#nobody understands the blorbo quite like us

[otherworldlygate]

Once again it's Regal appreciation hour by which I mean day by which I mean year by which I mean lifetime.

I was very much prepared to not write any fanfiction this year, but I cannot divorce myself from how awesome my favorite Symphonia blorbos are and so I am writing yet another stupid fanfic. I feel feral about these characters in general but Raine gets quite a lot of attention (because she's wonderful, obviously) so I don't want to focus on her too much. Regal, on the other hand, has been underappreciated in the ToS fandom since the game's release day, so I must advocate for him.

I've been RPing as him for the last year or so, and together my RP partner and I have written about 320,000 words of a story. I'm having a blast, and a big part of that is because Regal is, despite the flaws in the storytelling of ToS as a whole surrounding him (and how all of the Tethe'alla characters kind of fall flat), a rather well-conceived and implemented character. Yeah, his clothes are dumb (I'm happy to retcon that outfit with zero regrets) and the game blows through his story at such a breakneck pace he doesn't get the space or the arc he deserves (he should have taken his shackles off as part of his 'sacrifice' to fight the angels), but he is a genuinely fascinating character who feels, just like many of the others do, as if he belongs very specifically in the world he was created for.

I know a lot of people like to write him as this sad sack of shit just absolutely lost in the grief sauce (see the part about how he didn't get the arc he deserved), but I think that's a mistake. See, the biggest bump in the road for Regal was his lack of understanding of what was happening and why. When you think about it, he was faced with having to kill Alicia seemingly out of nowhere. Like one day he's just minding his business and the next Alicia is gone and very quickly after that she's a monster trying to kill him AND HE HAS NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON. He has no answers. All he knows is that he killed her, and his autistic* brain latches onto that detail because it's all he has.

You have to think, too, about the fact that the game gives him nobody. His parents are dead. George, the only person even remotely close to Regal--someone he's known his *whole life*--betrayed him. (George didn't mean for things to go Like That and he's sorry he did it, but HE STILL DID IT.) Regal doesn't have friends and the extra material makes it clear that he was literally raised, specifically by his father, to be a workaholic. Do you think anyone came to see him in prison? He fought in a coliseum for his life for YEARS. He was on friendly terms with some of the other inmates but the guy had eight years to just sit there and get stuck in the loop of knowing he killed the one person he'd let himself get even remotely close to.

Which is something else people always downplay for some reason. The shit with Alicia isn't just "guy is sad because he killed his girlfriend." It's very much, "guy was born and bred to take on the family legacy" except in this case the family legacy is a company, an island, a noble bloodline, and also the absolutely insane idea that work and profit is all that matters. Everyone else is out to get you. Keep the workers dissatisfied but keep them hooked just enough that they'll never leave. Take no time for fun or friends or merriment. Everything in your life is a business transaction. Don't ever forget it. It's us vs. them. You're alone and you have to make this your entire life or it'll all fall to pieces and it will be your fault.

The drama cd in particular really honed in on that way of being raised and it makes his entire character make complete sense. At a relatively young age his father died and he ended up on top (though it's stated he had to work as a CEO before he was elected via a board to the position of President). Having no other guidelines other than what he was taught--and what George himself adhered to--Regal followed that path...until he ended up miserable, because, despite the way he was raised, he's a goddamn empath**.

After literal YEARS of occasionally running into Alicia and talking to her, he starts forming a connection to her--which is important because he's never allowed himself to do this before. And at one point he realizes he doesn't even know her name...which comes as a surprise to him...and brings with it shame. After this, he starts living for himself. He listens to his employees--something his father never did. He starts enacting rules to protect his employees, particularly from things that would hurt them in the field, because part of what was making him so miserable was wrestling with the empathy of their terrible working conditions on top of just hearing his father's manta repeating itself in his head all the time.

I cannot stress enough how important this is. Alicia, despite being a love interest and someone he was interested in seriously dating and perhaps someday marrying (the details of their relationship are never known but it's almost more tragic if they were just starting to be serious), WAS STILL HIS EMPLOYEE.

He was supposed to protect his employees. He was doing so much to ensure his employees would be safe. And then he killed Alicia.

Alicia, the one person he allowed himself to get close to.

Now, consider the fact that he was raised as a tool and not a beloved son; he was not allowed to have friends and not allowed to make merry. He was under his father's thumb until his father's untimely death--a death, by the way, that only surprised him with its suddenness; he did not grieve that man!! Regal, as a 25-year-old man, had ZERO coping mechanisms. All he had was the truth he was raised under and the fact that he went against that truth AND WAS NOW BEING PUNISHED FOR IT. How can someone like this think of anything except that they are the reason George was put in a position where he had to get rid of Alicia? That the only reason Alicia was experimented on and turned into a monster was because of her connection to Regal?

