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doctor-badadvice · 7 months

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Maybe it's late to talk about Scream Fortress but whatever. I'm going to talk about the new maps.

I love Scream Fortress. It's a great time with good (free) cosmetics and what made me get into tf2 in the first place. My first hour in game was spent as a very confused Heavy on Brimstone. I had fun then and I come back for the event every year.

This year, unfortunately, the game decided to test my patience.

There's a different between wanting new content and digging through garbage with the raccoons for just about anything. Every time for the past two or three years whenever they added something new, it was either boring or broken. We had absolute pearls like Laughter and Crasher, two maps that are both beautiful and fun to play. Then we had Soulmill, Bonesaw, Precipice, fucking Sinshine and Graveyard and of course, a whole bunch of uninteresting cosmetics and taunts that just happened to have many votes on the workshop.

And I know that if I wasn't a nobody on the internet, I'd already have an angry mob at my door because I dared saying community made stuff is not the very good. How dare I have an opinion on something that's in the game I've played for way too many hours.

So this year we had a crate that didn't even reach 50 cents on the market for the first evening (something that even Christmas crates manage, mind you) and not one, not four, but a whole twelve new maps to try.

For the sake of my memory and because I want to discuss the zombie mode later, I'll just go in order of whatever I remember.

Spineyard

Let's start off with yet another damn reskin. This time it's Vineyard, a map that I played once then removed from my queue because it's yet another payload map that suffers from the Overwatch condition. Wide empty areas, lots of unused hallways where you're meant to flank but you won't find anyone there because it's an open area, everyone's playing Soldier or Demo and spamming anyway. But there's more! Every once in a while you'll hear a bell and then the undead mafia shows up.

The undead mafia. On a map based on Italy. How fucking original the makers are. Congrats on being fucking boring. I hope you step on a Lego.

Also they're basically SMG Sniper bots from MvM with a bit of skeleton AI, nothing groundbreaking.

Lava Pit

This map made me wonder whether there's people out there who sit around debating which stupid maps should get a reskin next. Sawmill won the last vote, now it's the turn of the map that's only ever been good for promotional material.

So we have a map that is inaccessibility incarnate. It's dark so you can't see Blu team unless you crank up your colors to the max and the rest is lava so Red melds with the background. You can't see sentries for shit because everything is red and brown. This map gave me a migraine.

Slime

"Hey, kids! Wanna play koth with Salmon Run ripoff skeleton reskins that for some reason move at 3fps and teleport around making it impossible to aim at them?"

Yeah, fuck this map. The stupid fish spawn en masse and never stop, making it impossible to even get to the point if you're in a small team. The sea shantie never stops playing so that's added torture. The only good thing out of this is that my mini sentry was still up at the end of the match so I got 60 contract points by waiting for the game to reload the map while I was tabbed out.

I take it someone made a video explaining how to program the skeleton AI in custom maps this year. Otherwise I don't see why the workshop was hit such a wave of originality this past year.

Perks:

"Hey kids! Want to play koth but, like, less? This is the map for you!"

Why the fuck are we playing arena in 2023? Every time it takes ages to complete these contracts because you make at best 5 points per match and that's just if you're stomping the other team! I wasted too much time on this shit. May it burn in the same pit as Graveyard. Fuck play to spectate mode. Valve had a point in removing it from pubs.

Mannsylvania

Every year they add a new chokepoint fest. All you do is leave spawn and hope you don't encounter the same piece of shit who's been camping the rare spell for the past twenty minutes. It's a bunch of hallways. You run around staring at the sky like an idiot hoping that this next turn is going to make you bump in the guy with the points you keep seeing through the walls. Horrid design. Shouldn't have been added at all.

Sandcastle

I don't have much to say about this map. It's DeGroot Keep but sand. The underworld is cute but there's nothing different otherwise. It's a summer map with spells active. I played it a little longer than the others because I like medieval mode.

Corruption

I couldn't believe it at first. This is the one decent map. It's a payload map that isn't just a spam fest. It has the appropriate space for everyone, actual flanks and not just the same door slightly to the side. It forces both sides to be smart with and against buildings and charging in with uber is actually rewarded. And even better, you don't keep clipping into the clutter that's spread around the floor because ✨ aesthetics ✨ (Hello Bonesaw. Fuck you specifically). I don't get the logic behind the underworld being a mental asylum but still, a good map. It's incredible. I'd replay this one if I didn't run out of time.

Infection/L4Dvs/the zombie mode

Let's make a premise. Tf2 isn't good at explaining things. It's a game from another time where you were meant to learn through observation and a lot of trial and error. Minecraft is another game like this. You learn how to play from Youtube. But you know what Minecraft doesn't have? The projector.

In the old days, when you joined payload in quickplay for the first time, the game would show a little video with footage of the mode so you would know that Blu pushes the payload and Red tries to stop them. This zombie mode comes with a tutorial but it tells you 10% of what you're fucking supposed to do.

This is a community mode. Fine. What if I never played it? How am I supposed to know that the zombies can only…bite? Punch? It's a clunky melee attack that doesn't even feel good to land like a wrench swing or an actual punch. They don't tell you that the zombies have unique abilities. You just get a meter and then you have to figure it out. I played through all the maps and still don't know what half the classes do.

Well, obviously they're in some way based on the infected from Left4Dead, a game I often found myself thinking about while playing this mode. But what is, say, a guy who started playing the other day supposed to know about this?

Next time someone says Valve should fix the game's learning curve, I'm going to personally apply their clown makeup. This isn't 2016 to find out the latest updates from VNN.

What about the maps?

Murky

Red sits on a little platform surrounded by sentries. It's pitch dark next to the water so you have no way to even get close enough to look at it as a zombie. 60% of the map is unused. The grass is annoying as hell. I left as soon as the contract was finished because fuck.

Woods

The famous wild turtle engineer evolves into a skunk engineer by hiding in a mine with two small entrances crying and whimpering while the level 3 sentry delays the inevitable. What these players fail to realize is that the sentry doesn't shoot faster depending on how much meat throws itself at it. They're simply wasting everybody's time and for this…they should really feel bad.

Atoll

This map manages to be worse than Murky entirely because of the broken hitboxes. I've bumped into several invisible obstacles. Atoll gets the "Bonesaw of the Year" award entirely because I died to fake gaps and platforms with questionable tangibility.

Devastation

The spirits of Bonesaw and Lavapit came together to have a child named Devastation.

This map is too dark. There are corners where you can only spot players because of their cosmetics. Sometimes zombies have to simply walk into the whole Red team and die because they spawned in a place with only one exit and some zombie classes simply don't get to use their ability here because the rooms are too small. The only good thing about this mess is that it bugged out and Red won the round as soon as it started. 30 points with no effort at all. That saved me precious time.

Sanitarium

I kept the best one for last because it's the one I actually enjoyed playing. The setting isn't too dark for once, the inside of a building isn't covered with assets from Mann Manor and it actually feels like a location from a zombie game. You'd expect hordes of rabid Left4Dead infected charging at you from the front yard, past the reception and in every room up to the top floor.

You can't keep a sentry down here for too long either, meaning that everyone has to actually play the game and there is no one just stalling for time and I've seen people have a lot of fun messing around in the elevator.

The only negative I can think of is that it could have used some more polish. The elevator uses a noise that I think comes from Half Life which distracted me because I'm weird like that. But it's a Source noise™️, it's not that big of a deal. The more glaring flaw were the floating zombie skins around the map and the console commands popping up in the chat. It doesn't look great but hey, Bonesaw dropped without a playable objective, didn't it? There’s always worse.

In conclusion, I guess we got 12 maps because Valve noticed that there isn't as much junk to throw in the crates as it used to and is adding gamemodes to make people shut the hell up. The zombie mode left me craving for L4D2 but I don't have as many people to play it with anymore. The other maps were the usual random crap they've been tossing in the game for the past few years. There was nothing really outstanding from the regular gamemodes visually but it was refreshing to get a good experience gameplay wise instead of something that only looks good in screenshots.

I hope we can go back to having a reasonable amount of maps added next year. Less is more these days of games diluting the experience so you stick around to buy the next season pass. Tf2 has no right, nor does it need these practices. It's a good game at the core without gachas or similar crap.

