? Are you learning words you are hearing and reading all the time? Duolingo is a lot of fun but I feel like the vocab is so broad and it doesn’t go deep enough into the language. Feel free to use it at first to get used to the sounds of the language, but try using flash card apps like quizlet or Anki instead where you can write down and study words you are hearing constantly. Memrise does have actually study sets for many language books and lessons! So you can study words you are hearing in specific programs and books which is pretty useful in regards to vocab.

There obviously is more than just learning vocab. What about grammar, listening practice, speaking practice and reading? If you are wanting to use primarily apps find out which apps are available for your language. Here is an example of the apps I use for each subject. Be aware some languages are not available on them.

Vocab: quizlet, anki

Grammar: books (printed or kindle), YouTube grammar lessons, websites

Reading: books (printed or kindle), beelinguapp, instagram (posts that have text), Netflix/YouTube with both subtitles in the language you are learning and spoken in language you are learning, epic app

Writing: just use paper and pencil/pen

Listening: audio books (beelinguapp/epic/kindle/YouTube), tv and movies (Netflix/YouTube etc with no English subs), conversations on YouTube (search in language you are studying, don’t search “Spanish conversations” or “Japanese conversations”)

Speaking: HiNative (pretty much all I use since it’s all languages, quick, and you get immediately answered and corrected by native speakers), get friends in language you are learning through lots of apps

Translator: it’s really hard to find a good one, most of them are really weird so only use them for words and the most basic or simple phrases and sentences, otherwise use HiNative to ask native speakers directly, or ask people on the apps that connect you to native speakers

🌱I should note that for talking to native speakers I only like HiNative, since it’s built to NOT be a form of social networking at all. It’s not personal in anyway, and there’s no way to private message or speak to other users outside a asking questions publicly. The people on there are only about learning or teaching a language, not usually making friends. I’ve found the sites that are built to make native speaking friends aren’t useful to me personally, as most of the native speakers are either dudes looking for a woman to date or people wanting to only practice English with you, so they wasted a lot of my study time. People who are willing to help you learn are there, but it takes time to filter everything else out. If you would find it helpful to make friends by all means use them but I don’t really use it myself.🌱

You don’t want to really study EVERY SUBJECT every single day (unless you have the time). It can get really overwhelming, and you don’t really absorb information that if you are just cramming. While I would say it’s good to read and listen daily, spread subjects out over the week. Grammar on Monday and Friday, vocab on Tuesday and Thursday. Take one day to review all of what you’ve learned all week. Pick a day you have the largest block of free time. Bi-weekly works fine too.

I have an old post on how I organize my study time for multiple languages: https://alwaysabeautifullife.tumblr.com/post/182817883372/what-do-you-use-to-learn-your-languages-im

🦩Write sentences daily of everything you’ve learned (no THIS I RECOMMEND DAILY)

Write as many as you can. Use all the grammar you’ve learned, the words you’ve learned, everything! Write them in your notes and submit them to be corrected in HiNative. The sentences they correct, put them in flash cards!

🦩It’s ok to abandon languages you aren’t passionate in

So you’ve learned to read the language, and you know basic phrases, and now you just don’t want to do it anymore. If you can’t think of any reason to maintain it and don’t know why you are studying it, learning some of the language is good! Fluency does NOT need to be everyone’s goal. You can hold a conversation, and that’s good enough for you. Feel free to try out various languages, there will be one or some that really are your passion, it’s fine to have the goal of fluency in those and conversational in others.

Don’t abandon languages however because you feel discouraged. Discouragement is just a bump to get over, when you train your brain to maintain study habits through the days you feel discouraged, you make it habitual. Habits are harder to break and abandon! Evaluate your reasonings for wanting to speak a language, and your reasons for abandoning them if you want. Don’t let difficulty, disorganized, discouragement, or poor time management get in your way!!

🦩With all that said it’s ok to take breaks

It’s ok to get overwhelmed and take breaks from language learning. If you can still maintain what you’ve learned by listening to music in your language or staying connected in some way that’s good, but the “you’ll loose a language” isn’t entirely true. I’ve taken year long breaks and refreshing what I learned previously is pretty easy! Your brain really does go “oh yeah I do remember this!” when you’re studying information you studied years ago.