IT MAKES ME FEEL SO FERAL!!!

The events of the game open his eyes to the ACTUAL truth, to what actually happened AND WHY IT HAPPENED TO ALICIA. In the end he learns he had NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. If he had not befriended and started falling for Alicia, she still would have died--it's just, if she hadn't had a more direct connection to Regal, who knows where she might have met her end. Alone, forgotten? At least someone knew her as she was; at least someone can tell Presea the kind of person her sister was.

The ToS fandom has always loved joking about how Regal's just into punishment as a kink or whatever (and I'll never forgive the shitty non-canon-in-my-heart sequel for leaning so hard into that angle, fuck you fuck you fuck you) but let's be serious about it for a hot second. Yes, I think learning this information puts him on a better path, but you can't erase 8 years of self-loathing and fear instantly. Did you guys really think this man would just forget about the darkest years of his life and start frolicking in fields of flowers?

The trauma he's endured goes so much deeper than "I killed the person I loved," and boiling it down to that really does the character a disservice. The "born for a specific purpose, not allowed to exist outside of that purpose" bit is also given to Colette and Zelos, but while their role is being a sacrifice whose only use is dying or procreating to continue the line to have more sacrifices (absolutely also traumatizing btw), Regal's situation feels a lot more like indoctrinated religion and, very specifically (and no I am not kidding), religious trauma. Again, he endured that very controlled lifestyle complete with a mantra from birth into his early 20s, and the MOMENT he broke away from it too far, his life came crashing down around him in a very painful and traumatizing way.

Now, you might think the religious trauma parallel is unfounded, if not also the indoctrinated religion aspect of it, it could just as easily be a parallel for an abusive and controlling relationship, right down to the betrayal from someone who is supposed to have your best interests at heart the moment you step outside of that control to the feelings of shame and self-loathing and "you did this to yourself."

So whenever I see people joking about what a sad sack of shit he is or whatever, I'm just astounded, especially if it's coming from someone who loves literally any other character in the game. Like, you'll definitely have your blorbos, and I totally understand if Regal just ain't it for you, but I find it really disconcerting that someone might find (for example) Yuan's trauma deeply meaningful but see Regal's as stupid or silly.

I'm pretty sure I started this post to talk about how easy it is for me to RP as Regal because he's just such a great character to sink into and write about, particularly because I like to imagine that, starting in the post-game, he deeply regrets some of the choices he's made in his life, and, rather than lean into the things that have already transpired, he seeks to do what he can to better the world around him with the resources and power that he has.

It's like the ultimate fuck-you to the way his father raised him. He's not wasting the skills he's developed, but he's also not using them to hurt people or for personal or Lezareno profit.

I think most of us love writing about characters who have to work through their trauma, but there's an extra layer here that I particularly enjoy with Regal. With Raine I'm all about her inability to trust easily and her struggle to feel truly comfortable around other people, but with Regal I think it's maybe specifically related to the fact that he has had a lot handed to him that he didn't necessarily want, and his self-sacrificing nature lends itself to him feeling obligated to take it. I fully believe Regal would be happier and better off stepping away from Lezareno and from his family's toxic ass legacy*** (or at least not working it full-time as the acting President) but I can't ignore the fact that...these things are all he has and all he knows. So writing about him attempting to get back into the swing of things, maybe struggling to find time for himself, falling into workaholic patterns by mistake, learning to set boundaries between his private life and his job...all while not being fully satisfied and finding more fulfillment in charity work and other pursuits, just makes him feel like a very well-rounded character. Like...it's believable that he would continue to work a job he didn't particularly love specifically because not only does he not know anything else, but he knows with this position of power he can make a lot of things happen that would be impossible if he just twiddled his thumbs on the sidelines--like financial assistance going to Palmacosta, or his duties as a nobleman to try to get better laws passed in Tethe'alla, etc.

This was a pretty clumsily-written post and for that I am truly sorry. I've just been absolutely insane lately thinking about Regal and I had to get some of why I think he's such a wonderful character out into the world.

:)

*this is just my headcanon but a lot about Regal screams autism to me.

**this is canon as far as I'm concerned. I wrote him this way far before I ever heard the drama cd, and the drama cd just solidified it for me tenfold.