Also, the Toastmaster hasn't been broken for 0 days.

#tf2 #Scream Fortress

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flying-guinea-pig · 2 years

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Not What He Seems Ch.8

AO3 link!

Chapter 8 – Guest Speaker

Her name was Anuja Chaudhri. She was the foremost expert on the influence of demons on culture. Her books about the history of demons and cults were famous, but not as famous as her latest, which focused on pop culture and how it had lowered the threshold for untrained summonings. It had been a real boon for the University to get her as a guest speaker. She flew in especially.

She was also, as Tyrone had mentioned, a known Twin Souls fan. That’s how she got started in her career, anyway, and she hadn’t entirely given up on those roots. Several chapters of her most famous book were entirely devoted to Alcor and how he was clearly ‘the next stage of demon evolution’.

“It's an honour to have you here, Mrs Chaudhri," Hicks said, offering the greying woman a glass of water in his office. "I know the students are eager to hear your presentation."

"No, the honour is all mine," she smiled. "The opportunity to mould those bright little minds of the next generation of demonologists is a reward in itself."

Thomas tried not to take it personally, the way she smiled at him while she said that. Compared to her he was barely an adult, probably. Despite all his complaints about the grey hairs Tyrone caused, he knew he looked younger than his age.

"The presentation will take an hour," she went on. "I start at half past ten?"

"Yes, then we'll introduce you. The students will be already assembled in the auditorium. Afterwards we have a small lunch planned with the rest of the faculty."

"Yes," Thomas said. Met Hicks' eyes, somewhat apologetic. "About that. Would you be amenable to extending your presentation with a debate? Another, ah, expert in the field heard about your presence here and wishes to add their own two cents. So to speak."

"That is highly unusual," she said, blinking. “Who are you speaking of?”

“He introduced himself as Ronny Vandenne.” Thomas just barely avoided rolling his eyes when he corrected: “Doctor Ronny Vandenne.”

Hicks seemed to be close to facepalming.

Mrs Chaudhri looked puzzled. “The name is not familiar to me.”

"It isn’t? I do hope you'll agree," Thomas went on. "He's a self-proclaimed expert on Alcorian myth, and he is very eager to pick your brains in a well-meaning debate."

"Ha! I see," Chaudhri said. Her dark eyes twinkled. "This would not be the first stuck-up old man that wants to put me in my place. Yes, let us debate. I will look forward to it."

Hicks’s frown towards Thomas was just barely not an all-out glare. "Please don't feel pressured, Mrs Chaudhri, it is very bad manners of us to surprise you with this. Feel free to deny Thomas's – and Doctor Vandenne’s - request."

“Sir,” Thomas said, but Chaudhri was smiling.

“It is no bother, truly,” she said. “I have learned from my previous talking engagements. When the moment to ask questions arrives, the students usually fall silent. It will be good to have some proper questions from a fellow expert. The children will learn much from this.”

Yes. That’s what Thomas was afraid of.

----------

The auditorium was filled with all four years of demonology students, as was standard practice for guest speakers. Most of it was taken up by the first years, of course – then the amount of students petered off, year by year, until they got to the five current ‘chosen ones’ of the master year. Hicks taught the last year by himself – less chance of Tyrone interfering with the practical summonings.

Thomas had his hands full with the younger years anyway. Young and stupid, and way too eager to summon a demon for little things. Had he and his friends ever been like that?

At least the decrease in students was caused by them dropping out instead of bloody murder. It was a point of pride for Thomas that since he and Tyrone had joined the university staff, the amount of deadly demon-related accidents among first year demonology students had decreased to near zero.

Thomas looked at his students and felt a pang of nostalgia for his own student days. They hadn’t been perfect. Stressful, at times, but… it felt different. The glasses of nostalgia made all the colours brighter, he supposed. Things had been less complicated, in a way, when it was just him and the gang.

Complicated wasn’t bad, he reminded himself. He had Elisha now, and a future full of exciting plans and challenges to tackle. And without having to lose anything, no matter how Tyrone complained about barely ever seeing them.

Tomorrow was the first day he’d bartered away to Tyrone, and they were going to spend it watching pre-Transcendence movies with all their friends. Honestly, Thomas couldn’t complain.

Today was going to be painful, however. First he had to see Tyrone completely humiliate their guest speaker, and then… the first experiment. A first possession, to establish a baseline and become familiar with the process. What did it say about him, that he voluntarily chose to do this?

Thomas watched as Hicks introduced Anuja Chaudhri to the students, and then with a lot less enthusiasm, ‘Doctor Ronny Vandenne’, who was just Tyrone with a long white beard, bushy eyebrows, and a glaring lack of fashion sense.

Did any of the students recognise him? If so, they didn’t show it. But it was always tough to get any reaction from them before noon. Students were chronically sleep-deprived.

Chaudhri started with a short overview of demons in ancient folklore from all around the world. For the third and fourth years this was nothing they hadn’t seen in their History courses, but even they listened attentively. Chaudhri had a way with words, Thomas had to admit. Her voice painted a vivid picture – the mystery and the magic, hidden in a world that was all technology, only appearing in small glimmers and rumours. Trapped inside stories and myths.

“Then… the Transcendence,” she said, with a wide gesture – poof! “Suddenly magic was everywhere, no longer hidden or weak. The veil between worlds ripped to pieces. Only for a moment, but long enough to have lasting consequences.”

“That’s just the story of the Transcendence, that’s nothing new,” ‘Doctor Vandenne’ interrupted her, with a dismissive wave. “These students already know all that. Are you getting to a point, or what? Respectfully.”

Shapeshifting must be grand, Thomas thought. You could act like a total ass and then just change your face so there was no one to be blamed.

"I do, Doctor Vandenne," Chaudhri said, moving her gaze to the assembled students. "I was originally planning to tell you all about my previous books, and how intertwined demons and their cults have become with several worldwide cultures. None as much as Alcor the Dreambender, who does not only have several distinct cults praising him, but who also appears in many pieces of media. Books or shows about demons are standard fare, and I am sure all of you can tell me at least four or five different movies or books about him."

"Twin Souls," the first student she pointed at blurted out. She blushed at the looks she got from her fellow students. "It's popular, okay?"

Tyrone, Thomas was glad to see, was cringing. This deal wasn't working out so well for him, was it?

"Princess Mizar," another student offered. "And it's many remakes."

"Yes, good. What else?"

"A Hundred Shades of Gold?"

"The Demon Diaries."

"The Woodsman and the Hunt? It's a fairytale, does that count?"

“Mizar the Magnificent!”

"There are more, of course," Chaudhri smiled. "And usually I would focus my presentation on dissecting those stories and finding the common myths underneath. But today I'd like to do something different. I want to tell you about my current research."

“Let me guess, it’s about Alcor,” Tyrone said.

“It is,” Chaudhri said. “You are an expert on Alcorian lore, yes?”

“You could say I’m familiar, yeah.”

“Then you will agree there is little known about his origins. It’s an intriguing topic I am working on. I have found sources that may be new to you as well.”

“I highly doubt that. But, sure, continue.”

The smile she sent towards Tyrone was mild as milk, and exactly as opaque. "As I mentioned, demons only left the vaguest impression on mainstream culture pre-Transcendence. Those who did are all very localised, contained within a single region or culture. Usually in the form of stories, nothing concrete to prove they truly existed. The ones that we do have proof of were small and rarely seen. Except for one. Traces of him have been found all over the world, on all continents. Wood carvings, stone statues, paintings - even on currency. Until the Transcendence happened. Afterwards... nothing."

Thomas had been reading up on demons every opportunity he got, first because he was a kid with a dumb obsession and later because his grades depended on it. Of course he'd extensively read everything about the Alcorian Myth he could get his hands on, no matter how contradictory.

Most experts agreed that Alcor was ancient and had simply been less powerful and less likely to answer summonings before the Transcendence. A few said Alcor had actually been born during that world-changing event. There was very little known about the way demons procreated, so maybe they were on to something.

The face behind 'Ronny‘s’ beard and eyebrows had paled as Chaudhri spoke. Thomas frowned. What was the matter?

