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tenebraevesper · 1 year

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Sonic Prime (My Thoughts)

So, I had just a marathon of the first 8 episodes of Sonic Prime and here are my initial thoughts before I start thinking rationally. Since my thoughts are too much of a mess to create any sort of proper cohesion, there will be spoilers.

First of all, Sonic Prime is awesome! I had so much fun watching it and every time one episode ended, I found myself craving for the next one. You know that something is good when you come to the end and find yourself wanting more. The animation, the voice acting, the action, the comedy, even the angst... it all hits right. Now, I might be biased, but honestly, I don’t care. I know that some people might not have the same opinion as I do, and that’s okay. I am proud to say I fully enjoyed every second of this show.

Next, the episodes themselves. Unless I have missed something, I don’t believe there was any filler episode. Instead, we have non-stop action, lore drop and even quiet moments. I did hear from someone that, at least in the beggining, the pacing is a bit off, but I guess this show needs a bit of a warm-up, but once it gains momentum, it just keeps going. I genuinely felt my heart racing at times (and it still is). Also, another thing to note is that episodes have flashbacks to show us more about Sonic’s life before the whole Shatterverse happened, including how we came to that moment. I can imagine that some people might find them tiring, but I didn’t.

The plot is also very simple. Sonic has to find the Paradox Prism Shards and save his friends and his world. Most episodes are centered around New Yoke City, which is the main world Sonic returns too whenever he leaves another world, with the Chaos Council (consisting of five Eggman at various ages) trying to track him down after learning what the Shard can do (also, Mr. Dr. Eggman wears a toupee).

Following next are the characters, and I gotta say I really enjoyed how they were all written. Although, I can imagine that some people will find Sonic obnoxious due to being very impulsive and not focusing (and Shadow constantly reminding him of that). However, he has his heart in he right place and genuinely reflects on his mistakes and wants to fix them. As for the other characters, I adore them all, especially Tails Nine (he’s definitely my favorite Shatterverse character). By the end, I just wanted to give him a hug.

Now, I’m pretty sure you’re wondering what the deal is with Shadow. After all, he was the character people were worried the most about when it came to writing, fearing he’ll be reduced to a Vegeta-esque behavior.

Well...

In all honesty... I absolutely love Prime!Shadow!

Now, I gotta give more context regarding his character in Sonic Prime, so be warned, this is spoiler territory you’re entering.

Shadow was basically introduced in the first episode watching Sonic’s fight with Dr. Eggman and him unleashing a blast of energy that led Eggman to the Paradox Prism. Then he appears again, telling Sonic how everything’s broken, before finally reappearing in the flashback and clocking Sonic in the face.

So, what gives?

Well, we learn in the second episode that the reason why Shadow was in Green Hill was because he was searching for a Chaos Emerald and eventually finding the green one.

Why was he searching for it, I have no clue, but I guess it would be a good idea to have one Chaos Emerald at hand just in case. We then see him reacting to the blue blast of energy and foreseeing what will happen next.

“Sonic!”

Not gonna lie, I legit laughed at his reaction. Out of context, it feels as if Shadow has a sixth sense for whenever Sonic messes things up. So, he quickly races to where Sonic is and punches him straight in the face, questioning him about what he had done, which leads to them fighting each other.

So, to put the debate to end, yes Sonic was just minding his own business when Shadow attacked him, but Shadow was also minding his own business when Sonic caused that energy blast.

In any case, Sonic engages in some banter, with Shadow telling him to listen for once. What he doesn’t do is tell Sonic what he saw (admittedly, Shadow was never the best at communicating) and the two continue their fight, with Sonic noting how he’s on a mission, only to not tell Shadow what this mission is about.

Let’s just say that this wouldn’t have happened if both Sonic and Shadow failed at communicating. In any case, Sonic manages to to get the drop on Shadow (in the most hilarious way possible; idk if that beats Boom!Eggman’s attempt to trick Boom!Shadow in Sonic Boom, but it was funny to me) and get back to his friends, with Shadow following him.

He manages to get to the entrance of the cave, just in time to see Sonic shattering the Paradox Prism and use Chaos Control to save himself.

However, that leads to him getting trapped inside the Void, which is basically a space between the worlds of the Shatterverse. He cannot escape it, but whenever Sonic kicks with his super speed into overdrive, he can somewhat communicate with the latter, trying to tell him what is going on. His exact advice was for Sonic to keep on running, as this is how they can maintain communication and it also appears to be a way for Sonic to go between worlds, since he is juiced up on Paradox Prism energy.