***there's a scene in the hotel with Lloyd I think where Regal says his family's legacy on Altamira started when Tethe'alla flipped over to being a flourishing world last, which means they were in a position of power great enough to build an empire on Altamira already at that time (800+ years ago). I don't want to get into how awful this probably was or how evil the family was because I think you can all imagine that for yourselves. Also, nobody ever mentions the fact that Regal is the last of his family line, but it's a very convenient built-in control tactic to guilt someone into doing as they're told or risk bringing shame to a family that's been going strong and unbroken for over 1,000 years.

#regal bryant #tales of symphonia meta #tales of symphonia

[magemelondew]

Hi again, follow up question, can I have facts about Arc? (I love their design sm)

YES! I would love to! Sorry for delayed response.. life happens. There's just.. so much to say about Arc. They are just...mmmmmm!!!! so blorbo!!!

Not only are they the funniest damn guy, they're a pseudo-mascot of the rp discord server I'm in!

(Art by @azul1462, p1nkwub on discord, @actualsquid, and @ieattoothpasteveevo !!)

They're!!! Like a big ol' lizard!! And my absolute dork.

There's also a running joke where if you say the word "arc" in any way, Arc will magically appear to say hello. Nobody is safe. But people love it!! And I love Arc's eccentric mad scientist nature.

Arc uses They/He pronouns, and while they prefer they/them, he/him is appropriate too if that is easier for the other person to refer to them as. They have a preference for they pronouns because it refers to both Ray and Spark! And while Arc finds great pleasure in individuality, they can't deny that the two other wubboxes are responsible for their existence at all.

As for their personality, they're very outgoing, adventurous, but still remain very welcoming and cheery. They can't stay in one place, and are constantly on the move. They want to know all there is to know about the observable universe, that being the main driver for their expeditions. Often they can absolutely explode with questions, asking too many at one time from pent-up excitement. Anyone that Arc has ever had interest in will know how little they understand personal bubbles.

Arc can absolutely flip on a dime, and are mildly unpredictable. Fortunately, they have the sensibilities of Spark, something that did not exist in the original rare wubbox, and is still exploring this part of themselves.

I've gone over this before, I think, but Arc is a wubbox fusion! The wubboxes involved are Ray and Spark, the two dorkiest wubboxes, and the two sides of Arc, like the right and left brain.

Spark is constantly anxious, incredibly sweet, and also the emotion and musical part of Arc's mind. He keeps the emotional connections to memories, but does not have the memories himself. He's very musically inclined, and can remember voices and songs.. but not names or faces. He only becomes stable enough to stand on his own when melded with Ray, and that's where his character really shines through. He always seems to be trembling like a newborn puppy, and only feels normal around Ray.

Ray, on the other hand, is logical, brash, and ever-curious about fucking everything ever. He gets himself in danger as a result, and can explode with questions. He has all the information, and is more than happy to tell you everything he knows, but he has no emotional attachments to any of them. Ray often feels very empty as a result, and where there would be other feelings are replaced with anger. He has quite the temperament, and can get angry when he doesn't get what he wants out of a inability to understand in the emotional sense.

Often when Arc is feeling absolutely fantastic, both sides actually lose individuality, but the worse they feel, the more separate. But it can be somewhat controlled, such as when Ray and Spark make calculated movements like dancing and running, they work in tandem. Although when they are asking questions, they work separately, Spark asking the questions Ray comes up with as he writes and observes. It should be assumed, but they can actively hear each other's thoughts at all times.. unless they get into an argument, then the separation begins to occur.

They love music with a passion, and are always listening to a song through their headphones! They actually have very sensitive hearing, and the headphones work to block out sound and to provide music for the Spark in him, who finds himself needing it sometimes when he gets too stressed out or when he needs a break, leaving Ray in control.

Ray and Spark both receive euphoria in this state as well, both receiving the lacking elements of the other. When necessary or wanted, though, they can take control individually as well of the body.

For example, Arc can write and participate in a conversation at the same time, the writing being Ray, and the expressing being Spark. Often times, Arc will use Ray's handwriting for notes since it is robotic and clean. Spark's handwriting is a fucking pain to read, but it is full of character, being very shaky and expressive. Arc never uses this one. But the two sides can work to make an in-between, which is both clean enough to read, yet still looks like genuine handwriting! This one is used for personal uses, such as writing journal entries about their day, or letters to others.

Not only this, but while it may seem as Spark is unstable, as is Ray, feelings of anger can split the two, not only sadness. And while disagreements are rare, they do happen. And so if both sides fight, then the two are individuals again.