🦩Be gentle with yourself

Be gentle with yourself. People that claim to be fluent in 6 months are selling something or want to be an influencer. Don’t compare yourself to them. Language learning even for natives is a lifetime education. It’s not something you do for 6 months then stop. It’s continual and that looks different for everyone (yes native speakers included). Don’t bother watching YouTube videos on how to learn in 10 mins or 3 months, you’ll only get discouraged about your own amazing progress and all the work you’ve done.

🦩Plan your “can you say something in it” phrase now

This one is just for fun but after hearing you are learning a language the first thing you’ll get asked is “oh cool you speak (insert target language here)? Can you say something in (insert target language here)?” It does not matter what level of fluency you are at, you will absolutely forget the entire language and your own native language when you are asked this because it sends your brain to another dimension. So think of some funny phrases to say to people who ask, master them, then when they ask what they mean you can have a laugh. Other wise you will say something stupid of jumbled words (my go to was ‘we women are fruit’ for some reason thanks brain you’re incredible) you’ve learned that don’t belong in a sentence, or even worse you’ll run a blank and you’ll just look at them like:

🍳👄🍳

So think of inside jokes to tell your friends, funny phrases, even goofy insults! Memorize them and tell them at your friends and family to torture them because they can’t escape sound waves! It’s a good way to memorize the language but also to become confortable speaking it!

Please excuse any errors I don’t wanna go over my mistakes so pretend u can’t see them 🙈

#langblr #learning languages #korean #spanish #italian #portuguese #lang resources #lang apps #lang

[sageinacage]

hello have some soft general thoughts on the dsmp, some of which can be used as prompts if u want!! (👀 i was gonna submit the last one as a proper prompt but i dont wanna make another ask lmao)

- edward the enderman (c!technos old roomie who i refuse to believe is dead) and ranboo get along rlly well. one time ranboo went for a galactic lesson and it was snowing and edward was brushing all the snow off him and it was kinda tickly n stuff and he was confused so ranboo had 2 very flusterdly explain what tickling was.

- new comfort duo dropped uh. fundy and sapnap. neway cheer up tickles after the failed wedding pog :)

- george wears rainboots. this isnt a tk hc i just think he deserves big yellow rainboots so he can stomp around in the rain

- idk why giving chars ticklish palms makes me go :] but theres something v soft abt it so anyways tubbo has ticklish palms and tommy only found out bc they were doing a stupid fortune telling bit and he was reading tubbos palms ty gn

- when phil first got his wings he had to get very used to them bc he was rlly feather sensitive for the first like. 5 years of having them. (we're going w immortal phil so thats not too long 4 him) death!kristen thought it was v funny

- when techno was younger and when he went into retirement, he would file down his tusks so they weren't sharp enough to be painful. wilbur feels nothing but Fear whenever technos in a ler mood bc jesus fucking christ the tusks+raspberries absolutely destroy my guy

- niki starts giggling when she hugs puffy bc puffy's at the height where her head fits into the crook of niki's neck and sheep hybrid hair go soft floof

- purpled has markings on his back that connected him to his ufo and soft tracing along them makes him go thru all stages of decomposition until he is simply a pile of bones

- the syndicate's main objective may be anarchy but their secret one is friend family. techno gets them books to read and trains them and niki cooks w them and ranboo teaches them the little ender he knows and how to chart maps and phil shows them how to preen wings and tells them stories and oh my god i cant believe theyr all happy and healthy (real) ((not clickbait))

- the butcher army was just a glorified series of sleepovers. u cant tell me they didnt just talk shit on techno and dream like the plastics from mean girls and do face masks and have tickle fights and watch shitty movies sorry.

- can u tell i really like all the group dynamics. its abt the found family/close friends what can i say.

- the dreamon hunters were just the ultimate crossover between buzzfeed unsolved and scooby doo. also bc i am a part of the 'sapnap is a little shit (affectionate)' agenda he would absolutely poke at the others while they explored dreamon infested sites just to make fun of them when they shrieked.

- tommy likes to do art and he has a shit ton of paintbrushes. coincidentally ranboo has also learnt to Run when hes in a ler mood bc the paint isn't wet enough to burn him its just v tickly and tommy likes to paint little feathers on his sides and tummy and then tubbo, being also of the 'lets torment ranboo bc we love him' ideals, traces over the little paintings when theyr cuddling and ranboo hates them both for it but also no he doesnt. he never really attempts to hide or stop them either.

