#mediocre expectations

[bigoltrashpile]

I know it's been 84 years, but here ya go, a new chapter of my mafia reverse harem fic, Mediocre Expectations! *Jazz hands*

#my garbage #writing #mediocre expectations #mafiatale #sans x reader #papyrus x reader #undertale #undertale fanfic #fanfic

[softakespics]

Mediocre Expectations #9

Dear past [redacted for irl name reasons],

Please find enclosed: an invoice of my most profound apologies and failure to render appropriate services.

I’m sorry that I’m not doing what we planned, that I’m not studying something veterinary. 

I’m sorry that I fell in and out of love, and that this left us emotionally stunted. 

That I went through all the hard stuff, and ended up drowning sorrows in sherry.

And came out scattered and scarred and crushed, and that I deny this when confronted.

I’m sorry that I can’t find it in me to believe, that my teenage years weren’t cautionary

That I was selfish, petty, and cruel, I walked out of secondary school emotionally blunted. 

I’m sorry that my poetry isn’t anything fantastic and fuelled by the arbitrary 

I’m sorry that I cannot express anything more impressive than feeling affronted. 

That all my life is fuelled by impulse and that the last few years have felt evolutionary

But most of all I’m sorry for failing to become everything you wanted. 

Love the current [redacted bc its my irl name].

#poetry #poetry on tumblr #prose poetry #i was really depressed when I wrote this a year and a half ago #i got therapy tho #writers on tumblr #my writing #sofwritesstuff #writing #mediocre expectations #I should probs go back to therapy though

[hubrishazard]

they really had 10 lay on the floor bloody and bruised surrounded by broken glass for several long minutes, pick up a gun and tremblingly aim it at the man he had previously cradled in his arms and begged to stay alive, and then had him have a mental breakdown where he yelled and shoved things off of countertops, and then had him writhe around in agony and then lay down curled up in a fetal position inside a glass container. All within the span of like, ten minutes.

#doctor who #10th doctor #I rewatched the ending of that episode just now and i am so unwell about it. #his Extremely Unwell surprised laughter of relief at surviving through everything the master did. and then the subsequent realization. #that he is going to die anyway. #godddd. i need to rewatch one of the mediocre rtd era episodes so i can lower my expectations for the upcoming special

[whataboutthreateninganass]

in a land of myth and a time of (slightly outlawed) magic, the destiny of a kinda mediocre kingdom, ruled by a tyrannical sad boi, rests on the shoulders of a snarky boy in love with said tyrants himbo son

#it goes as well as expected #yes the snarky boy chooses the himbo over the kingdom #obviously #they’re in LOVE #mediocre kingdom #because i said so #bbc merlin #merthur #arthur pendragon #merlin #merlin bbc

[atlantic-riona]

Batgirl #9 (2000) // the Iliad trans. Caroline Alexander // Táin Bó Cuailnge trans. Thomas Kinsella

#cassandra cain #dc #batgirl #batman #web weaving #I've wanted to make this post for years now #when I first read this scene in the comic I almost screamed!! the choice between a short life and glory or a long life and mediocrity. just #AHHHHHHHHH #anyway DC should do more with this Cassandra Cain is SUCH an interesting character with #the way she shares characteristics with classic heroes of myth and legend #I mean all superheroes do to a certain extent #but they're usually not this overt #may never do this again lol I have zero programs for this and it took forever #but also the more I focused on it the more parallels I found #Achilles and his mother #Cass and Lady Shiva #heck even to some extent Cúchulainn and Cathbad #who may or may not be his grandfather #if Cass chooses to get Shiva's help she'll have to come back in a year to fight to the death (and she expects to die) #if Achilles chooses to fight the Trojans he'll die during the war #if Cúchulainn picks up those weapons (choosing to fight for glory) his life will be short #if Cass chooses to do things Bruce's way (choosing her father) she'll can be Batgirl again #but never with the same skill level #if Achilles chooses to return to his father's land he will never achieve fame and glory but he'll live a long life #you can't really see it in these snippets but Cúchulainn's already made the choice and it can't be taken back #but you could parallel it with Conchobar's anger or with Cathbad's prediction of woe coming to that child #they're his mother's family but they are the paternal figures here #and in the end all three choose perfection and glory and fame over a long life of mediocrity #ANYWAY I find it fascinating #dc once again please hire me