"It's an interesting puzzle," Chaudhri went on, and put on the next slide of her slideshow. A one-eyed triangle with outstretched, spindly arms and legs gazed over the assembled students. It looked suspiciously like Alcor's symbol. Brothers, maybe? Could demons have family ties?

"Bill Cipher," Tyrone said. Not in the voice he had been using for 'Ronny Vandenne'. Something deeper. Colder.

Chaudhri awarded him with another smile, almost proud now. "You recognize the symbol? It's an unfortunately neglected field of study, pre-Transcendence demonology. Difficult to find trustworthy sources."

"I bet." Something was wrong with Tyrone. He had stopped blinking. "Where did you find this?"

"The trails were all over the world, as I mentioned. Buried in museums and in personal collections. The bulk of the research comes from Gravity Falls, which played a key part in the Transcendence." She put on the next slides, which were old pictures of a small town surrounded by trees. Houses, more trees, a decrepit looking shack, more houses, a town map.

Gravity Falls. The place where the first mentions of Alcor popped up, Thomas mused. Which only happened post-Transcendence... and their symbols were so very similar. Huh. Could they be one and the same? It wasn't entirely out of the ordinary for demons to rebrand as something else. They'd lose all influence from their former name, of course, but it hadn't put a crimp in Alcor's style at all.

Tyrone shook his head. "You shouldn't research Bill. Just do͘n't̴."The faintest hint of reverb lingered in his voice.

Oof. Thomas hoped no one else had noticed. He met Hicks’ eyes. This presentation was going off the rails, and not in the way he had expected. Time to cut in?

Hicks got the message and cleared his throat. “Mrs Chaudhri, excuse me. This is very fascinating, but we’re running a bit late. Could you perhaps move on to your next topic?”

Chaudhri frowned, then looked at the clock. “I see. I would not want to keep all these hungry students from their lunch. Very well. We need to set some time aside for the debate between Doctor Vandenne and me, after all.”

But Tyrone was already getting up from his chair. “No debate,” he said, and left.

-----

“Shouldn’t you be having lunch with your guest?” Tyrone muttered, as Thomas picked his way through the messy room. Papers were thrown everywhere, as in a freak indoor cyclone. It was going to be a pain putting them in order again.

“Hicks can handle that on his own,” Thomas said. He sat down next to Tyrone. “I’m sorry your end of the deal wasn’t as fun as you hoped.”

“No you’re not.”

“Fine, I wasn’t exactly rooting for you to embarrass our world-famous guest speaker,” Thomas admitted. He opened his bag and extracted the wrapped sandwiches from it. Hicks and Chaudhri would be in a nice restaurant by now. Vending machine sandwiches were horrible in either case, but when compared to what he could have been eating… “But that doesn’t mean I don’t care if she upset you. Somehow?”

His fishing for information wasn’t subtle enough. Tyrone avoided his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Thomas said. He offered Tyrone one of the sandwiches. “But when you do, I’ll listen.”

“Thanks.” Tyrone finally uncurled from his moping position long enough to take the sandwich. His eyes were gazing at something on the far wall – or the past, maybe. “It hasn’t been that long ago. Only a couple hundred years. Yet so much has been forgotten. And other things should have stayed forgotten.”

“Is her research dangerous to you?”

Tyrone didn’t answer immediately, and that was worrying enough. “I don’t know. It could be. Don’t look further into it, Thomas. Please.”

“I won’t, but… you’re Alcor, you can quietly convince her to change research topics, can’t you?”

“Yeah, and I’m going to. Ugh. Why couldn’t she just have talked about Twin Souls for an hour?” Tyrone moaned. “I had so many annoying things planned!”

“You’ll get your chance next time.”

“Oh, I will.”

-----

Her flight wouldn’t leave for hours yet. She had time until morning. Time enough for this.

She turned off all electronic devices in her hotel room. Fished around for the marker in her purse. The hotel room was carpeted, but the mirror would do. With eager anticipation she drew the symbol on its flat surface, and whispered the summoning invocation. The one given especially to her, in a hazy dream full of soft meadows and glinting golden eyes. Exactly like she had always hoped, as a younger girl.

Golden eyes watched her now, her reflection rippling into the familiar guise of the Dreambender himself.

“Anuja, my love,” he greeted her, in her own language. His mouth spread in a wide, close-lipped smile. He put a hand against the mirror surface, and she followed his example, imagining she could feel the warmth of his skin through the thin layer of glass. “Has your day gone well?”

“It has,” she said, and marvelled at his presence here, his endearments for her. She was not as young as she once was, but he didn’t care about that. He was what she always imagined him to be – caring and kind. Her angel in a demon’s skin. “It went exactly as you said it would. Someone did try to interrupt my presentation. They left when I changed the subject to Gravity Falls and Cipher, like you predicted might happen.”

“I am omniscient after all. Good old Bill, he threw the wildest parties,” he said, with a glint of sharp teeth. “But you know how I love the sound of your voice. Please, tell me everything. The one who tried to disrupt your presentation, I’m very curious who would do something so rude. Was he very upset? What did he say? Leave no detail out, my sweet Anuja.”

She didn’t, talking until she was hoarse. When she fell silent at the end of her story, he smiled down on her, eyes burning.

“Well done,” he said. Her head was spinning. The golden fire of his eyes filled her thoughts with promise. He looked from her lips to her eyes and back again, meaningfully. “I’m so proud of you, my beloved. You have no idea how helpful you’ve been. Now, there is one more thing you could help me with.”

“Anything,” she said, breathlessly.

“I was hoping you would say that,” he said, smiling like a dagger. He reached through the mirror, and swallowed her screams.

Afterwards, there was only the hotel room, thick with the scent of blood and sulphur.

He paused in admiring his handiwork, and made a gesture, erasing some key parts of the remaining sigils on the mirror. Then the summoning power ran out, and he popped away again.

A one-eyed star remained behind, gazing blindly at a room full of carnage.

#transcendence au #fic: not what he seems #alcor the dreambender #tyrone evergreen #thomas strange #professor hicks

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lena-in-a-red-dress · 3 years

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Notting Hill AU Snippet #5

Lena's waiting for her by the time Kara comes down to the lobby. Her vest has been traded for a velour coat in maroon, nearly matching the color of her lips. Her hair, last seen flattened by the horror of facing an impromptu press junket, is revitalized and styled into 1940s waves. Kara smiles at the sight of her, and the way Lena's entire countenance seems to warm at the sight of her.

Unsure of the dresscode for the night, Kara had settled for a satin paisley button down, made more casual by braiding her hair across her head in a crown. She'd debated taking it down as soon as she'd finished, but when Lena doesn't make a crack about her looking like a swiss miss, Kara's glad she left it.

They take a cab from the hotel, and though the conversation is stilted, Kara can tell that Lena's nervous. When they finally arrive, Lena pauses them at the doorway, and levels a solemn look at Kara.

"There's just one thing you need to know before we go in," she says.

Kara stares at her. "Which is?"

"I am so, so sorry."

With that, the door bursts open and a large form comes barreling out to swallow Lena in a giant bear hug.

"There you are!" the figure growls playfully, resolving into a bald, broad-shouldered man in a button down with the sleeves rolled up and a frilly pink apron.

"Can't... breathe..."

"Yeah, yeah, likely story." Kara presumes the man is Lena's brother, confirmed when he releases Lena only to trap her in a headlock and give her a knuckle rub. "And who's the poor hapless prey you're impressing this time, huh?"

The man stops short at the sight of Kara.

"Holy shitting fuck."

Kara braces, but then the man blinks and the moment passes, his attention returning to his prisoner, who extricates herself with a sigh and a shove against his shoulder, smoothing her ruffled hair.

"Kara, this is my prat of an older brother, Lex. Lex, this Kara. My date."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Date. Come in, come in, you're letting all the wonderful smells out!"

He ushers them all inside, and while he's right the house is filled with smells, not all of them are wonderful. There's mish mash of aromatic spices that Kara detects, but there's an undercurrent of something just slightly burnt wafting beneath it all that makes Kara concerned for the unattended stove.

Before she can worry further, a woman comes bustling in, tall and gorgeous. "Lena, darling, it's so lovely to see you."

Kara watches Lena melt into a smile that makes Kara's heart skip a beat. "Hello, Drea. Glad to see my brother hasn't poisoned you yet."