In the (currently) last episode, Sonic manages to enter the Void again, coming face-to-face with Shadow.

Sonic is surprised to see him, thinking this is another Shatterverse!Counterpart and tells him he just wants to go home.

“Home? Home doesn’t exist anymore because of you!”

Furious, Shadow punches Sonic again and before we can see the end result, the episode’s over. Episode 1 ends with Shadow punching Sonic and now Episode 8 ends the same, and I’m all for it.

Man, that was a roller-coaster. I definitely love what they did with Shadow and considering the information we’ve been given, Sonic and Shadow will have to learn to work together to figure things out (and hopefully get better at communicating). I read that there will be a whole episode centered around the two and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Also, Sonic? Introducing your rival with “It’s complicated” makes me really raise an eyebrow.

Oh, and this gem...

‘‘...and by the way, he roller-skates!”

“They’re air shoes.”

Shadow just casually interrupting Sonic’s narration and breaking the 4th wall is everything.

In any case, I absolutely love Sonic Prime and I want more from it! Also, I’m probably gonna be insufferable about it.

#Ten's Thoughts #sonic prime spoilers #sonic prime #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #knuckles the echidna #miles tails prower #amy rose #rouge the bat #big the cat #Shadow is 100% justified in beating up Sonic.#It's on sight!#Sonadow fans are gonna have a field day with these two.#I want more!#sonadow

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tmnt-obsessed-ace · 10 months

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Whats an opinion of yours that will make the rise fandom mad

Anon I have MANY

Rise Shredder is not nearly as scary as the fandom depicts him as (I would actually put him just above 1987 Shredder in terms of scariness) honestly the only time he actually felt like a threat was the last three episodes of season 2 when he wasnt a mindless beast. I personally think that his first official appearance in Many Unhappy Returns REALLY fucked him over. Like I get it the tone of the show is comedy but like, you have been building up to the big reveal in season 1, making Shredder this dangerous monster that could bring the end of the world. SO WHY WOULD YOU IMMEDIATELY RUIN THAT BY MAKING HIM A MINDLESS STUPID JOKE?

I dont care that he's a demon the FIRST OFFICIAL EPISODE HE APPEARED IN HE WAS TREATED AS A LITERAL JOKE! So thats what I'm gonna see him as until he is ACTUALLY THREATENING! The fact that Shredder is only seen for five episodes out of the entire rise series definitely doesnt help. (And yes I know season 2 was cut short when Rise was canceled and we probably would've seen more of Shredder being a LEGIT threat if that werent the case but Rise got canceled and thats all we got)

"But Shredder's an all powerful demon that took the entire hamato clan to defeat!" Doesnt excuse the fact that he was literally seen as a JOKE by characters in his FIRST APPEARANCE! They kept him at bay by TICKLING HIM!

Time for another one

The Rise turtles are weapons of war therefore they would be the most powerful turtles and could easily defeat their counterparts!

Thats just a load of bullshit. Yes the rise turtles were basically super soldiers but you could make the same argument about any of the other turtles (especially the 2012 ones) like just because the rise turtles were made on purpose doesnt make them any stronger than their counterparts. ESPECIALLY COUNTERPARTS THAT HAVE AT LEAST A DECADE OF PROPER TRAINING! Like did the fandom collectively forget that the rise kids had NO formal training for most of their lives? Like they were trained on Lou Jitsu movies. (Because training someone on highly edited and choreographed movies is an absolutely genius idea) the weapons of war argument means NOTHING against opponents that are properly trained NINJAS.

"But they have Hamato Ninpo! So that would make them the strongest!" Ah yes lets include the mystic powers the turtles only had FOR THE LAST TWO EPISODES OF THE ENTIRE SHOW!