[softieskywalker]

not gonna lie after the shitshow of last year it feels like karmic justice that the one show that's actually objectively superior in every aspect is Andor. fuck you bad batch and fuck you sequel trilogy none of them ever understood what star was has always been about. Andor is a show that not only understands the basic premise of "the fight against a fascist dictatorship but make it in space" but improves it and grows beyond that. because it's not just "let's kill the fascists at all costs" like the og trilogy but now it's "what if we also explored the fact that it's an Empire, and Imperialism comes with white supremacy, the destruction of entire civilizations, slave labor inside concentration camps, and that the fight against that is messy and infinitely complicated?" and not only that but it's a show that doesn't rely on overly complicated lore and backstories to set up conflict it's like watching a good sci-fi show that just happens to be inside the star wars universe. it's insane.

#andor #i love this show and i can't belive it sjfhjkfdsd #after the disaster of bobf i was expecting it to be mediocre at best #this is a nice surprise #star wars #cassian andor #diego luna #sw

[faggotwalkwithme]

not to be annoying but ugh

moodboard

#plz reblog my art .please #im a mediocre artist in small fandoms i dont expect like.. a lot of notes but PLZ .IF UR GONNA LIKE IT THEN REBLOG. PLEASE #shut up mars

[stardustdiiving]

How evil is arlecchino and what is she cooking

As of 4.2, I’m really curious what they’re planning with Arlecchino as a character, especially as a villain/antagonist/morally dubious character, and how far/which direction they may go with that

Intuitively my impression is we’ll see her do something way more “villainous” than she presents herself as being for majority of Fontaine’s AQ in front of us right—(which isn’t a surprise given that, you know, Arlecchino nor the House of Hearth have never been presented as 110% ethical LOL) but I find myself not being in complete agreement with most analysis or speculation threads I see about Arlecchino’s morality and the like, level of sinister people seem to ascribe to her.

Idk how to put it, especially in regards to her children I do agree they are not a wholesome found family, that Arlecchino is not above pulling strings or using them for her own ulterior motives, but I kind of hesitate on the idea she only cares about the Hearth children as a means to the end/things she can control and there’s nothing else going on with her characterization wise there. I’m not saying that impression seems remotely unreasonable or unfounded, but just that it feels there’s something intentionally missing in how we are supposed to conceptualize her as a person

My main reasoning for this hunch is the fact they have not elaborated on Arlecchino and the previous Knave—who Arlecchino is stated to have taken over the position from by force. The extra tidbits I think about are that 1) Arlecchino was previously an orphan in the Hearth 2) the previous Knave is described as way, way crueler to the children of than Heart than Arlecchino was from when she took control of the House

Often, people’s major indicators that the House of the Hearth is kind of super fucked up are the NPCs we meet in world quests who are part of it and clearly suffering. But one thing I haven’t ever seen people mention w this that i think is a very interesting detail is, in The Very Special Fortune Slip Inazuma worldquest, where we stop this House of Hearth guy (Efim Snezhevich) from manufacturing tension between Watasumi/the Shogunate to restart the war with his other Hearth subordinates, at the end of the quest we get this dialogue that reveals he had been acting under the previous Knave’s directives:

It’s also mentioned he’s employing this plan in an attempt to “rebuild the prestige of the Knave” following Signora’s death, iirc? Now, see, the dialogue itself says that this is “assuming our captive is telling the truth” so who knows what’s really going on, but I find this a really odd/interesting thing to highlight. I’m a bit fuzzy on other world quests with Hearth members, and am not saying none of them were acting and subsequently being treated poorly by our Arlecchino, but like, this gives me a lot of questions especially when paired with implications this previous Knave seemed to be way worse