"Oh, hush," the woman, Drea, responds giving Lena a kiss on both cheeks. "Of all the vices he could have, his passion for bad cooking is one I can live with."

Drea's gaze then turns to Kara, and while Kara can see the moment recognition hits, the woman covers it graciously with a smile and an outstretched hand. "Hi, I'm Andrea. Andrea Rojas."

"Kara," she responds, well noting the way the woman rolls her Rs and speaks like words are honey. No wonder Lena melted. "Thank you so much for having me. Your home is lovely."

And it is. Where Lena's flat is cluttered and marked with signs of both age and use, Lex's rowhouse is clean and modern, full of smooth lines and cool colors. She suspects Andrea Rojas had something to do with that, judging from her silk blouse and pencil skirt, accented with classy jewelry.

"Thank you so much," Andrea returns, "you're too kind. Here, can I get you something to drink before my husband's cooking ruins your sense of taste completely?"

"I'm telling you," Lex cuts in, offended, "this one is the winner winner chicken dinner!"

Kara laughs, and just like that, the ice is broken. She relaxes, but sticks close to Lena, reveling in the easy comfort that fills the home. It feels... nice. Real. Unlike anything she's had in the past ten years.

She has a sister. But her sister is also her manager, and Kara can't remember the last time she and Alex just sat and talked like this, trading jokes and playful barbs around the dinner table. Even when Lena's roommate Querl and his girlfriend Nia arrive, the atmosphere remains easy and warm.

Kara's defenses relax, until it comes time to fight over the last brownie for dessert.

"And the last one goes as a prize to the poorest sod here."

"Ooh!" Nia chirps. "Hand it over!"

"Oh please!" the table choruses. Someone throws a wadded up paper napkin at Nia, who bats it away.

"Come on!" she exclaims. "Just look at me! I'm fresh out of art school with zero prospects, zero job, and I'm dating this guy." She jabs a thumb at Querl, prompting a round of laughter even as Querl doesn't seem to register the playful insult.

"Well," he says, "I've been making a fool of myself asking for grants from an institution with no imagination and no desire to seek the answers of the universe!"

"Weak!" Lena boasts. "I've got a shop so deep in the red I'm practically swimming in it, and my last girlfriend of five years left me for her male yoga instructor saying her experimentation phase was done."

That shocks Kara. Her gaze flickers to Lena, and despite the veneer of good humor, she can see the hurt underneath. Five years isn't an experimentation by any stretch of the mind. To be told that's all it was... Lena's entire world must have been turned upside down.

Still, Andrea Rojas isn't a woman to be beat.

"Well, how about being told in no unequivocable terms by your boss that there's no way to make partner unless you fuck him?" There's a bitterness in her voice that makes the table go quiet. "And on top of wondering what you've been doing with the last ten years of your life, you find out you've given those assholes your best egg laying years because now, suddenly, your doctor says you're too old to have children?"

Kara shoots a look around the table, as does Lena. Their eyes meet in the middle, before Lex wordlessly hands over the plate.

"Hey!" Kara blurts. "What about me?"

"What about you?" Nia retorts irreverently. "You think YOU deserve the brownie to saddest sod?"

"Well, I'd at least like a shot at it."

"Okay," Lena returns blithely. "But you're going to have to work for it. It's a very good brownie."

Kara nods. "Sure. My earliest memory is being spanked by my mother for ruining a take by crying. I've slept with a director for a role I didn't get anyway, and I've been on a diet for my entire acting career, meaning that this is my first time eating a brownie. Ever."

A beat of silence follows.

"Well, shit," Nia quips. "Give the woman all the brownies, then."

Just like that, the suddenly somber atmosphere lifts back to its previous humor, as Querl adds his own two cents. "I life without brownies is a life not worth living."

"Cheers to that, bro," Lex concurs, lifting his glass before chugging it.

Kara savors her brownie in small bites, trying not to blush under Lena's gentle gaze.

previous / next

#supercorp #notting hill au #the dinner scene

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chickwiththepurpleguitar · 3 years

Note

congrats on 500!!! 🥳

can i request boggie (romantic or platonic) and “can i hold your hand?” 🥺

Thanks bestie!! This is my longest prompt fill so far lol, it kind of got away from me. This is my very first time writing Boggie, and my first time writing in Reggie’s POV, so have fun. Also you asked for sensory overload Bobby but I didn’t think I could do that justice so I did migraine Bobby instead. This technically takes place in my headcanon universe of my longfic, but you don’t need to have read that to understand this. Hope you like it!

Bobby’s gone.

Reggie doesn’t think anyone but him has noticed yet. Luke and Alex are too busy arguing with each other (good-naturedly, with no real anger or malice; Reggie can always tell the difference, without even having to pay attention to what they’re arguing about, though this time he’s pretty sure it has something to do with which color m&m is superior).

But anyway, Luke and Alex aren’t paying attention to anything but each other, and Bobby slipped out twenty minutes ago with a pained expression and a mumbled excuse and he hasn’t come back yet, and apparently only Reggie has noticed.

He’s not sure what he should do about it, though. Reggie likes Bobby—he’s a great guitar player, and his movie collection is unparalleled, and one time when Reggie showed up at school with a black eye, Bobby got suspended for two weeks because he decked a guy who tried to make fun of Reggie for it—but as much as Reggie would like him and Bobby to be friends, it can’t be denied that Bobby is… well… Luke’s. And not just because Luke is even more touchy-feely with Bobby than he is with everyone else, or because Luke spends every other night sharing Bobby’s bed because he has nightmares (something Reggie doesn’t think he’s actually supposed to know), or because whenever Luke and Bobby are in a room together, they can’t stop looking at each other. But also because the only reason Bobby joined the band in the first place was because he was there for Luke when Reggie and Alex weren’t. He was Luke’s best friend when Reggie failed to be.

And Reggie hates to take sides (especially because Luke once got really mad at him and literally accused him of taking sides), but if Luke is on Bobby’s and Alex is sorta vaguely not, Reggie feels like he’s kind of statistically obligated to balance it out. So as much as they’re all a band, and as much as Luke will always be Reggie’s first and best friend, and as much as Reggie would love to get closer to their rhythm guitarist, sometimes they just can’t help pairing off, and when they do, Sunset Curve becomes, well, Luke and Bobby—Reggie and Alex.

But anyway. Reggie checks his watch. Bobby has now been gone twenty-five minutes, and Luke and Alex have moved on to discussing which animated m&m from the commercials they would date if given the option, and Reggie’s starting to get a little worried.

“Hey, guys?” he says, putting aside the bass he’d been sort of plucking at. “Can you shut up for a second?”

Luke and Alex immediately stop their bickering and turn to look at him, faces lit with matching concern. “Yeah, Reg?” Alex says gently.

“You okay, bro?”

Reggie manages a smile. They both know him so well. He gives a quick shake of his head to assure them he’s fine, their arguing wasn’t too much (later, once he’s sure Bobby’s okay, he might even put his two cents in, since the answer to both debates is obviously Green). “Do you know where Bobby went? He hasn’t come back yet.”

Alex frowns, and Luke looks around the studio as if he’s just then realizing that Bobby’s not still sitting on the couch next to him where he was half an hour ago.

“Where’d he go?” Luke gets up off the couch and clambers over the coffee table to cross the studio, past Reggie and Alex. He hauls open one of the doors and peers out into the driveway, then frowns back over his shoulder at them. “I don’t see him. He must’ve gone into the house.” A flash of something crosses his expression and he glances nervously from Reggie to Alex and back again. “I—I’d go look for him, but I don’t know if his parents are home, the car’s here.”

“I’ll go,” Reggie offers before it can become a thing, the fact that Bobby is Luke’s but Luke can’t even go after him when he leaves the studio because Luke is a missing person who Bobby’s parents don’t know lives in their garage.

“Thanks, Reg,” Luke says, and Reggie gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder as he passes.

Reggie doesn’t have to go far. He follows the path up from the driveway and catches sight of Bobby right away, sitting on his front porch with his face buried in his knees and his arms wrapped protectively around his head.