-ponk anon <3

THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE. I HAVE NOTHING TO ADD THESE ARE PERFECT

PONK ANON YOU ARE JUST SO COOL HOLY SHIT also is it okay if i save some of these as like possible prompts to write later. AKJFSJKKS

#long ask #ponk anon #asks

[anchoviesinthenightsky]

Idk if its approriate but I seen from your talks about it I was wondering if I could ask, as I'm trying to make a anime-manga thing, and I was wondering if you'd like to chim in: in non-binary and ace representation, what would you like to see more in those representation categories?

Hmm, this is definitely one of those things where different individuals in a community need different things. So it's hard to give general advice, because representation can look so varied even within a single community, you know? So I think my answer might also end up being.. vague? But you're totally welcome to follow up and ask more questions!

I think, when it comes down to it, when people/communities are asking for representation, they often mean that they want to see their daily joys and daily struggles seen and validated (rather than dismissed/ misunderstood/ stereotyped/ or used to advance the plot of characters of a more privileged group (think the gay best friend trope, where the gay bff helps the straight main character get into a relationship.)

So I guess, the first part of my wants would be for a story to avoid the common tropes put on nonbinary and asexual people. (a common one for both communities actually is the nonhuman trope) And for that I'd suggest looking into what the negative stereotypes/ overused tropes for those communities are and why they have a negative impact on the communities themselves. And, on top of that, having a sensitivity reader could help with making sure your story feels authentic.

But the second part of my wants would be what I said earlier-- for stories to show the daily, almost boring or routine parts of being nonbinary or ace. Bc that stuff can really breathe life into the characters and make them feel more nuanced and complex.

Things like:

For nonbinary people:

- having a routine for dealing with dsyphoria when it comes up (maybe that's watching a distracting show, doing CBT, etc.)

- having a code for dysphoria days that they use with their friends

- if they use multiple pronouns, having them switch out pins every now and then

- the joys of finding a jacket or skirt that gives you euphoria when you wear it

- the thrill of using their chosen name at coffee places (and side note, barista's frequently draw a heart next to my name when they write it and I can't tell if that's trans solidarity, if they're flirting, or if some baristas just... enjoy doing that. I like to think it's the trans solidarity.)

- the flip side of that-- getting called a butchered version of their chosen name. OR someone getting their name wrong entirely. I once had a barista (bless him, I think it was his first day and there was a rush) write my name down as Kayla. My name is Eli.

- walking that line between wanting to always be correctly gendered and being tired of correcting people all the time

- also consider if your character is nonbinary or if they use nonbinary as an umbrella term bc their actual label is too niche/ is hard to pin down

For ace people

- let ace people say dirty jokes if it fits their character

- let ace people fall in love

- if you have multiple ace people, let me have different views on having sex

- give ace people partners who respect their boundaries and dont push them

- alternatively, give ace people a rich life without needing any romantic relationships. dont let their lack of ra romantic relationship be a point of conflict in the story that requires the characters to "resolve" it.

- oh, this is a really difficult one to describe, but part of realizing you're asexual is realizing the absence of something you've never experienced. Because aces aren't like... you don't look at a girl one day and think "oh fuck im ace." you never experience sexual attraction while everyone around you does, but if you didn't grow up with the language to describe asexuality, you just assume that they experience attraction the same as everyone else. Eventually, ace people have to realize that that's not the case. There's a great ace tiktoker (a/mikkvelden) who used the term "presence of absence" to describe this.

- a lot of aces I know started off identifying as bi, because they felt the same level of attraction to everyone, only to later realize that the level of attraction they felt was actually no attraction at all.

This is getting long, so I'm gonna stop here. But hopefully I said something here that was helpful, and you are very welcome to ask me more questions as you have them :)

#ask box #and general disclaimer-- these are mostly from my experience. the nonbinary and ace experiences vary SO much #and also the way that different identities intersect is really important too #the white nonbinary experience is distinctly different than the Black nonbinary experience #being ace is a different experience for men than it is for women #etc. #think about your characters complexly and compassionately and you'll do great :)

[like-rain-or-confetti]

In the last answered you talk about vampire mating and how is more sane than the imprinting thing but when I read it I wonder the next:

What is the mating process? (for you)

So as far as I know, condensed down, the vampire mating process is the same as always- dates blah blah blah. I'd say it depends on the people and the time era they’re from. I think they kept to what was normal for them- however that courting process looked for their era’s. By the term mates comes around they're basically a couple, forever. Happy ending blah blah blah.