Like, what drove Arlecchino to take over? How unexpected and controversial was this within the House? Assuming the above information is all true it definitely says something this guy went rogue and acted on what the previous Knave would want and didn’t think our Arlecchino would greenlight it, which does feel consistent with the previous Knave being described as basically worse & crueler than our Arlecchino. It also makes me question how much house of hearth things we’ve seen outside the main story are the work of our Arlecchino or if there’s a bigger divide of loyalty. Heck, I could be wrong but it doesn’t even seem like we know if the previous Knave is dead or not

This isn’t me saying Arlecchino couldn’t possibly be treating hearth children worse than she wants us to know, especially ones who aren’t her “favorites” the way the fontaine trio seem to be, but I really don’t feel sure about making a solid conclusion of her exact level of malice the way ppl r generally understanding it rn when it feels there’s going to be more about her. Just the idea of she, as a Hearth child, clashed with the previous leader who was known for being cruel, overtook their position and took on less harsh methods of leading that made at least some members with more power/possible closer proximity to the previous Knave go rogue and try to commit atrocities in the previous Knave’s name…I feel this leaves a lot of room to suggest there’s more going on with how Arlecchino is as a person

I don’t mind if she’s just very evil and deceptive bc if she totally had me fall for thinking she was less evil than she actually was that’s fun tbh. But I feel people suggest that’s all her character could be with no degree of like, “sympatheticness” or deep grey morality and that if her character did go there it would be automatically poor writing and genshin walking back on making a truly evil woman when IDK. I feel you can claim at this point they have left it open ended and it’s never been completely confirmed she’s pure evil. Also sometimes I just get a hunch and feel cautiously confident in Genshin executing certain characters well. Not all characters, just certain ones. Especially given Fontaine’s character writing being very good and a character like Lyney feeling very solid to me when any development with Arlecchino would likely involve him and his siblings as well, I honestly feel open to the idea of Arlecchino being satisfyingly written to be both villainous/morally dubious but “sympathetic/likable as a person” in ways outside of just her ruthlessness if that makes sense

If I’m wrong/they drop the ball with it more than I anticipate I’ll eat my hat but I am pretty excited about her character and which way they decide to go with it. I will say the only potential impression I have of where they’ll go with her has been wondering if it will go in a “cycles of abuse” direction—I’d be surprised if they ever elaborated on Arlecchino’s character especially in how she feels about things and her also growing up as an exploited child of the hearth wasn’t relevant

#arlecchino #see my track record with said hunch with when I feel I should let genshin cook has been #for months truthing my vision of xiao’s speififc brand of internalized dehumanization induced suicidal ideation #and how genshin will one day he will get another quest of sorts thst develops his character towards #the idea he’s allowed to live and enjoy people’s company and this will likely #also come with following through on yaksha lore and when they do this they will do him SO well and it will be peak genshin quest #all of this Months before the existence of perilous trails was even rumored #and then I was soo stubborn xiao would show up in 2023 lantern rite w more character introspection to follow up PT #and also from the first fontsine teaser I was in the trenches for furina bc I felt so confident #the main storyline would handle her very well & if genshin went anywhere near the direction of her #not being a ‘true archon’ & ppl were Wrong if they thought genshin woudlnt take her seriously #and HAHA. WWOOWOOWOWOEOEOOEOEE #I have also been sent into hysteria multiple times bc genshin keeps canonizing my exact ideas of my favorite character dynamics #and often exceeding my expectations that I thought were jsut wishful thinking #yes I predicted exactly how xiao would interact w Venti & zhongli on screen yes I predicted #the exact nature of hat radish friendship no I was wiped out on the floor #by nahida enrolling wanderer in college & calling him hat guy & zhongli saving xiao’s life #& xiao having hardcore social anxiety from zhongven flirting with each other st the dinner table #this sounds so conceited. see I often don’t know What genshin is cooking but k feel sure in knowing when soemthing is going to be #a shitshow or mediocre or when we need to let them cook. even if it takes 6+ months #TRUST ME <— guy who has been waiting on genshin to cook for several characters for multiple years and is still sure I will get my food #am I crazy. yes. am I also often right when I have hunches on when genshin is going to suck and when it’s going to be good esp character #writing wise. often yes #one day I will annihilate genshined impact with my bare hands #genshin #fern.txt #fandomferns

[sad-endings-suck]

Back to report that I have seen the first episode of the Fallout tv show on Amazon Prime and it fucking slaps. Along with this, The Last of Us (HBO), Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Arcane: League of Legends (obviously), and many more, we can now say for certain that we are in the un-official golden era of video game adaptations (at least if it stays the course *knock on wood*).