Which again means NOTHING if they're fighting fully trained opponents

Also like the 2003 turtles can turn into DRAGONS? So the rise kids aint special

("Rise Mikey threw a skyscrapper!" He threw the TOP of a skyscrapper, not the entire thing. Stop using that bullshit as justification for saying that Rise Mikey would automatically win a fight against his counterparts, especially Ronin Mikey. Rise Mikey would absolutely get folded like a damn pancake)

I'll come up with more later

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enden-k · 1 year

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saw ppl call kavehs animation ugly and boring on one side, the others finding them great on the other so here i go explain why i like them and find them fitting for his character bc i like kaveh a normal amount ✌

its prob the same thing with zhongli enjoyers legit getting mad hes shown as a "friendly gentle grandpa" in the game bc it doesnt fit their hcs (trust me, i saw ppl on twt being all upset bc hes the opposite of their violent egoist zhongli hc) i feel like some people really hold onto their hcs and beliefs of a character they think of them as true and canon and get super annoyed or mad when it gets disproven (which i dont understand really)

anyway, most ppl hate kavehs animations bc they were hoping to see him wield the claymore and show hes stronger and buffer than al haitham. ppl ofc are free to think of kaveh however they want; if they want him more muscled or tall or lifting the claymore then thats all fine, i literally dont care. i just wanna ramble about how i think his animation is actually not as boring and ugly as they call it, but pretty fitting for his character :]

first of all that "silly briefcase" he holds onto is actually a lil robot friend called mehrak and it does the attacks for him. kaveh controls mehrak and how and where the attack strikes. it keeps him free and nimble and i already yelled about how beautiful his animation look bc!!! they are

his movement is very clean and measured, not a single step out of it. at the same time its very artsy, the little jump he does, how he keeps a certain rhythm and how he goes with his knees (i cant find the proper english words to describe what i wanna say in my language) - its all very similar to a dance. hes so light and graceful on his feet

kaveh is an architect; he was a ksharewar student, the school of technology and theory, and he appreciates and pursuits aesthetics and arts. he is both creative and logical; its why he can keep up with al haitham (who was at haravatat btw, meaning he studied linguistics/semiotics. they really are opposites yet matching in any sense huh)

after all architecture is pretty much mathemical form of art and you can see that so clearly in the swings the claymore does: it looks like a ruler or divider for geometrical/technical drawing (architect kaveh) and its especially gorgeous after his burst, showing pretty flowery patterns (kaveh pursuing aesthetics)

(↑from here)

so seeing his animations as a mix of measured steps and dancelike movement and all the shapes of his swings, i think it fits him as this creative, logical person perfectly. sm thought put into it

anw, this is what i thought when i saw his animations, so im a bit confused some ppl seem to hate it just bc hes not whacking people with a claymore violently and show muscle. i think this fits him perfectly (altho it would have been so funny if he would have wielded the claymore with his slender body type akjcbjk)

btw im not judging or talking bad about anyone tho, no matter if they like kavehs animations or not. just wanted to show theres thought put into it to make it match kaveh as the person he is :]

kavetham view (no matter if you like seeing them romantic or platonic): it also adds more to the sun and moon boyfriends opposites with similar traits complementing each other thing with al haitham (theres a ton between them but thats an essay for another time if u want) → kavehs measured, clean movements vs haithams violent, kinda feral movements 🙏

#welcome to my ramble hour #rambles

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themagicalghost · 16 days

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OK I FINALLY GOT TIME SO this is probably gonna be a series of asks if Tumblr decides to limit my characters (i dont feel comfy coming off anon in the tt community sorry)

First we gotta talk about the Cogs since all of the gag/reward stuff is gonna have to be based on them

.Exes and .Mgrs were a very welcome change. .Exes instantly give every battle some variety in requiring you to think to take them down instead of memorizing a chart of which combos wipe a group (fuck Zap Camp too btw), and .mgrs were a much needed shakeup, away from the 4 main bosses which got repetitive as hell, that allow just about all the gags and prestiges to shine in some way

Skelecogs and Virtuals in the same way as .exes force you to be on your toes thanks to the varied hp and debuff resistance, virtuals in particular being a good choice for the OCLO, sorry v2.0s but you're boring

Cogs do more damage in general, which emphasizes either taking them all out or stunning them, and Content Sync definitely helps with that. Even with how controversial it was at the start, it was a good choice

Cogs have proper scaling AND HAVE LEVELS HIGHER THAN 12 FINALLY TTR WAS SO BAD AT THIS AND THEY DONT EVEN LET YOU SEE THE NUMBERS WHY TTR MUST YOU BE LIKE THIS

Ok now onto the gags:

But before each one, even more TTR ranting:

WHY CAN'T YOU CHANGE GAGS TTR

ORGANICS ARE SO BAD, PRESTIGES ARE SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING, FUCK GARDENING ALL MY HOMIES HATE GARDENING

Level 7s, while I miss Railroad my beloved, were really badly done and limited where the game could go

LURE COMBO BONUS SUCKS DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-

Ahem.