If u want to know Anything else about my sweetheart boy pls ask me!!! Hee hee!! All other characters are free for questioning too, and you can even speak to them directly if you'd like!

#rare wubbox #art #my singing monsters #msm #wubbox #arc #ray #spark #fan character #wubbox oc #long post #wubboxoc

[myfaveisfuckable]

Rants!

queen ripple/drawcia: they're in love they've never met in canon they're married with an adopted fairy daughter they're divorced and haven't seen each other in 4 billion years they sealed ripple's sorta parental figure with that parental figure's partner they both hate their respective duties despite having to keep at them for their people's/family's sakes they both have golden child syndrome are everything to me do you understand. (literally none of this is part of canon btw i like making shit up about my beloved blorbos who nobody even looks at sideways because they have little to no canon characterization)

Dante/Raiden: This ship comes from the 2006 Playstation Magazine (PSM) issue 110 endpage drawn by comic artist Adam Warren (most known for his comic Empowered) depicting the hypothetical timeline where the PSM swimsuit special is replaced with a 600 page erotic “Dante/Raiden slash fanfiction.” In this panel Dante’s DMC2 design is shown above Raiden’s MGS2 design (notably the most hated versions of these characters at the time, though considering Warren’s feelings towards Dante and Raiden, this pairing was most likely shown to baffle the reader with a well beloved charactered and a much hated character doing something “humiliating” aka. participating in homosexuality). Dante says “Why can’t I quit yew,” a reference to brokeback mountain, and Raiden says “Please be gentle… like snake”

Obviously this panel is meant to be a joke at the expense of both women who write fanfiction, and gay people, made more clear by the second appearance of “Raidante” in Warren’s work, in which Dante is reading yaoi fanfic and remarks “As if I’d settle for someone as lame as Raiden if I was gay!” However, likely because he has never played Metal Gear, Warren fails to consider the thematic implications of this pairing, considering the narratives of each character.

Dante is a demi-human, ashamed of his demon heritage but forced to reconcile with it. To cope with this, he adopts the persona of a “badass devil hunter with a devil may care attitude” as a form of escapism. Because he cannot accept his nature, nor can he come to terms with his past trauma of demons killing his close ones, he remains in stasis and cannot form deep connections with others.

Raiden is human by nature, but was robbed of his flesh by the patriots. Raised a child soldier, he is emotionally stunted and has very little personality to call his own, resorting to grasping at the persona of “Solid Snake” and tacking on his mannerisms to fill what gaps are left in his development. Even after starting a new after the big shell incident, he relapses again into the ego-less being he was at the age of 10, proclaiming himself a weapon and throwing himself at danger and death in the belief that it’s his purpose.

Both of these people are fundamentally unable to connect with others, breaking all of their connections and distancing themselves both out of fear of getting hurt and genuine inability to retain relationships. They use violence and self sacrifice as substitute for meaning in their life, and degrade themselves to that of a sword. Then, when meeting someone who they recognize all their behaviors in, what would happen? Do their own tactics of isolation work on themselves? Do they cancel out, or override each other?

Adam Warren is too much of a coward to explore this concept in a 600 page fanfic, so I will.

#poll #tournament #Kirby #devil may cry #metal gear

[the-furies]

4 18 and 25 for the plural game if you want to

this got longggg FBCJCJ

Are there any activities your system members like to do together? Collective hobbies? Talk about those!

Yes!! We enjoy gaming & drawing together usually! Uhhhh We also have some YouTubers we like watching together collectively IIRC but usually it's gaming & drawing.

Are there differences between systemmates surrounding sensory things? (For example, one person likes the taste of one food and another doesn’t.)

OH DEFINITELY LMAO there's foods a lot of us can eat that we Absolutely Cannot if Encyclo is Anywhere Near Front bc it just. Hates The Textures & Tastes So Much. And A few of us in the roster rn like Perception & Suggestion have roles that are just "Find This Specific Sensory Imput RIGHT NOW or so help me god" and we're like Why. Why do you fuckign want this. [lighthearted]

Like fr example. Perception's biggest front trigger is almost scalding hot water* & if our weighted blanket didn't have a hole in it Suggestion would probably front way more often & be able to without burning through so many spoons LMAO

[*WE DON'T KNOW WHY THIS IS we asked and it's not a self harm thing it's a "OOOOO the textures :))" thing SHE'S FINE LMAO]

What is something you wish singlets knew about plurality?