“Hey, there you are!” Reggie calls out without thinking, and then regrets it when Bobby’s head snaps up and he flinches with his whole body, a tiny whimper escaping his mouth just loud enough for Reggie to hear across the garden. Bobby’s face is so pale it’s almost green, and his eyes are hidden behind these thick dark sunglasses Reggie’s never seen him wear before.

Reggie’s heart lurches, and he hurries up the rest of the path. He sinks gently onto the porch step next to Bobby and asks as quietly as he can, “Bobby, what’s wrong?”

Bobby shoots him a shaky, unconvincing smile and whips his shades off. “Nothing, Reg, I’m—fuck.” Reggie gets half a glimpse of Bobby’s eyes—squinty and dull and full of so much pain—before Bobby goes another shade whiter, shoves his sunglasses back on, and presses his face into his lap with a groan.

Reggie’s concern spikes. He hovers a hand over Bobby’s shoulder, wanting to help but not sure if touching him when he’s like this will only make things worse. “Bobby? What—what’s going on with you, man? You’re scaring me.”

Bobby gives a miniscule shake of his head, still hidden in his folded arms. “I—it’s just… headache,” he mumbles, the words slow and slurred and muffled like even just opening his mouth too wide hurts him. He breathes heavily for a moment or two, then adds, “Really bad headache.”

“Oh.” Somehow, that’s… not what Reggie thought was happening here. Part of him relaxes some, even though his worry doesn’t lessen.

If Bobby were having a panic attack, like Alex gets sometimes, or one of those everything’s too much feelings that make it physically impossible for Luke to wear sleeves most days, then Reggie wouldn’t know what to do, how to help. Stuff like that is too personal, too individualized, and Reggie doesn’t know Bobby that well. But pain—physical pain—that, Reggie can deal with. That, Reggie knows all too well.

“Can I get you anything? What do you need?”

Bobby’s quiet for a moment, then: “Dark. Cold. Quiet… Maybe some medicine if I can keep it down.”

Reggie nods, even though he knows Bobby can’t see him. “We can do that. Is there a reason you were sitting out here in the first place? Probably easier to get dark and cold and quiet in your room, don’t you think?” He cranes his neck to see Bobby’s window above the porch roof. Reggie’s only been in there a handful of times, but if Bobby gets these headaches often, the blackout curtains on Bobby’s bedroom window suddenly make a lot more sense.

(Though, Reggie can’t help but wonder, if Bobby gets these headaches often, how has Reggie never noticed before?)

“Dizzy,” Bobby mumbles, and Reggie cuts his gaze sharply back to him. It takes a second to register that Bobby’s answering Reggie’s question and not necessarily describing how he feels now. “Couldn’t… stairs.” A pause thick enough for Reggie to get the sense there’s more, and then Bobby admits, his voice smaller than Reggie’s ever heard it, “Tried to ignore it too long. Been kinda coming on all day, but I didn’t wanna ruin rehearsal.”

Reggie’s heart gives a pang of sympathy. He makes a mental note to give Bobby a talk later, when he’s feeling better, about hiding stuff like this—and then maybe he’ll give Luke and Alex (and himself) a talk about whatever they did to make Bobby feel like he has to.

But all that can wait. For now, his only priority is getting Bobby settled in bed with all the lights off and an icepack on his head. “Okay, Bobby, I’m gonna get you inside so you can rest, okay? But can I try something first?”

Bobby stiffens. “Try what?”

Reggie’s heart’s beating a little too fast, though he’s not sure why. He swallows, tries to ignore the fact that he’s definitely blushing, and says, “Can I hold your hand?”

Bobby’s silent and still for so long that Reggie starts to worry he’s overstepped. But before he can figure out how to backtrack, Bobby grumbles something unintelligible into his lap and flops a hand in Reggie’s face. Reggie grabs it, hoping his own hands aren’t too sweaty, and expertly applies pressure to the point between the base of Bobby’s thumb and index finger.

The effect is almost instantaneous: Bobby shudders, and his muscles relax like a ripple going through him, and he slowly sits up and raises his head. Reggie can’t really read his expression with the sunglasses still on, but what he can see of Bobby’s face looks less pinched, less pained, and he’s gotten some of the color back in his cheeks.

He stares at Reggie, mouth hanging open, and breathes, “Whoa.”

Reggie blushes, self-conscious, but doesn’t stop gently massaging Bobby’s hand. “Better?”

Bobby nods. “How—how did you know how to do that?”

Reggie manages a sheepish smile. “My mom gets migraines. And, well, hangovers. So I’ve kinda picked up some tricks. Coffee really helps her, too, if you can stomach it.”

Bobby’s still staring at him, and Reggie swallows, his stomach giving a weird little flip that’s not exactly unpleasant. Finally, Bobby looks away and gingerly pulls his hand out of Reggie’s to rub at his temples. “Well, thanks, Reg, that really helped. I’m gonna go inside before it gets worse again. Can you, uh—”

“Yeah, yeah, no, I’ll—tell the guys… something.”

Bobby gives him a shy, grateful smile, and then slowly pushes himself to his feet.

When the front door closes behind Bobby, Reggie lets out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He feels jittery and out of breath, like he just drank seven sodas or ran a marathon or something. His hands are tingly where they’d touched Bobby’s, and he can’t get the image of that last little smile out of his head.

Bobby doesn’t smile very often, and when he does, it’s not like that.

(And if it is, it’s not at Reggie.)

Reggie mutters a curse and copies Bobby’s earlier position, his face hidden in his hands. Because he thinks he might like Bobby.

But Bobby is Luke’s.

sorry bestie

Send me a pairing and a prompt to celebrate my 500th follower!

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#jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp fanfiction #fanfiction #my fics #prompt fills #500 followers aaah!!!#queen-molina #majoringinstress #boggie #bobby wilson #reggie peters #alex mercer #luke patterson

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sophieinwonderland · 2 years

Note

if i may add a few comments on your post "On The Parts/People Debate"?

(tws for sh, ableism mention)

The difference in these two philosophies is that one appeals to empathy for others while another appeals to self-care.

empathy doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. i believe the word you're looking for is compassion. all of my headmates (me included) experience different levels of empathy, including some who experience none whatsoever. they also happen to be the absolute sweetest people. empathy does not mean nice or good, it means feeling the emotions of another person. compassion is the one that means caring for another person. a lot of times treating empathy like it's inherently good and low/no empathy is inherently bad can be fairly ableist, and i know that isn't what you were going for, but i wanted to let you know. - 🏳‍🌈

Many disordered systems initially see each other as people, but relationships can sometimes be dysfunctional in some of these systems. Telling abuse victims that they should just view the person in their head as a separate person will often not encourage empathy, but instead breed further resentment.

again, pretty sure the word you're looking for was compassion. also, we do support your blog wholeheartedly, but please do not talk over persecutors and systems with persecutors like this. i'm a (sorta) recovered persecutor, and if my headmates hadn't treated me like a person and given me basic compassion, we...well, the body may not be in a great state because of me. and i admit that. - 🔥

It's hard to love someone who feel might feel like they hate you.

it doesn't take love to show compassion. it takes compassion to show compassion. - 🔥

...parts language turns the table by presenting love for the system as a form of self love. It encourages people to take care about their headmates because they're parts of the same whole.

this would actually be worse for us in some ways- we have a much harder time with self-love than with caring for other people. - 📔

we always, always use people language for ourselves. dehumanizing feels like the wrong word to use, since we're so nonhuman heavy, but it's the closest i can think of to get the point across- and parts language is just that. and we don't always get along- especially when the system was first discovered. but no one always gets along. we definitely don't always have healthy relationships with eachother- there are some of us who...to put it lightly, try not to interact with eachother. - 📔

there are some who won't share any memories at all, good or bad. we have persecutors and prosecutors. but dehumanization in the form of "parts of a whole" for us, hurts more. to a persecutor/someone in a depressive episode or panic attack who hears that, might hear "this is my body anyway, i can do what i want with it." and that might not turn out well. but using people language, that person might hear "this body belongs to me and other people. they don't deserve a hurt body when they next front, even if i do" - 📔

we're not a tulpa system, nor do we have any willogenic members (though they're completely valid /g), but i feel that if a want-to-be host of a tulpa system doesn't see their tulpa as equal...maybe they're not ready to be a tulpamancer. - 📔

just our two cents to throw in.