But me being me and the rest of us writers in the twilight fandom looked at that. Thought it was smashing...but let's not. If wolves get the weird supernatural imprinting mess that's based on a real thing- just completely butchered, then we can do it too!

However, I'm noticing the 'for you' so I'm thinking you're asking how I write it...and boy am I glad to tell. I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THIS STUFF.

My mating process is a little more soul matey/biological. It starts with the first meeting, curiosity. Looking at someone and unable to help yourself by wanting to know more about them. Ever spoken to someone and feeling an instant connection, someone who just gets you? Thats what it’s like at first. After that it’s a totally unconditional love. I’ve written many times for the Volturi of the reader not liking what they’re mate is doing or vice versa, but they cant bring themselves to let the person go. It’s that for both parties. If a Volturi say mated with a Cullen, they could disagree with the coven, the diet, the actions but they could never cut the chord with the person they’ve mated to. After sometime comes the tug, the want to be around them constantly. Whilst this doesn’t have an effect on the bond, its the equivalent of missing your loved one. For example, in many stories i’ve had mates separated for years, not seeing each other for decades and still able to come back to one another without issue. It’s an unbreakable bond (unless your name is Chelsea and you’re in the Volturi) with an unconditional love. As mentioned above, that doesn’t make it easy. The two can be polar opposites and agree on virtually nothing but they’re so attached that they find a compromise or acceptance. It might not all be rainbows and sunshine everyday but you can guarantee that person will always have your back.  Basically meaning they’ll put up with a lot of crap as long as they have that person.

I do write the mate bond as forever. So Vladimir would always love his mate, just as Marcus will always love Didyme despite both being dead. However i tend to move away from the ‘You can only have one mate for your entire existence. If you lose them you’re alone forever’ kind of route. I do write it as possible to find another. Vladimir and Marcus have found another mate after their previous mates death in a few of my stories. It’s often a coming to terms with that for both parties. They dont just fall out of love when someone else arrives but it’s also wrong to think the next mate is just a replacement.  Although it is exceptionally rare to the extent its not certain if every vampire is able to move on. However as long as both are still alive, they are unable to permanently break up. They can never stop caring about their mate even if separated and they always find their way back to one another. 

I think i covered everything? I’ll be kicking myself later if i havent lmao.

Thank you so much for the ask i enjoyed this thoroughly! :D

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!

#rwde #rwby critism #anti mkek #yu gi oh #ygo duel monsters #yu gi oh analasis

[bigskydreaming]

I'm not sure if you got my request because i didn't had internet when i sent it, so i'll write it again xd Do you think Dick (and the batboys in general) are famouse like Bruce? Because in the comics there's not any clue about it, i've never seen anyone say something like "oh look! Its Dick Grayson!, y'know, Wayne's first ward/son And its a shame, because reporters would make such a hard life to all of them, it would maka a good narrative tool

Honestly, this is a prime example of that inconsistency I rant about, and also DC’s refusal to just COMMIT on even the most basic aspects of their universe like….uh…how many kids does Batman have. 

afhsahfklahsklfhal

Like, you would think that would meet the MINIMUM requirements of “shit you should probably have figured out and make sure everybody’s on the same page with” but DC’s like….nah, that’s not important.

So I mean…..I’m reasonably certain - like this is just my personal belief, but I’d put money on it being right, lol - but I think the primary reason there’s so little mention in the comics of how Bruce’s kids are viewed in the public eye/how much the public are aware of them (in the New 52, at least, as pre-Flashpoint there was a lot more plot around that kind of thing, especially back in the 80s and 90s)……

…is because 90% of the writers and editors have no clue either, and nobody wants to be the one to ask, and like, open that can of worms. I 100% think you could ask five different writers at DC which kids Bruce has OFFICIALLY adopted in this current continuity, and get five different answers, lol.

There’s been so much handwaving about Dick’s status ever since Spyral, and again - I think its because nobody bothered to think through the logistics of the Hypnos/global-mindwipe machine BEFORE writing it into the story, and then once it did occur to any of them to like….wonder just how specifically it worked, they were like, fuck it, better just be as vague as possible. So, according to Grayson, everyone Helena didn’t program into the exclusion list before the satellite was activated should have no recollection of Dick Grayson, which is why he was able to ‘go back to his old life’ and be Nightwing again, without worrying about his secret identity having been unmasked…..