#fucking finally #PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL ME I AM ONLY ON EP 1 !!! #decades of mediocre to terrible video game to screen adaptations and then in the span of a few short years WHAM! #good to incredible level shows and film #like yeah no one really liked uncharted (2022) but NOW it’s the odd one out instead of being the standard of what we can expect from studio #fallout tv series #fallout tv show #fallout amazon #fallout prime #ella purnell #jinx arcane #arcane league of legends #cyberpunk edgerunners #the last of us hbo #castlevania #sonic the hedgehog #mario bros #halo tv show #the ghoul #maximus #lucy mclean #dogmeat #gamingnetwork #tv news #vault tec #the brotherhood of steel #the enclave #vault dweller

[ndostairlyrium]

15 Lines of Dialogue

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

Tagged by @greypetrel 💛 thank you dear, scrolling through the pages was super sweet and it reminded me that doing something for myself without stressing too much on how it could be perceived was one of the best decisions I've ever made ;; <3

So, luckily for you I only have just a dozen of chapters translated so you're getting just the Haven + trip to Skyhold arcs :' there she's more jokes oriented wait until the trip to the Dales kicks in

🌸💀 Ankh before the "Lav" 💀🌸

"I should have listened to you. And this will be the first and last time you ever hear me say it!"

"Every culture strives to make [death] poetic in order to make sense of the pain of loss, but reality is much more selfless than any theory."

"This is the point at which I usually lay out my theory to Varric and he raises ten coppers that the situation is actually far worse than what it seems."

"I'm not "an elf". I'm the one who’s going to send you chopping wood with a butter knife, if you keep this attitude."

"Do you really want me to strip completely naked and dance around the fire, hooting in the moonlight under the influence of psychotropic mushrooms?" she paused. "With this cold?

"They give us a certificate along with the rabbit ears when we sprout from the ground."

"This isn't caution, it's lack of decency. If a man is hovering at the edge of a ravine, you carry him to safety, you don't check his ears first. And don't tell me it's a coping mechanism, or I'll tell Sera where you sleep!"

"And if I die, I'd like you to use my skull as a candle holder. Whatever Avaar may say, skulls make terrible mugs."

"I don't believe in redemption. It's like giving candy to a child after class. Mistakes are not stains, they are a reference point for those who make them to spur themselves to do better. They should be welcomed as much as a person's merits. They exist for those who suffer them and for those who make them, to help them give direction to their path"

"Don't transfer your inability to flirt to the Chantry, mister. It's too convenient."

"Not you too, please! You can't catch the plague if you sleep in the same room with an elf. It's scientifically proven. Unless the elf has the plague, but you can notice it on the fly." she pointed at her face with a circular gesture. "Bubbons, blisters, death."

"Oh, shut up! Thanks to my stubbornness, latrines have never been so clean!"

"I complained as well myself, but your saints have a no refunds policy."

"Humans are fickle, huh? First they hate me, then they praise me, then they forget me, and now it seems like I'm the heroine of all lost causes all over again. In all of this... where's my darn griffin?"

"Oh, I have no weapons; I have an arsenal. And if I really wanted to hurt you, you wouldn't be here now. I know where you sleep, I know your patterns, and it would take very little to convince most of the Inquisition elves that inside the council chambers there's an individual worth shaving at night."

-

I'm tagging: @herearedragons and @bruxbea

If you want to get tagged too just drop a ✨ in the replies u-u

#15 lines of dialogue #tag memes #the mediocre writing tag #ankh #being (not too) secretly liam neeson #only five of these are from a back and forth with cullen I'm very surprised #I expected more because he's the one she interacts the most with lmao #I'm glad I had only those chapters ready tbh or else my brain would've collapsed

[lambergeier]

hey i've got a piece in the ipse facto phoenix wright zine and preorders for this shit close THIS WEEK!! my piece comes with an extremely sick zoe jay @ot3 illustration AND there's hella extra merch the organizers have crammed into the full preorder package. treat yourself.