Thank you for your perspective.

That's completely fair and you're right that compassion would be a better word. I don’t mean to say this represents every system with persecutors, only explain why some who use parts language might feel it’s more beneficial.

I hope that post didn't come off as suggesting that parts language is always healthier for systems with persecutors. It’s just that what's healthy is subjective and what's healthy for one system isn't to another.

For example, with your mention of self harm, I've heard of other systems where headmates who feel disconnected from the body end up taking the view of "this isn't my body so it doesn't matter if I harm it" and may even intentionally do this to harm other members of the system through the body. Just like any other headmate, every persecutor and system with persecutors is different and will benefit from different things.

In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have referenced persecutors at all.

#ask box #tw selfharm #discourse

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muslim-flint · 3 years

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this is the only semi serious post im gonna make about this because i see yall talking about how loki and sylvie potentially being in a romantic relationship is symbolism for self love and self acceptance blablabla. aight.

so first of all, yall really think that the epitome of love is romantic love? like? im sorry but the peak of self-love is being your own FRIEND. like literally thats it. you have to show yourself love, tenderness, support, honesty, patience. all of those can be found in healthy friendships. making them truly close, intimate friends would make so much more sense than them being involved romantically if they wanna go with the symbolism thing.

second of all, IT'S STILL SELFCEST LIEK????#*#*@ IM SORRY they're the same. person. like are yall really gonna fall for the "oh shes a girl tho so its fine" thing liekdkdk i know they didnt have the same life, therefore don't share the same memories etc. but they're two versions of the same person like thats just. im not gonna say it's morally wrong or whatever cause this is basically the whole would u fuck your clone debate all over again but it's just OFF, especially if marvel is genuinely playing into it which is what they kinda did in this episode rip

third of all. im gonna come back to my first point and add smthg : if the end goal is for loki to love and accept himself and allow himself to be good/happy/loved/trust people. then wouldn't it make much more sense for him to have a romantic partner who would be Someone Else than. his literal self. like yea obviously im thinking about mobius especially because of the whole "you can be good" speech but also bc their entire dynamic makes sense. but OKAY okay lets say they dont make mobius a romantic interest, my point still stands like? wouldn't it be profoundly sad if the only love loki can get is from another version of himself? because self love and self acceptance doesnt only allow you to be better with and as yourself, it also makes it easier for the PEOPLE around you to love you, so why wouldnt it close the loop nicely to have someone ELSE fall for him and give him that kind of romantic love that comes from being YOURSELF with SOMEONE ELSE? i mean. do you see what i mean here or what

anyway i cant believe im seriously posting about marvel cinematic universe loki but those are my two cents about this whole mess lmao we'll see how it goes from there ig!!!!!

#it could be phrased better but im tired and hungry so #so yea this is what i have to say thank yew im not taking any questions at this time #loki #loki spoilers

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bonepranks · 3 years

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. OUT WOW i have. so much anxious energy and i’ve gotta get ready for rehearsal anyway so i’ll be here uhhh tonight, for a bit.

but i just wanna agree and add my two cents to what i’m seeing everyone discuss on the dash, which is that:

- canonically, kris, frisk, and chara’s pronouns are all they/them - kris is not a self-insert for the player. that’s written into the beginning of the game. - frisk is maybe a little more of a self-insert, but they’re still their own person, because the character you name at the beginning is not frisk, it’s chara, which leads to... - CHARA DOES NOT DO THE GENOCIDE RUN. what exactly their role/level of involvement is is up for debate, but in the end, frisk and the PLAYER are the ones making the choices, frisk is the one going through the underground, killing the monsters. - WHEN FLOWEY/ASRIEL CALLS YOU/FRISK “CHARA” IT’S BECAUSE HE THINKS THEY ARE, but he’s wrong.

#ok sorry this is the One Thing that gets me wound up about undertale more than anything else lol #* so cool ! ⇢ OUT #* so cool ! ⇢ DASH COMM

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melhekhelmurkun · 3 years

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Long post ahead, babes, I’m sorry ab that! And a quick reminder beforehand: this blog is anti-Denethor. I do not like him. I think he was an abusive father and a very cold man. I would have put this under an anti-Denethor tag, but there isn’t one as far as I can tell. If you are a Denethor stan, I do not mind if you reblog and add your two cents to this, just please be respectful! While I love a good debate and I like to see the other side of people’s views, I am not going to be flat-out arguing with anyone about my opinion on this character, especially not trolls who attempt to bait me into anger. This post itself is not a bait at Denethor stans. I am, again, not trying to start a fight. This is just my opinion on him, and I am sort of playing devil’s advocate against myself anyways.

You know what? I will admit that Denethor was a brilliant Steward for most of the duration of the War of the Ring. I will admit that. Before he went psycho nuts and tried to burn himself and Faramir alive, I will admit that he was a pretty great leader. Dude was a fucking abysmal dad but he was a good Steward who led Gondor through a war - a war in which Gondor was fighting MORDOR! Mordor and Sauron! Nazgul probably featured in most battles in the late end of the War, when they weren’t ring-hunting. Hundreds of thousands of orcs, all on Gondor’s doorstep.

Minas Tirith was right there! It wasn’t further back in the White Mountains, it wasn’t closer to Dol Amroth, it was right fucking there facing Mordor and Minas Morgul directly. Everyday the people who lived there had to wake up and see their doom on the horizon. They had to see black mountains and unnatural storm clouds and flames in the sky. Everyday. But they didn’t panic (much) and they didn’t flee - some did, of course, but there were a lot of citizens still in Minas Tirith! They were all there because they believed their armies would protect them. They believed the walls of the fortress would protect them. They believed their Steward would protect them, that Denethor would protect them and lead them to victory and peace!

Boromir talked about his father’s rule failing, in Lothlorien. He talked about how Gondor was losing hope, losing faith, but this is well into the war at this point. Denethor became Steward in 2984, a year after Faramir was born and the same year of Ecthelion’s death. Then, in 3001, Bilbo leaves and gives the Ring to Frodo, who Gandalf tells to keep it safe while he tries to figure out what exactly it is. That’s 17 years as Steward, Sauron will soon have enough power to start seeking the Ring in earnest - but first he must go through Gondor.

Aragorn and Gandalf capture Gollum in 3009 and take him to Greenwood the Great (aka Mirkwood) so King Thranduil can have him imprisoned. This is more or less where the War begins, I assume. Saruman starts to weaken and ensnare Theoden in 3014, 5 years after the War started. That’s 5 years that Denethor has been leading Gondor against Mordor. Then 4 years later, the Nazgul are released to find the Ring + attack Osgiliath, which is a very important control point in this War.

As everyone should well remember, it was only after Osgiliath was fully lost to the orcs that the tide of the War turned entirely in Sauron’s favor, and it was only with Aragorn’s intervention with the Men of Dunharrow and the Rohirrim that Gondor survived. This means that for about 9 years, Denethor has been supporting and leading Gondor, making sure the spirits of the kingdom do not fall as the kingdom itself surely would if the people lost hope. Boromir has of course been doing most of the fighting as Captain-General, and Faramir has been doing a good bit of it as well as Captain of the Rangers, but the Steward is just as important as either of them in making sure that Gondor gets through this War.

The Council of Elrond is also in that same year the Nazgul are released (obviously) and that takes place in October. The Fellowship leave in December, making it to Moria and Gandalf’s death in 3019. That’s another year to add to Denethor’s rule during the War of the Ring. 10 years total fighting directly against Mordor, and it is only during the last year and a half of that fight that Denethor’s rule and sanity began to decline (I assume). However much I hate to say it, he’s very strong. You have to be of strong will and strong mind to go up against such a terrifying foe, and even stronger to battle him in the sense of the mind - which he did, with the Palantir.

Denethor regularly used the Palantir to get an edge over Mordor, and though Sauron likely manipulated what he was seeing and even directly spoke to him through the seeing stones, the Steward did not give in to him. He is an incredibly strong individual. Jealous and cold, stubborn to the point of malevolence at times, abusive and downright cruel when it comes to Faramir, but strong. I can respect his ability to lead, even if I fucking hate him with all of my being. I know I definitely would not have been able to lead a kingdom like that for two weeks let alone 10 years.