Toon-Up: As stated, Cogs deal much more damage, so TU has much more use, especially in .mgrs. The self heal was also something that shouldve been in the game forever ago, and not just relegated to a prestige. At least the Prestige makes you heal even more now. However, TU MISSING was a shit idea on TTO's part because it was the only way they could get Toons to go sad in the sound spammy lure left kill right meta if everything missed. Now you might be forced to take damage, so your cannon missing would be a death sentence. Thank god they removed that early on in 1.3. also the accuracy buff is AN INTENDED MECHANIC THANK GOD

Trap: Trap FINALLY HAS USE CASES OUTSIDE OF LIKE LAWFICES. First off, it's an .exe killer. The hard counter to them. Bye bye mr .exe. And then Clash gave it Dazed, which made Trap/Drop an intended strat too. But also it's just BIG NUMBER. The Prestige is EVEN BIGGER NUMBER. This means you can oneshot even really big Cogs with like a prestige trapdoor where TTR wouldve needed an organic (also bad) TNT

Lure: Yeah Lure Decay was bad but they learned in 1.3, and instead we have a much better system with the per-gag knockback, which lets you deal even more damage with each throw or squirt gag you use, where instead of a hypno doing the same 50% total base damage as a $10 bill, $10 bills do more damage than hypnos. I legit almost stopped carrying 10 bills in clash entirely and went with like 15 magnets instead UNTIL they changed it like that. Also, using a Group Lure with a Single Lure actually synergizes well, especially with Throw setups in like OCLO, since the damage values vary, you can lure and IOU (more on that later) both, with your main target getting a 50 bill, before nuking them with 4 throws, for at least 400 extra damage (460 with prestige!), ON TOP OF THE ADDED COMBO DAMAGE SINCE LURE KNOCKBACK COUNTS FOR IT NOW BY THE WAY. In comparison to TTR which actually nerfed the most useless Organic. And again, I must stress this: LURE BONUS SUCKS DIIIIIIIIIII-

Throw: I'll admit, when I saw it in the QA patch notes, I was hesitant to say the least, but THROW SWAPPING WITH SOUND CHANGES SO MUCH. First off, NO MORE "you lure and throw, ill wedding *uses bike horn*" GREENING. Second: THROW IS JUST SO GOOD AS A DAMAGE DEALER. Combined with the lure changes above, you can deal insane damage to .mgrs with it and Lure. You could probably do an entire Litigation Team with just Lure TU and Throw if you wanted. But it doesn't stop there. Something i neglected to mention is how ALMOST EVERY GAG HAS A UTILITY ATTACHED TO IT. Throw's is a 10% damage vulnerability, and it allows you to do so much. Fun fact tho, it used to have that damage vulnerability as a Prestige, and it scaled with each throw used, but only for 1 turn, and this was when throw was second to last, so it was only really useful for Drop. Now only one person needs to use it and it affects EVERYTHING past it. Got a higher level cog in the mix with some easily soundable ones? Just hit it with a cream, and now it takes even more damage! Just soaked and trapped a .mgr for the accuracy boosts on drop? Add one more debuff to boost Prestige Drop even more (with a free stun!)! AND THEN you add the cherry on top of the Wedding Cake, the self heal prestige. This was absolutely a welcome change, taking some of the heat off of TU and unites as your only healing, to the point that I'd say you should always have your Throw Prestiged. My only complaint is that Toons should take a bite out of it and say "Om nom nom" to heal before throwing it if it's prestige.

Squirt: Squirt in TTR, Throw's crappier brother. Squirt in Clash? Oh man. I'll go more into it in Zap's section, but Zap alone gives Squirt so much use. On its own though, it's still very good. Soaking is good as a dodge debuff, setting up for quick drops on Cogs. But the SINGLE change that made Squirt so good is Splash Damage. Before 1.3, Squirt soaking multiple Cogs was stuck behind a Prestige, so you were basically forced to either run Pres Squirt or don't run it at all. Now, however, not only can you soak multiple Cogs, but it deals free, non-unluring damage to the Cogs on the sides! You can effectively just chip away at a lured Cog until you're ready to take it down, which like the Throw/Sound example above, allows you to lower the Cogs to juuuust enough in just the right way to where a specific Sound threshold kills. Unfortunately, Prestige Squirt kinda gets the short end of the stick, since unless you're running a solo building, you kinda don't need it for most situations. idk what they could do to fix that tho, it's still fine on its own, just usually overkill.