But what does that mean for his official identity as adopted son or even just ward of billionaire Bruce Wayne? People can’t have NO memory of Dick Grayson and still remember that Bruce Wayne took in a kid named Dick Grayson. I mean, as far as I can tell, the overall consensus in the comics seems to be that after the satellite was activated, Dick just kinda started from scratch as ‘Dick Grayson’ like, he was free to be himself again, but it was like he was a blank slate/came out of nowhere as far as everyone else was concerned. But again, that means as far as anyone outside of their close circle of family and friends know….Dick Grayson is a non-entity to Bruce Wayne and the two have no history. 

Which I mean, is fairly shitty and you’d think if nothing else, there’d be massive story potential there for delving into Dick’s character and his relationship with Bruce and examining how he felt about ‘having his old life/identity back’….except with the caveat that as far as the world is concerned, his life and identity don’t and have never included his father.

Cut to DC: Naaaaaaaah.

But even WITH that, plot holes persist, and abound, because…..why didn’t the satellite erase the Court of Owls’ knowledge/memory of Dick? Even before Luthor gave Cobb those goggles and files to help him with bringing Ric into the fold, Cobb clearly was already stalking Ric and knew exactly who he was….the Court obviously already had that doctor in place while he was still in recovery…so, whoops. I mean, you could probably come up with an explanation about the Court, via their own tech and resources, having had some protections in place 24/7 that kept the satellite from affecting them even though they weren’t on guard for it specifically…..but again, Occam’s Razor….I feel like the real answer is DC just didn’t care enough to think things that far through. Especially since the average Bludhaven citizen, like Bea, at least didn’t seem totally blown away when Ric revealed to her that amnesia aside, he was supposedly some rich billionaire’s adopted kid….which again suggests that as far as the writers were thinking, people in general are familiar with the idea that Bruce Wayne has more than one kid.

Then you’ve got Jason’s whole situation, and to be honest….I really only have the vaguest idea what’s going on there, because reading Lobdell books is against my religion, and I am a devout and deeply spiritual person, as you all probably can tell. I mean, I know that there’s something going on where like, Jason had himself legally resurrected in the public eye and is openly referring to himself as Bruce Wayne’s formerly-assumed dead foster kid……but like, is that the official official word, or would other writers if you asked them say they’d been operating under the assumption Bruce had adopted Jason too at some point in the Rebirth timeline, or….idek, man.

I…..honestly don’t have the faintest fucking clue what to make of the many back-and-forth retcons about Tim and his parents and his official place in the Batfam/relationship with Bruce, and am actually slightly terrified of even trying to make sense of that clusterfuck of a Gordian knot, so my official stance on Tim is to just like….back sloooooowly away from the anthropomorphic-migraine-masquerading-as-a-backstory, without like….agitating it and accidentally setting off another multiverse Crisis birthed wholly from just that one all-consuming black hole of a retcon.

I mean, there’s a reason I basically just shoehorn all the kids’ official pre-Flashpoint family statuses into anything I write in Rebirth continuity, and that’s not just stubbornness and my refusal to play the “now this kid is adopted…now he’s not…now he is again….except he’s not….oh he’s adopted again…..oh wait now he’s not again" game. 

Its like. Also for the sake of my sanity and stuff.

(And also hahahahaha fuck you DC times infinity, every time you use the words “blood son,” or “real family” in a comic, or have one of Bruce’s other kids refer to Bruce as “your father” when talking to Damian, as if that’s not an utterly bizarre and roundabout way for any sibling to refer to their mutual parent and thus I j’ete REFUSE to acknowledge it as valid….ahem, anyway, my point is, every time they do that in a comic, I double down and headcanon Bruce throwing a random as fuck gala for literally no other purpose than to remind all of Gotham that he has half a dozen kids and they’re all better than everyone else’s. Ugh. Kill it. Kill the “blood son” nonsense with fire and lightning and also lots of stabbing maybe).

Anyway, that’s my official stance on DC’s stance on Damian in the books.

Then as far as Cass goes….ugh, her origins were pretty much utterly butchered by the New 52, which IMO has also failed to give us Cass and Bruce bonding and dynamics sufficient to Sate Mine Ire™, sooooooo…..I mean, my perception of the current canon is that Cassandra’s official status is “secret mystery foster child that nobody really knows about,” but because I do not care for that and there’s the whole not sufficiently sated ire thing I mentioned, I officially reject this canon and willfully replace it with pre-Flashpoint Bruce and Cass love and adoption. DC’s welcome to kiss my critically acclaimed hiney if I’m doing it wrong.