Anyways, just my thoughts on this. Sorry for the long post, doubly sorry if I got some of the timeline wrong (my favorite timeline website for tolkien was taken down, so I had to rely on the fandom wiki instead, meaning I got none of the explanations and half of the important dates)

#lotr #tolkien #denethor #I fucking hate him so much I swear #but I can respect the Steward #not Denethor but the Steward #I like to separate them #long post #longer than I usually write #longer than intended #but necessary I think #faramir #boromir #is there an anti Denethor tag because I can’t find one

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ravelights · 3 years

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Is Inko Midoriya abusive?

I've seen this argument get tossed around a lot, and I'll admit some people have very convincing arguments, but I think most people can agree that there always something off about those claims.

So if I can add my two cents into the whole: "Inko not doing something about Izuku bulling" Or "Inko is abusive/neglectful because she wasn't there for Izuku" ect, argument, here it is:

Inko Not Abusive, She Underwritten.

I just want to preference this by saying: Inko isn't and is not meant to be an abusive parent/character. She's not an antagonist of the story, and she's not someone that Izuku must either get away from, or do whatever's going on with the Todoroki fam. I'm sorry, but if people are seeing her as an abusive parent in the story, they are not reading it right.

What she is, is a realistic parent, that has been underwritten.

I think the problem when it comes to these debates, about whether or not Inko is a good parent, people tend to think of it in the story context. This is fair, especially when we start talking about Fanfic and Meta-analyses, people would want a in story explanation for her actions.

What the audience sees is that Izuku got bullied for several years and Inko did apparently nothing, but the confusing thing is that this doesn’t line up with her as a character. We seen that she’s more than ready to go up against All Might of all people and pull Izuku out of school because he kept getting hurt.

We also know that even though she not completely on board with Izuku being a hero, she still gives her all to support her son, even when attempting to pull him out of UA she said that Izuku was allowed to go to another hero school. She just didn’t want her son at UA (which seem justifiable, given several events)

We also see that despite her worries she still protects her son, and they have a good relationship, in no way has Izuku ever been resentful towards her, which you would think he would be, if Inko was abusive/neglectful in the story. Izuku is a good person but he’s not a pushover, if Inko was abusive in anyway Izuku would make it clear that he doesn’t like her.

The worst we seen Izuku act towards his mother was disappointed about one moment when he was four, when she apologised for him being quirkless. Which we later see her apologising for when she gives Izuku his first costume, which he wore and even when given the opportunity to change designs, he doesn’t.

Most of the time it pretty much typical teen “Mum, I’m fine” response to a nagging/worried parent, which is pretty realistic because I think most people sometimes get annoyed by their parent, especially when they are teens. And I’m curtain everyone has one moment with their parent when we felt as if they didn’t handle the situation as best as the could have.

So, what’s going on, we have a character who apparently did something (or nothing in this case) that could been seen as abusive/neglectful, but it seems like the exact opposite of what Inko would do as a character. Realistically if Inko was a good parent she would have done something about the bullying.

In the real world, yes.

But MHA is a story, not real life.

I think people need to step away from the Story perspective and start looking at it from a Writing perspective.

Let me explain, Inko is a side character in the story, but she in a very unique position because she is the protagonist mother, which in most Shonen’s is pretty damn rare, most of the time they are dead or missing. But she still a side character, and on top of that she is a female. As much as I love Hori writing, world building and character arcs, his biggest weakness is how he treats his female characters. Although he has gotten a lot better in the recent arcs, and is better than some anime out there, he still has room for improvement.

And Inko is very justifiable, underwritten, she had about one and a half major moment in the whole of MHA. That being when All Might beg her to intrust her son to UA and when Izuku was diagnosed quirkless, that’s about it, everything else has been moments with her that really don’t last more than a couple of pages, at best.

But Inko's Izuku mother, shouldn’t Hori at least show she tried to do something? Hypothetically yes, but the truth is he hasn’t, and it’s probably because he has just not thought about it, or it’s going to be brought up later. There are a million different things happening in MHA right now, with way more central characters and plot points, and the bullying thing happened all the way back in chapter one to about three.

Also, there is also the whole Izuku being bullied throughout middle school. Because it’s barely mentioned throughout the whole manga. We have moment where it’s been mentioned but it’s sort of been forgotten by Izuku and the Manga. It just starting to pick up again now and it more with Bakugou arc, because Bakugou was the bully, and is trying to atone for what he did, it doesn’t really involve Inko at all.

Because Inko is a side character, who purpose is to show that Izuku is still just a kid, that has a worrywart mum. That was literally said by Hori himself in an interview:

(Mama Midoriya Is the GOAT (greatest of all time), You can’t pick a favourite character in My Hero Academia because everyone loves them all. However, everyone loves Inko Midoriya. What was the inspiration behind her character?

KH: Well, first and foremost, I wanted Deku to be like any other kid. Not like every man, but every kid. So, I wanted him to have a kind of worry wart mum. And my own mother is a bit of a worry wart.)

Also, Izuku had to have an underdog story, meaning he had to have a rough beginning at least, him being bullied at school and being quirkless was his rough beginning. It was to show his progress to where he is now, aka someone with a powerful quirk and friends.

I saw this with Rei as well when a lot of people got kind of mad that Shoto ended up apologise to her when she the one that threw boiling water on his face. But then as we got deeper into her background of the event, we see that Rei was horrified by her actions, apologising and trying to cool Shoto burns, and people perspective on her changed.

We might get more about Inko when Hisashi eventually shows up, especially if it turns out he's All For One. But for now, she just plainly underwritten, with like three basic character traits.

So Tl;DR: Inko isn’t an abusive person in the story, she underwritten character that has been given little thought to when it comes to major events in the story. Because of that people have filled in the gaps of what it must be, AKA abusive/neglectful, when in reality she just written as a realistic mother in the beginning and then basically getting next to nothing afterwards.

#Bnha #bnha meta #inko midoriya #izuku mydoria #mha #rei todoroki #kohei horikoshi #Bnha Writting #hisashi midoriya

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theyarebothgunshot · 3 years

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i'm sorry if you've already closed this topic of discussion but in my ~professional opinion~ (aka i've taken a number of voice and speech/dialect classes and know the general shape certain types of letters take) jackles absolutely says babe gahsdjk. his lips come back together at the end of the word, which wouldn't happen with 'man' or 'bye'. ANYWAY we're all just vibing and having a good time here either way but that's my two cents lmao

bless you rachel, i definitely agree!!

okay here we go, welcome to: people cannot stop talking about the babe discourse in my inbox

to be very honest, i wasn't completely sold on it being "babe" till i saw it was literally cut from the gish recap. because that is... that is really very sus. absolutely no reason to cut it unless...

yeah that part really threw me off because either they couldn't make out what jensen said (which.... wouldn't it have made sense to at least write down the 'okay' part then?) or they realised it was an error on jensen's part so they left it out completely. i mean...

I hear babe for sure!!!

high five, me too

i can't not hear babe i tried and tried to convince myself he said man but no way sorry

same

Man, I personally can’t believe people are still debating over the ‘babe’ thing. I mean you do you, we’re all entitled to our own opinions. But I just can’t hear anything but babe. Like I DIDN’T wanna believe it. Jackles is messy but not THAT messy.(which sounds ridiculous now that I think about it, he did pop a boner cause of Misha after all). What I’m trying to say is, I tried NOT to hear babe,but I just couldn’t skjssjjs.

-poker face anon

P.S. so...how long do you think it’ll take till we convert that non shipper nonnie of yours?(for legal purposes this is a joke, you are valid non shipper anon <3)

no but honestly though!!! also sjdfhsjh i am hoping that non shipper nonnie will see the light some day...... but if not thats okay too lmao

it’s “hey, sweetheart” (“omg he said sweetheart!” “nah, i heard dude.” etc) all over again. time is a flat circle full of audibly questionable terms of endearment lmao — 💖 anon

fhsjfhshf we would always end up here

Jensen sounds like he would call his own mother brother I don't know babe - tea anon

i meannnn he apparantly calls dee 'man' in that AD vid so sjfhdsj

WHERE CAN I FIND THE JENMISH VID??? Please ❤🧡💛💚💙💜 Found it! It's on YT, sorry BABE 😉

no worries babe (im loving this already we're gonna be using babe a lot aren't we)

I just wanted to add that I definitely see where non shipper anon is coming from though. He could’ve just made a simple mistake. We’ve all made those little mix ups, like how I used to call some of my elementary school teachers ‘mom’ on accident, but for me, when I put that ‘babe’ next to everything else, it just paints a clear picture in my mind.