YES!!!!!!! OH MY GOD OKAY SO:

Fictives are not your blorbos™

we had the whole "omg you're [character]!!!! You're so cool Can we be besties can we date can we XYZ I only care about you btw" weirdness happen to us at LEAST once but that was yearssss ago luckily. Like. Just before our source even existed I think LMFAO

But yeah it's fucked up like Hello just because the brain introjected a bitch from media does not mean we r the same. At all. And this can be a blessing and a curse tbh like dude if our Harry acted even remotely similar to how he does in-game & he fronted often then like NOBODY WOULD WANT TO TALK TO US but I digress Sorry if that's mean We just woke up it's 2:30. in the morning. BUT ANYWAYS!!

Fictives are our own damn people we can (and DO!) grow and change & learn and quite often! Differ from source HEAVILY! But also y'know. Shout out to those who Don't change much or at all from their source cuz we've ALSO got a lotta fuckers like that here too tbh I'M GETTING OFF TOPICjfjdkskzd

It's just. So uncomfortable for us personally lmao. But also shoutout to the few people we've met who Tried doing that & were like "Understandable have a nice day" & learned & were Niceys abt things when we told them No. like. thank u 4 having common senseJFFJJSF

-PT

#ask #thank youuuuuu #I wish we remembered that one dude's name bc they treated us SO WEIRDLY it was like they never met a system before #But like we stuck around Partially bc we'd feel weird abt ghosting [which we did. eventually] but Also bc. tbfh. it was entertaining lmao #idk like I said that was years ago fuckin... actually. might've been 2020? Tw: Server Name [inside joke] was still around I think? #Or was that... Just before we joined there. Either way. 2019-2020 era so TECHNICALLY OUR SOURCE *DID* EXIST! We personally just didn't LMAO

[moved-to-cinnamon-phrog]

rank dhmis characters from favorite to least favorite?

:D Gladly! Sorry I took awhile my laptop was having a tantrum and didn't want to cooperate

O A T S

I love him so much he is the most complex and 5 dimensional character in the entire DHMIS series I loved that bit where he saved those orphans from a burning building.

2. Yellow Guy

Look at him. He is exquisite. He's made of nothing but sunshine and lemon easter peeps and his brain is made of candy-floss.

Fr he is my favourite, for multiple reasons which are very intricate and personal to my being and if I said them all you'd be reading for about five hours.

The main reason is because he's one of my favourite tropes concentrate.

I'm an absolute sucker for the type of charater that tries to make the best out of dark situations. He... tries. Maybe he's the way he is because he's just too stupid to understand, but I choose to beleive that he knows but... pretends he doesn't. At least a little bit.

Also his design is gorgeous. I never liked the colour yellow but now it's my favourite ^-^

Anyways he is litterally my Blorbo

3. Duck

My favourite lil' bitch. Skrunkly thang. Bastard.

What I like abt Duck is he's so widespread in his character.

Their like everyone's grumpy grandad, little old lady that knits you scarves for the winter, goofy uncle that lives in the woods with a shotgun and a bottle of whisky, sassy wine aunt, dad that reads the paper in the morning and has rthe worst dance moves ever, housewife mum from the fifties, little brother that wants you to look at his planes and moody big sister that wants you to gtfo of her room rn she's talking to Braydon shut up Braydons on the phone all in one.

He genuinely, desprately wants others to like him, to look up to him and see him as a friend. But they can never quite get there.

That's why they love anybody and everybody who loves them back, because not many do.

They're voice smells good also ^-^

4. Red Guy

He's only this far down bc he looks like a used tampon to me and I can't unsee it, so the other two I hold at a slightly higher pedastal bc of it.

He's the cool guy, laid back and sad, and I like his swag.

But he canonically hunts wales for sport and I don't have much to say about him really, I like Red but he's certainly not my favourite. That doesn'y mean I don't like him though.

5. Roy

Roy :) Worlds Worst Father. He has a cheese puff for a nose. He has contacted absolutely every sexually transmitted disease onto his person.

6. Colin

Con da puter ^^^^^^^^^

My favourite teacher methinks. He's much more goofy and I love that abt him. Unlike the others he just seems to want the trio to have fun, if in his odd little twisted way.

He's just a little narccisistic kid really. That nerd that had pokemon cards that thought he was fresh af for having all the shinys.

7. Tony

I love him sm I made a poem 'bout him:

Tony Tony

Macaroni

Pepperoni Pizzer

He likes traumatizing kids

I hope he never meets ya

8. Sketchbook

The gg scenecore Manic Pixie Dreamgirl Creepypasta loving brony.

9. Shrignold.

I hate to love him and I love to hate him >:3

10. Train

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ train

11. Lamp

This drunkard really just stumbled in absolutely piss-faced and got the teching job bc nobody could get rid of him.