Zap: And now, the thing that singlehandedly both gave Squirt a purpose and alienated a ton of TTR elitists for the better or worse. Before 1.3, Zap was fuckin weird. Zap could change direction, but only if it was prestiged, jump over other cogs including dead ones, there was no jump pool, just a specific set of 3 decreasing numbers correlating to the order it jumped to, which led to charts getting made for specific groups- it was a lot to take in. Those who were able to master it were REALLY GOOD at taking down groups, but were also pretty toxic usually (hence the "fuck Zap Camp" comment earlier). Also, it was the same as Squirt: either run it prestiged or not at all, which fed into the toxicity even more. Now though? It's pretty good. It can be a few different things, a decent AoE on 3 Cogs with lower damage on 2 of them, high damage on 2 Cogs, with some thought into aiming based on prestiges (for unprestige, aim directly at the target, for prestige, aim at the opposite target for more damage), or a kill confirm on an already soaked Cog. It's way more user friendly now, and I will say seeing Zap Camp's charts be completely ruined gave me a little schadenfreude. Sorry, this was a little community ranty, I again have bad experiences with some of the older members.

Sound: SOUND IS NO LONGER META. I REPEAT, SOUND IS NO LONGER META. This comes down to Squirt/Zap being good AoE, as well as 2 more changes to Sound itself: 1. Sound swapped with Throw in the gag order (from 1.2 and back, not tto), and 2. Encore and Winded. First, the swap makes it to where if you're using Sound on Lured Cogs, it's less likely to troll, but for a specific reason. And even if it is to troll, there's ways to get around it better, since Throw and Squirt won't be affected now. And then we have Encore and Winded, two sides of the same coin. It's great to use your Encore bonus to deal tons of damage to a single Cog, but you could always risk being winded to take out an even bigger group now at the expense of having to wait to use sound again. This alternating pattern of Sound into anything else, along with the fact that Sound can't just wipe out everything in the game now makes sure Sound isn't necessary to beat most things. It's still kinda meta for Buildings and Facilities, but those are kinda harder to fix. Oh, also the prestige is the same as Trap, bigger number is better.

Drop: Oh boy, another gag with a tumultuous history. I'll go over this in the IOU section (yes im doing rewards), but to be Barry Brief, in the early days of Clash, Drop had a bug that made it do AoE damage, which some toxic players abused to hell and back, cramming Drop into the top spot of gags, before being squashed in the 1.2 OCLO update. As for Drop now, it's a really nice damage dealer. Not so much for normal bosses, where it's typically just a finisher for a big Cog, but for .mgrs it can be devastating given enough setup. Trap, Lure, Squirt, and either TU for accuracy or IOU for damage, then Throw and 3 Drop. Now, if you were running Unprestige Drop, it would only get a slight boost thanks to Throw, and the other gags the turn before were just to make sure it hit. But slap a Prestige on, and a single debuff adds 10% damage, with an extra 5% for each additional debuff, with Throw's vulnerability counting as a debuff, which STACKS with the Prestige boost, so those two turns just got you an additional 20%, on top of what Throw adds on the pile. And then consider Drop has a 30% combo multiplier instead of the usual 20% combo damage, and .mgrs start dying quickly. Most .mgr fights I do, I run Prestige Drop.

And now, onto the rewards.

IOUs: So before 1.3, we still had SOS cards, but these were the trickiest reward to balance, even more than Unites. On the underpowered side, we had the 1.2 SOS: a percentage increase for 2 TURNS. PERIOD. Wanted to setup for Drop? You better do it quick, because if Drop misses on that second turn youre SoL. Not that it'd matter because for a lot of gags it did jack. But then we have the other, darker side. The ORIGINAL SOS CARDS. If you played TTO or TTR, you already know how busted those things were. But do you remember that bug I mentioned making Drop an AoE gag? This is where it originated. SOS Cards inherited the Combo damage dealt to a single Cog and gave it to the rest of the Cogs as well, so you could potentially deal a ton of damage to multiple Cogs just by nuking one with Combo damage and using an SOS to spread it out. Do you remember Rain, that random IOU you get guaranteed in the VP that gives you and a friend a +15 damage boost on your next turn? Yeah they used to be a simple 20 damage Drop SOS you could get (and farm) from Derrick Man. You know, in TTC. Who at the time had only 63 HP, enough for an Opera pre-1.3 to kill in one hit. All that's left is an incentive to use Drop en masse... Oh? Old Drop had increasing Combo damage for every Drop gag used, up to 50%? And every Prestige Drop used added an additional 5% Combo damage, up to 70% with 4 Prestige Drops, or 65% with one person using an SOS? You can probably see where this is going. The only thing holding it back was the fact that it wasnt guaranteed to hit- OH WAIT TOONS HIT EXISTS IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM STILL. It was bad. Like "anyone who deviates from the Meta is bad" bad. I was one such very vocal dissenter of Team Drop, advocating that Throw was a good gag, and I got shit on hard for it, to the point where the people who still had a grudge long after fabricated false accusations and threw me out. Ugh this got too personal, sorry. Where were we? Oh yeah, IOUs! They're pretty good now! The fact that they use flat numbers and last a set amount of GAGS used means that setups are easier than ever, and even if you miss, you can still use it again with the boost! They're good for pumping out big numbers! They also affect things like Throw self heal and Splash Damage, so keep those in mind too! I personally like using a Sid Sonata after firing the first Cog after feeding round in CEOs to save on operas.