-poker face anon

oh yeah of course! everybody slips up from time to time. but like. you know.

#jewishdeanwinchest #poker face anon #sparkly heart anon #tea anon #OKAY NOW I AM REALLY DONE WITH THIS TOPIC THOUGH JSFJSDFH lets all move on <3 #but i AM gonna make my mom watch the panel this afternoon when i visit her #and if she has anything interesting to say from a semi outsiders perspective i will report back

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babyybitchhh · 3 years

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If I can add my two cents to the "inclusivity debate" the more inclusive people try to be, the more it seperates everyone.

Most authors do a wonderful job of making most things as bland and description-less as possible, but sometimes stuff slips through. It's not a bad thing, and it's up to the reader to keep going and get over it.

I've read a lot of fics with a main character who curses or has curly hair (which I don't) but I'm able to keep reading it because I'm a FREAKING ADULT and I know that fic wasn't written for me specifically.

I sincerely can't imagine thinking everyone needs to cater to me and only my opinions on things. Good grief. People have became so entitled that they think they deserve the world from regular people online who write for fun in their spare time.

>the more inclusive people try to be, the more it separates everyone

You actually took the words right out of my mouth on that one - I thought to say something to that effect after I already hit post but you’re absolutely right.

You’re also correct about some things slipping in even when we don’t mean for them to. Not all that long ago I realized I sometimes describe the character running their hand through your hair, which is not something that would be well received for a black reader (especially one with their hair done up all nice and pretty 😩) so I made a conscious decision to correct that unless hair pulling was specifically on the menu. I also stopped using “blushed” quite a while ago too, particularly in the context of it being visible and switched over to describing the sensation of actively blushing. No one pointed these out, it was just something that occurred to me in my pursuit of being as all inclusive as possible, so this most certainly IS an ever evolving hobby. If you’re not learning something as you go I can only assume you’re not actually putting in any effort with what you create? And things like this - things that further the portrayal of the reader being a blank slate are absolutely valid ways to increase your inclusivity imo.

Whereas using hyper specific pronouns that only apply to relatively small groups … that just causes even more division my dude. Instead of using ‘they’ as a valid placeholder for whatever your pronouns actually are, you’re going to raise a big stink about it and create more disconnect because why? That you vs them mentality is just not it. Which is particularly confusing in this case because not all non-binary people use ‘they’ anyway?? So I’m not really sure why they felt the need to make the distinction between them and the others in the first place. Tbh the fracturing of the LGBTQ community into individual factions and cliques in recent years seems to have done quite a bit of harm to their overall strength and I think this is in many ways a result of that. Rather than seeing ‘they’ as a perfectly valid umbrella term they’re creating even more divide by saying ‘that’s not good enough for ME’ which is just crazy from my perspective.

Like, I’ve personally never met anyone who went by ‘it’ pronouns but if I don’t go out of my way to write for them too I’m not being inclusive enough? Short of writing an individualized fic for you specifically what can I possibly do to actually please you? Or is that what this is? A way to guilt trip content creators into quite literally catering to you on an individual level?

Honey pot, that’s just not gonna’ happen unless I’m seeing 💵 it doesn’t matter that I don’t take commissions cmdxlekw my point stands

And no, I absolutely DO think this comes down to a matter of maturity. That multi chapter Suguru x reader x Gojo 😒 fic I reblogged sometime last week was actually written by a black author and I genuinely did not even realize until she mentioned us putting on a bonnet for bed. Lmao ofc I kept reading even though it wasn’t for me, specifically, because it was a good story and if the mention of a bonnet is enough to scare my ass away … I don’t even deserve to be reading ANY content in the first place. 😂 Clearly there’s something wrong with ME at that point.

The one thing I will absolutely admit to having a bias towards is writing for chubby readers and I’m not too proud to list my reasons why

1. I’m a chubby bitch myself and in the end this IS my content - yes I want all kinds of different people to enjoy it too but I’m still self inserting at the same time haha

2. Chubby girls are fucking cute??? Hello?

3. There is very little in this world that gives me as much joy as describing the sensory descriptions of a soft body with a pudgy pussy 😩👌 like, I’m definitely not saying there’s ANY thing at all wrong with a skinny girls pussy buuuuuut … speaking from experience, I can safely say I liked having my face in a puffy vulva more than a firm one so I can only imagine it feels just as good for a dick being hugged by them too. God bless and amen.

#there was absolutely no reason for me to type up this much of a response but I’ll be honest and say this entire conversation has kept me #thoroughly distracted today and I’m super glad for that #it seems like I’m okay as long as my mind is actively fixed on something but the second I stop and let my thoughts wander …#here come the waterworks #😢🤧#I’ve been disassociating BAD since Monday but I’m sure that won’t possibly come back to bite me in the ass #surely this isn’t going to become a problem #definitely not like every other problem I ever solved by disassociating 😂#but no I’m fine he was old it was gonna happen eventually and I knew that but 🤪

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outofcontextbonappetit · 4 years

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This will be the first of many posts answering asks I’ve gotten in regards to this debacle. I can only do like nine at a time so if you don’t see yours it’ll come soon

I want to say to everyone who sent updates to me thank you so much, it’s greatly appreciated, but I’m not going to post them just because I don’t really have anything to add. But it’s so appreciated thank you again❤️

And I’ll warn you some people asked my opinions on things and I’ve been reluctant to post about that just because I don’t super want to start debates but you asked, I’ll give you my two cents

Part One

Yeah I actually first found out because my friend texted me and she was like “guess you have to delete your whole acct now” and my stomach just dropped. The problem with trying to combat racism (not that you shouldn’t of course) is that so much of it is pervasive and you just have no. idea. until something like this happens

I guess it highlights the importance of like, communicating with your friends of color, your co-workers, asking about their experience and working together to try to fix it. How do you fight a problem you can’t see?

@millenniumistic Thank you so much for telling me about this, absolutely disgusting, I saw her story too and that show looked so good!! I included yours despite saying I wouldn’t include information ones because I just wanted to add like, how hollow and weak the “no one would be interested excuse is”

Like no one knew Brad Leone and you greenlit his weird (lovable but cmon weird) kombucha video and let him try to have a show you won’t even let Hawa try ONE episode to see how it goes?? We get it you’re racist

@sooptea I feel that sentiment, the bleeding heart part of me hopes that he’ll genuinely change as a person, but I think he put it best when he was like “I hope BA changes for the better but I’m not the person to lead that”

And from what it seems he was just a small cog to a much larger, gross machine anyway. I’m glad at the snappiness by which they’ve had meetings to address the issue and I just hope it starts to be fixed sooner rather than later

Thanks for your support of the boycott! And thanks for that first sentence, I’m glad to know that I at least helped some people to be aware of the problem who weren’t previously

Truly! I don’t have the image on hand, but it reminds me of that time someone commented “when is sohla getting her own show” and rapoport was like “working on it!” like bro you could’ve just said you planned on never, no one likes a liar

And this is maybe incorrect but it just feels to me like she has been so ready to help produce content during quarantine especially, like she did a bunch of It’s Alives and for nothing. Disgraceful

Thanks for this, I’m really grateful to have a platform to be able to do something about this, even if that’s just helping people get information

Absolutely nothing against Andy because I think he does great work, and I love that his show is about exploring cuisine that doesn’t get the spotlight in BA content (especially given recent revelations), but I think it’s fair to say that he’s white-passing

And I think it’s fair to guess that he probably wouldn’t have that opportunity if he wasn’t, with how BA has clearly demonstrated just how much they care about image over all else

Literally why didn’t Gaby get to do an episode of It’s Dead for April fools! The theme was literally show-swaps, that was literally a beloved iconic moment everyone remembers ughhhhhh

#asks #anonymous #millenniumistic #sooptea

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