12. Furry Boy and his crab <3

13. Steak

My friend calls him Meaty Gusteau.

14. Spinach can

I ran out of funny words I just think she's cool.

15. Bread Boy

Look at this face. This is the cutest lil thang. Look at his drums. He exeeds talent.

16. Fridge

Fridgy <33333 get away from me <333333333 ur scary <3333333333333

17. Micheal

Mah boy just needs some love :o'(

18. This Tree

19. This Stick

20. Wow look a piechart!

21. DIGITAL STYLE

22. DO A DIGITAL DANCING, AIN'T THIS JUST FUN?!?!?!?!

23. This bargraph I have no emotion for whatsoever.

Why do you exist.

24. Paula

25. Mean Steve.

Mean Steve is a fucking cunt he pissed on my fucking wife-

26. THIS FUCKING THING

Okay I love all the other characters but tHIS. This HEATHEN. I hate him. He invokes so much hatred in me you have no idea. I want to stomp on him. I want to set him on fire. I want both sides of his pillow to be warm.

Honorable mentions:

Shriggy's Lovecult, Mrs. Grenalds and the other weirdos in Clayhill, twin goblins Scaraboosh and Scaramoochie, The Pirate King, and whoever the fuck Jason is.

#dhmis #don't hug me i'm scared #anon this fucking broke me to make i hope you're happy /hj

[ballsballsbowls]

I suspect my insights into the new tumblr Core Product Strategy are no dumber than anyone else’s. To be fair, I workshopped an idea in my gc a couple of years ago that was nearly identical to Blaze, so while I don’t have my finger of the pulse of the youth, I have had a few good guesses what would fix tumblr. 

I understand they are kind of frantically balancing the needs of Someone Like Me (a 2013 sign-on who will be here until they shut the lights off and posts a good bit if not in a way that gets viewed and reads a lot more than 25 posts on the average day AND is like 80% browser user which like...seriously, use fucking browser it’s so much better) with the kind of Line Go Up forever growth that justifies spending money on a fucking sinkhole like tumblr.

I am also very interested in seeing if they can improve their algorithmic content because I’d be interested in the algorithmic content (explore, for you, even if they added something else I’d be interested as long as I have a chronological followers-only feed as one of my options). But I don’t use these things unless I’m desperate to Look At Post because...the algorithm is either very very good or very very bad, in that it nearly always serves up posts I’ve been seeing all day (so points for guessing what I am already seeing) but had no interest in interacting with. 

Please tumblr I WANT to see more posts I am not already seeing. I cannot look at the same out of context undated twitter screencaps passing as political commentary all day every day. I just also want the option to not see that shit in my chronological dash. In tumblr’s heyday I never hit my post limit but I was posting upwards of 100 posts a day, and now you rarely get double digits from me because there is simply not that much interesting content.

Unsure about the threaded comments. I think it COULD work but I’m unsure if it will depending on how it’s implemented.

ALSO pleased to see The App on their list. The app is dogshit and it’s been dogshit for a couple of years now. It’s genuinely hard to SEE more than 30-40 posts on the app in an WHOLE DAY of intermittent scrolling because of the app’s tendency to freeze/crash/only show you those 30-40 posts no matter what you do. I have mutuals who LEFT TUMBLR because they were app-only users and the app just got so unpleasant to use they quit tumblr, and I’m sure they are not the only people who did so.

I desperately would like more control over who follows me/who can interact with me/who can interact with my posts. I’d love a native mute function, especially something that would let me choose how long I don’t want to see posts for. Sometimes I just need like five days so they can get their untagged blorbo stuff out and I don’t have to see it, you know? 

I’d love an option to not allow blank blogs to follow me, or blogs newer than 7 days, or blogs that have NEVER generated an original post (which also tend to be spam). You have everyone’s birthdays now, you should be able to generate a “nobody under 18 according to the account birthday can follow” (I care less about that but I also am not generating much of my own content.) 

tl;dr I am not sure the issue is tumblr is difficult for new people, but I think a slow, buggy app and the lack of new and different stuff on the site is what keeps them from coming back. 

#stop b think of the children

[flydotnet]

It Hits You Like a Rock

WHUMPTOBER DAY 1: “But now this room is spinning while I’m trying just to fill in all the gaps.” Safety Net | Swooning | “How many fingers am I holding up?”

HAPPY FIRST EPISODE OF CT 2018 SEASON 2 EVERYONE! I won't lie, I hadn't planned this CT oneshot around this fact, I just so happened to write prompt 1 with CT as my fandom. Well, tbf, this stupid manga occupies a quarter of my brain at all times, so it's not that unusual from me. This franchise will be the end of me.