Unites: I have mixed feelings on how Unites were handled, but I'll save that for the Forges section. As for Toon-Up Unites in their current state, they're pretty good! The Cooldown is honestly a needed nerf (so much so that TTR has it now lmao), and the fact it's percentage based means the heals are more fair! (though if someone is really underlaffed for a fight, they might still get squashed even with a unite). Pretty gud!

Forges: Rest in Peace, Gag-Up Unites. You were so slept on. Forges are the worse version of Gag-Up Unites. Instead of everyone getting their gags restocked, even by a little at the expense of you specifically getting a decently sized cooldown, you can only restock a single gag at a time, and if that gag is too high, you get put on cooldown. Why. In a vacuum, they're ok, but it just feels wrong. They could have left Gag-Up Alls in the pool and kept them how they were with only level 7s or lower, but no, ALL GAG-UP UNITES MUST GO apparently.

Sues: honestly better than fires, imo. Let me explain. Both Sues and fires remove a Cog from the fight. "But wait!" You say. "Sues dont remove a cog from the fight, they just make a Cog not attack!" In theory, yes, that's all they do. But because they don't attack, they're basically out of the fight. However, they aren't OUT of the fight, meaning they take up a slot. And because they take up a slot, that means you can just ignore it and focus on the other 3 that are there. And guess which gags work very well with 3 Cogs instead of 4. Just remember to give them a tap every now and then and they won't ever bother you. Also iirc theyre meta to deal with oclo phase 1 lmao. However some fights don't let you use them as much, so be careful.

Fires: Despite what I just said, Fires are still really good. It's just their uses are more limited. The main examples I can think of are the first Cog after feeding round in CEO, as stated earlier, the Featherbedder fight, and Major Player's Dance Partners. Killing a Cog instantly is still killing a Cog instantly, after all.

WHEW that was a long one, sorry for the personal bits, I just wanted to share my thoughts on Clash's balance for a long time, and I'm glad I finally got to do so. Clash is in a much better state than it's ever been, and I can't wait to see how things are shaken up later.

Oh, one more thing.

LURE BONUS SUCKS DIIIIIIII- *gets sniped by TTR staff*

That's a whole novel in my inbox holy FUCK

This is a lot to take in and I love it, some gags and rewards just used to be broken like woah?? It's nice to see how much progress Corporate Clash has really went through all these years to balance the game out to become as fun and good as it is today

I was curious about those Gag-Ups after seeing them from a Multislacker fight stream just a year ago because I didn't know they were still around at 1.3, too bad they don't exist anymore 'cause they would be very useful in longer fights such as with Pace (round wise) and Chip. Maybe there's a good reason for the removal balance wise... hopefully

The SOS cards was something I was wondering about too after hearing someone say a long while ago that they wished those were still around, based on this I can see why they were removed though

Also I don't mind the personal tangents at all, I love hearing about the details of personal experiences and opinions as it puts it on perspective on how things were back then as well as adding to my own knowledge of it. Thank you for the very long info dump :]

#There's a lot else here that got me intruiged but it's a lot LOL #I recall someone said during a long fight wishing there was a way to refill gags mid-battle and yeah turns out there was #ttcc #toontown #toontown cc #toontown corporate clash #corporate clash #toonblr #Don't mind the style change I'm just trying new things

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branmer · 17 days

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🧡💚🖤💖💕 for b5!