#ace attorney #i wrote about: phoenix being a mediocre guardian figure to a larger than expected number of weird little girls

[noperopesaredope]

Just saw the new Mean Girls movie, and I don't care what the internet is probably gonna say about it because IT WAS GOOD!!!!

#i had fun #and honestly #that's all that matters #but fr tho #i came in with mediocre expectations (disney has made me hate remakes by now) and came out rambling happily to my mom #i do have a few criticisms but those are actually directed more towards the cinematography (mom got dizzy from all the spinning cameras) #i wouldn't say it is QUITE as iconic as the original but it lived up to the legacy pretty well #and was the first movie to ever portray social media and modern teenagers in an accurate way that also fit the themes of the movie #i will come out with a proper review later but lets just say it was good and anyone who trashes it can fight me #mean girls #mean girls reboot #mean girls remake #mean girls 2024 #movies #teen movies #musicals #movie theater #2024 movies #mean girls musical #mean girls movie #regina george #cady heron #mean girls the musical #adaptation #movie adaptation #reboot #remake

[sonysakura]

Angsty Sonadow Drabble #11

This time written to one of my recent sketches, featuring a pretend relationship and "unrequited" mutual pining 🥺

▪▫▪

fake relationship, mutual pining

It feels methodical. The way they grab at each other both to steady themselves and as a warning not to go further. Maybe this isn’t how actual loving couples go at it... But Sonic can’t help getting lost in the kiss anyway, he can’t stop himself from enjoying that lack of space between their chests, the touch of Shadow’s lips and his teeth and the subtle bite he adds to the action.

Their ears twitch when a door closes in the distance – whoever has caught them finally leaving, and the hedgehogs separate. Only for Shadow to dive right back in, making Sonic’s heart skip a beat even as he doesn’t reciprocate. He pushes the other back despite feeling like he’s tearing a limb from his own body.

“Don’t have to pretend anymore, you know?”

“Right,” Shadow lets go of his wrists, sounding hollow, and all Sonic can feel is regret.

▪▫▪

Read the whole collection on Ao3.

#Sonic series #Sonic the Hedgehog #Shadow the Hedgehog #Sonadow #Angsty Sonadow Drabbles #angst #fake relationship #mutual pining #fanfiction #art #by sonysakura #writing by sonysakura #art by sonysakura #My friends are all like “didn't expect the sketch to be sad” #And the true story is... #I just practised drawing kissing hh #And then a couple of days after posting I looked and was like #Huh this looks kinda stiff #So I'm covering up my mediocre drawing skills with my significantly better writing asdfghjk

[buryam-soul]

Woagh 4.3 update and Navia secured! Time to get my second goal, which is Alhaitham's card. Let's see--

HOLY FUCK

I was lowkey hoping for Akademiya trio (haitham + cyno + nahida) but 2 out of 3 ain't bad at all!!! My cytham-loving heart is fed, and my hi3 captain heart is filled with bliss at seeing a pseudo Flamechaser reunion <3

So anyway, I fought him with my meme desert gang deck, fully expecting to lose and needing to use a proper deck

And guess what

PRESIDENTIAL ALERT THE BOYS ARE FIGHTINGGG

And

I won??

I won!

Aww! I had fun too, buddy <3

#genshin impact #alhaitham #i seriously wasn't expecting to win w this silly deck and my mediocre tcg skill #yae thirdwheeling a cytham date...... what will she do i wonder.....

[magicfor3st]

How it started:

How it's going:

#Unicorn Wars #unicorn wars oc #Youd expect the dad to be really mediocre but hes 10+ years oent up and needed to get it out if his system

[nailgunstigmata]

truly embracing the poppins parallels and making dennis run out into the street in the last chapter of dd where he gets hit by a car and dies on impact

#putting out a hundred fake leaks for my mediocre fanfic so nobody expects the true ending (i havent thought of one yet) #but its probably murder suicide. unless im lying again. who knows