Speaking of which, I cycled through a couple ideas before landing on this one - which is very much not a whumptastic fest lol. I was in the mood for light-hearted stuff when I wrote it, and it'll be a trend for the first few entries; but don't worry! It gets bad for my blorbos! I ended up picking the third prompt because it seemed fun to turn into a bit of a comedy.

Anyway, about the fic itself. I'm a big Nankatsu Middle School hater, that's not a big secret. I tend to bash them as soon as I can because I find them boring as hell and very overhyped by the manga. However, the reasons I don't like Nankatsu MS are also the reasons why I like Nankatsu High's team instead: it's Tsubasa-free and it's got a bunch of my favs in the same bundle. I mean, you've got Misaki, Ishizaki, Urabe, Nitta and Morisaki? Count me the fuck in. It's a very shallow oneshot about a bunch of guys, in the end, but it does contain a bunch of fancy headcanons of mine, so make yourself a home!

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It Hits You Like a Rock

Summary: Something happened during practice, but nobody can tell Yuzo what exactly unfolded. Meanwhile, Ishizaki asks Morisaki how many fingers he's holding up.

Fandom: Captain Tsubasa (post-original, pre-World Youth)

Wordcount: 1.4K words

AO3 version here!

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The first thing he knows, upon waking up, is that his head hurts. Then, he registers blurry voices whose words cannot be identified, even if each syllable can be understood as one. It all feels like a blur of familiarity, as strange as that sounds.

Things do become clearer, over time, a lapse he can’t quite quantify – yet he can’t find in himself the ability to focus on much of anything. When he does, a side or the other of his head starts pounding harder, and he resolves himself to letting it be.

Finally, as soon as the light stops hurting, things come into view, first indistinguishable, then clear enough for elements to start making sense. There’s one guy in front of him, his face a bit blurry, and what seems to be his hand hovering closer to him in comparison.

The first thing he finally understands is a mocking sort of question:

“How many fingers am I holding?”

That’s Ishizaki’s voice, face and bandaged pinkie, no doubt there.

“Four,” he gets out without much hesitation.

Ishizaki turns his head to what looks to be the sky – it may just not be what he stares at exactly, though, because who even speaks to the clouds above?

“Okay guys, good news, he’s still alive,” he states.

“Of course he’s still alive, you dumbass,” the disembodied voice of Urabe snaps back before kneeling to the discussion’s level.

“You never know, dude!” He turns his attention back to him. “You scared the shit outta us, Morisaki! What the hell happened back there?”

The pounding in his head is trying to reply, it really is, but it can’t find a single answer that isn’t “ouch”.

“I don’t remember,” he replies as the second best thing.

It’s not entirely wrong either. He just wishes trying to remember wasn’t such a chore.

“I think he took Nitta’s Hayabusa right in the face?” Urabe explains. “At least, that’s what I saw.”

“That does explain why the brat seemed so distraught earlier.”

Urabe darts him a judgemental side-glance.

“Remind me why you’re our captain when you’re that inattentive?”

“Because Misaki’s out sick and I suppose Ishizaki was our second best option for a captain, somehow” Izawa comments out of his field of view.

“Shut up, you know that’s not the only reason why I’m captain.”

“Whatever,” Izawa replies. “I’m getting the nurse, wait here.”

As he vaguely hears footsteps getting farther and farther from what he can just as precisely guess to be a tree stump, Yuzo tries getting up, but his vision swims before he can actually get back to his feet. Hands follow shortly after on his shoulders.

“Wow, wow, wow, where do you think you’re going?” Ishizaki yells out in response, sending his head pounding again.

“Uh… Back to the goal?”

Captain Ishizaki seems very angry at that reply, for some reason.

“Dude, you just passed out and we still don’t know why, so you’re staying down goddammit.”

Well, that’d explain why he can’t remember much of anything at all, if he passed – wait what?

“The only place you’re going is the infirmary, dude,” Urabe adds without much more happiness.

“Can someone… explain what happened? Please?”

Ishizaki and Urabe stare at each other, first in dumbfounded silence, then with their usual bickering that, as it turns out, causes Yuzo’s head to ring all over again.

“You tell him, dude.”

“No, you tell him! You’re the one who saw Nitta shoot!”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who was on site first!”

“Shut it, guys,” Takasugi interrupts, “and just explain to Morisaki as it is. He doesn’t need your stupid bickering.” He turns to him. “Sorry Morisaki. You know how those two are.”