Which brings us last, but certainly not least, as its only this way because I go sequentially and Duke is still Shiny and New comparative to the others and will be until the next inevitable fostering/adoption/clone hi-jinks bumps him up the sequential ladder (except I randomly switched Damian and Cass around this time because LOOK I DONT MAKE THE RULES, THERE ARE NO RULES i hvea Adhd hiccup sob leavem e aloooone soooooob)…..

Duke’s official status, much like the rest of the Batkids, can be summed up as Honestly, I Really Don’t Have A Fucking Clue And Am Just Winging This Whole Thing.

I mean, there’s less inconsistency with him, due mostly to the fact that so few writers other than Snyder use him (boo, hiss, and not just because I hate having to give Snyder credit for stuff - look, I love his Duke, but I loathe how he writes Dami, its a thing, I just…don’t get me started). But what inconsistencies there are….well….they’re a bit glaring.

Basically one major storyline showed Duke as being an official foster kid/ward of Bruce’s and living out of the Manor with Bruce and Damian and occasionally Tim when he’s not off road-tripping around the multiverse….and then Batman and the Signal had Duke in the care of his uncle, who was stated to be his legal guardian and Duke was constantly sneaking out in order to meet Bruce in the special Signal-cave he built specifically for Duke to operate out of so he didn’t have to like, drive all the way out to the Manor to change just so he could then drive back into the city and patrol. And then Batman and the Outsiders just said fuck all that, here’s Duke and Cass hopping hemispheres with the Outsiders every other issue, so apparently nobody’s making unscheduled visits anywhere back in Gotham to make sure these two are where they’re legally assumed to be, which again, for the record is…..*error, source not found*

LOLOL and the really fun thing about this little back and forth is I’m pretty sure allllll these conflicting takes are all the work of the same writer. Like. GET ON YOUR OWN PAGE, DUDE.

Also, again I have to assume the “Can’t Be Bothered To Give A Shit, Or Maybe They’re All Just Really Bad At Logic” curse has struck again, because….uhhhh…..

….at no point anywhere in Duke’s stories have I seen Bruce or literally anyone else express concern about the fact that Duke living with Bruce as his official foster, like he definitely and clearly was at some point at least…..means that literally every single one of his We Are Robin friends who knows that he was taken in by the Batfam (and there’s several of them who know this)….like, by the transcendent properties of You Can’t Honestly Think They’re That Dumb, that’s a good five or six civilians out there who probably took all of five seconds to play connect the dots and figure out the Wayne family, having officially taken Duke in on paper…..is pretty likely the Batfamily.

I mean, I like all of Duke’s friends and would definitely headcanon/write them as all being trustworthy and able to keep this knowledge to themselves for Duke’s sake, if nothing else, but I mean, its pretty unprecedented for Bruce to out himself and all of his kids/allies by extension, to like, that many civilian teenagers all in one swoop….

…sooooooo, you’d think, AGAIN, logically, maybe, perhaps, this is the kind of thing that should be brought up in a narrative somewhere as a plot point worth delving into, y’know, just for shits and giggles and maybe a little bit of that whatchamacallit - oh right, character development, but.

Cut to DC: Naaaaaaah.

 *throws up hands and does the I Can’t Even Shuffle all the way home*

In conclusion:

DC is a mess. The official/public status of each and every Batkid is a mess. Except for Damian, the blood son, but we have that pencilled in on the schedule to be killed with fire and also stabbing, so he can get filed under ‘just a fucking mess’ with the rest of his siblings. Hashtag Solidarity.

I mean, I say just write or headcanon their official status however you damn well please, and it’ll STILL be more effort than I believe DC has put into organizing and staying consistent with all of this, and thus STILL make more sense than what we currently have to work with.

*Shrugs* If they don’t care enough to provide a clear canon blueprint to follow when mapping the Bat Family Tree, I can’t be bothered to care if the one I make up myself happens to contradict one single mention of one kid’s official status as claimed by one issue of one book.

Especially if it was written by Lobdell.

Jason’s just a foster son my ass. grumble mumble bitter vengeful swears and a pox on all DC’s houses. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ADOPTION SO MUCH, INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW AND ALSO FUCK YOU.