The two guys stare at each other, cheeks reddening, and eventually decide it’s not worth arguing back.

“Got it, got it…”

Meanwhile, Yuzo tries comforting his teammates.

“It’s fine, it’s fine…”

Eventually, Ishizaki clears his throat, and turns his attention back to him.

“So, uhm… You just, like, collapsed in the middle of training, and we were real confused because it did come out of nowhere. That’s why we were having a debate over whether or not an unstopped Hayabusa did that to you.”

What?

“You sound really unsure…”

Which doesn’t make sense, does it? It should be clear-cut if he’s at risk of having a concussion. Well, considering he doesn’t feel nauseous nor that dizzy, and the bright sunlight doesn’t hurt his eyes either, maybe it’s not what happened. But then… what did?

“That’s the thing,” Urabe continues, “it didn’t make sense. In fact, it still doesn’t. Nitta swears he didn’t hit your head, just that the ball glided in front of your face and you happened to fall after that.”

It’s not in Nitta to lie, as far as Yuzo is concerned, so the question remains: what happened?

“But it could’ve happened and he didn’t see it properly. So, that’s where we are.” Ishizaki blinks. “Oh, I forgot! How’s your head?”

“It hurts,” Yuzo replies with a dried throat and a hand in front of his eye, “but it’s fine enough, I think. I don’t think I’m concussed, at least.”

“Good,” Urabe replies without waiting, “but you’re still seeing a nurse, man. You’re not supposed to fall over like a sack of potato to begin with, if it’s not Nitta’s shot who got you in this situation. But like, even if it was Nitta’s fault, we’d still make you see the nurse.”

Silence follows, until Takasugi peeks into the conversation again, this time with a softer expression and a concerned tone.

“Hey, Morisaki… By any chance, wouldn’t you happen to train overtime?”

“Huh?”

“I dunno, now that I look at you closer, you look really tired.”

Ishizaki and Urabe then proceed to squint really hard at his face.

“Well, now that you say it, I can see it,” the former comments, “but what makes you suspect he ain’t just tired?”

Yuzo, in the meantime, feels a tremble rising. It was going to catch up to him eventually, he supposes…

“It’s only a suspicion, but it doesn’t sound too out of the park from you, doesn’t it, Morisaki?”

He now has the choice between pretending as if Takasugi hadn’t hit it right on the nail or coming off clean. The first proposition has its perks, Yuzo supposes, but… God, his head hurts, and his limbs are now gnawing at him from all that overtime practice. Not to mention, it’d clear Nitta’s name and explain what happened.

In any case, his teammates are already worried, and perhaps an explanation would at least ease some of those worries.

“I do, yeah.” He swallows, his eyes still difficult to fully maintain open. “I like to train some more in the morning before class starts.”

“And I’d suppose you overdid it,” Takasugi continues without missing a beat.

“I suppose I did, yeah,” Yuzo replies with all of his candour.

“Mystery solved, then, I guess?” Urabe asks, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, yeah, mystery solved, but we’ve still got a tired goalie on our hands,” Takasugi states as matter of fact.

Urabe and Ishizaki are back at staring at each other.

“Crap, that’s true!” They both yell out at the same time.

“Well, at least Izawa and the nurse should be arriving here soon,” Takasugi states, looking back up, then back at Yuzo. “Why did you do that to begin with, actually, Morisaki?”

It weighs in his throat, but it must come out now, so… So be it.

“The Nationals are coming soon, and if we wanna win this year, we gotta stop Hyuga – so I’ve been training for that.”

It sounds a lot worse now that it’s landed everyone in this pesky situation, doesn’t it?

“Don’t do it as much, dude,” Ishizaki tells him in such a flat tone, it can only be coming from the heart. “Like, we appreciate, don’t get me wrong – but like, if you can’t stand up, we’re doomed, so just… rest.” He sighs. “Geez I’m terrible at this captain shtick.”

“Glad you’ve noticed.”

“Shut it, Urabe.”

Yuzo ends up laughing. Yeah, maybe fatigue is getting to him, actually, if he’s going to find that funny.

“Thank you, guys.”

Ishizaki and Urabe both blink in response, while Takasugi seems a little stunned.

“Thank you for what?”

“For making sure we’re all doing good.”

Shortly thereafter, before he can articulate the rest of his thoughts, Izawa and a somewhat familiar woman arrive to the scene, and all sentimentality gives way for a good scold of his habits.

#whumptober 2023 #no.3 #“how many fingers am I holding up?” #captain tsubasa #fic