for this meme

sorry i took a wee bit to reply to these! but here we go! controversial opinions under cut >:)

🧡that the minbari soul stuff is real and should be taken at face value, which imo completely ignores several in-show details we get that indicate that the trilumanaries weren't detecting souls, but human dna. we even get this pretty much explained to us in atonement when it's explained that the triluminary glows for delenn because she's a child of valen and therefore descended from the jeffster himself. that's also why the triluminary glowed for other humans that were interrogated! not because it was picking up fragments of of valen's soul in them all, but because it was just picking up human dna! and ok, granted, i have no fucking clue how that works either re the triluminary somehow being an advanced scanner or the dna stuff lol, but b5 has plenty of examples of stuff where tech is simply so advanced it gets mistaken for or used as magic (the fucking technomages damn it). anyway i just. do not understand why people take the soul stuff at face value when the show itself LITERALLY DISPROVES IT. gOD

💚 i talked about neroon in my previous response so i will turn now to branmer. again this is a taking things at face value thing, but i really don't get it when people just assume delenn is totally correct that he didn't really want to be a warrior and was forced etc, especially since in that same convo she says stuff that contradict that! saying stuff like 'he believed in the rightness of the war' doesn't sound like a guy who felt bad about joining the fray, it sounds like he was very into it in fact! and then the fact that she gives that very uh, interestingly worded response when sinclair asks her how branmer felt about the surrender... anyway I just think that if branmer became a warrior it was because he wanted to and because he got some fulfillment in the role and i think a lot of what delenn says in that scene is her trying to assauge her guilt because she feels he wouldn't have become involved in the war if not for choices she made. i also like, really don't see what right she had to claim him for the religious caste when he had chosen the warrior caste. that sounds a lot like her attempting to invalidate a legit choice her friend made just because she didn't agree with it and is actually very uncool!

🖤same answer as before: delenn. i just think she is a much more morally complex and interesting character than she gets portrayed as by fandom and i think her characterisation from mid s4 onwards did her an immense diservice. i much prefer her more conflicted characterisation in earlier seasons, tho i will give s4 credit for rbl, an episode which straight up says 'delenn is actually very blinkered and prejudiced and lets this effect her perspective and her decisions in a not great way' but then concludes with lennier going 'and actually that's a good thing!' NO IT ISN'T LENNIER, and you need to have a proper talk with her about it!

💖i mean honestly i think it's probably that i have issues with the latter season's portrayal of delenn and sheridan as always righteous and correct and a total power couple girlbossing their way to glorious success. i think there are a lot of things that are quite effed up about the establishment of the interstellar alliance and how much power ends up consolidated in their hands with zero oversight. what's interesting is that i feel like s5 sort of attempted to criticise it with sheridan making many terrible decisions as president? but im not actually sure if that was deliberate and not just... bad writing on jms's part and him not realising he was making them do incredibly stupid things

💕i feel like all my ships are smaller ships that aren't super popular lol, probably the most popular is marcus/neroon. i put down neroon/sheridan last time for this one haha, but for the sake of a bit of change i will also say: any of my oc ships. i have many minbo ocs and i do love to ship them with each other haha

thank you for the ask <33333 sorry again i took a bit to reply

#the minbos

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impishsensei · 4 months

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character info sheet

name: 五条悟 Gojo Satoru.

name meaning: the name satoru derives from the japanese verb "to know" or "understand". the kanji used in satoru's name specifically means "enlightenment" (悟).

alias: the strongest, blindfolded idiot/idiot

ethnicity: Japanese

picture/icon you like best of your character: putting two bc i'm torn :p (putting the rest under the cut bc this is p long)

ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴs ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴛᴏʟᴅ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ :

he is a huge sone (fan of girl's generation). in general i imagine he's a huge fan of 2nd gen kpop. i can see him being part of the war between snsd and 2ne1 fans... in modern non-sorcery au he probably has an edgy account where he talks endless shit abt p much any release past 2015 (aside from his faves). yes ik this is goofy but just hear me out and see the vision. his bias is yuri c: // just wanna say when i joke abt this it does not reflect how i feel lmao

i'm not sure if it's ever been addressed why satoru doesn't drink ? but regardless of whatever chatgeget said idgaf, i'm taking canon from him and making my own. anyway i say that satoru doesn't drink because it messes with his six eyes too much... tho i do love the idea that he got wasted someday and it was horrendous. idk it just makes sense. he keeps from it as a precaution lmao

greg claims satoru is a natural genius at everything but i reject that because i think it'd be funny if he's a disaster in the kitchen. actually most household type stuff, i think he'd be horrendously bad at it... cooking is the worst tho. do NOT let gojo into the kitchen he will blow that shit tf up.

ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ʟɪᴋᴇs ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ғʀᴇᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ :

ik canon says he has no hobbies bc he can do anything but I reject that once more. satoru likes to watch tv... he loves movies, reality tv, and soap operas especially. idk he seems like the kind of guy that looooooves juicy drama

taking the students out into the city, like to eat or sight see or other super fun stuff. satoru doesn't get that much time off, but he likes to use the sundays he does have for this

when he's not doing his work as a sorcerer/teacher or any of the above stuff... he dates around. he's a bit for the streets... nothing ever lasts long, but satoru craves companionship. he usually ends up fucking it up just by being busy, or ghosts because he believes serious romance is just something he can't do

sɪx ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ʟɪᴋᴇs / ʟᴏᴠᴇs :

everyone obviously,,, though if i have to narrow it down then megumi, suguru, tsumiki, shoko, ijichi, yaga and all of his other old classmates and students. he deeply treasures these ppl in his life, and he takes being the strongest to heart so much bc it means protecting them and/or fostering their growth

ᴛᴡᴏ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ʀᴇɢʀᴇᴛs :

not noticing something was wrong with suguru sooner

not having more time with everyone before, ya know... :c

ᴛᴡᴏ ᴘʜᴏʙɪᴀs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ʜᴀs :

i don't think satoru has like... any legit/proper phobias? i do think he is scared of being hurt deeply tho, like how he felt when suguru defected. he doesn't want to feel that way again so he maintains a bit of distance (or tries to)

staying alone always. he already feels alone but just... lowkey hopes that it won't always be that way (ig he never really realized how much everyone around him loved him ;3;)

tagged by: @wormb0i tagging: @cvrseduser @2xcursekissed @celesticlnstcrs (ik lee already tagged u but for jing maybe?) @jikoku/@fshguro @getsusekaii / @ofstygiaan / @kakovoulos (u don't gotta do all just pick one of ur muses lmao) @jikangairodo @divinezenin @phonokinetix @sheblomd @vulpesse

#╰┈➤ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴅɢᴇ ᴏꜰ ɪɴꜰɪɴɪᴛʏ ꒰ ooc. ꒱#╰┈➤ ʙᴇɴᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʟɪɴᴅꜰᴏʟᴅ ꒰ headcanon. ꒱

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geekgemsspooksandtoons · 5 months

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My review of Hilda season 3

A proper review. One without spoilers. I've been thinking about making this today. I'm still going to not tweet or post a lot; I want to keep my word on that. I'd rather retweet some important stuff. But I want to make a review on the entire season and give out more reasonable thoughts.

Yesterday, after two years of waiting. The third and final season of Hilda finally premiered on Netflix. And I have some stuff to say about this final season. Including as someone who's been following this show for five years.

I'm going to be honest, despite this final season only being shortened to 8 episodes. With 7 regular ones to the finale being legit movie length in a way. And whatever issues I and others may have with it. The final season of Hilda delivers an emotional final chapter for this show. Including this time, focusing more on Hilda's family which also introduces a new character by the name of Great Aunt Astrid.

And what makes this season interesting is that compared to the other seasons and the movie. This is not based upon any books. This is all new territory that surely still surprise a lot of people.

I want to admit something. And again, I am not trying to spoil anything huge. But considering the season is shortened. I was hoping that certain characters would get expanded upon or well, we get to see them one last time before the show ends. Mainly where they are now after the events of The Mountain King. I'm talking about characters like Erik Ahlberg, the Bellkeeper, the Marra and some others.

It's disappointing we don't see more of them. But to be honest, in exchange for that, we get a final season focuses more on the two characters I consider the heart of the show. And that's Hilda and Johanna, who is also possibly in her biggest role in the show yet considering she gets a lot more focus this time around. And to be honest, with how the story goes throughout the season. I actually prefer that much more than whatever else.

Would I have liked it if they did 13 episodes again? I wouldn't mind. But I still loved what we got. And honestly, I think some people are merely disappointed that this season, we get answers to some things to stuff people didn't want answered. But to me, I try to keep my expectations in check, and I rather see what the writers want to showcase to us. And honestly, the fans like me can explore some "Loose ends" in our own stories. And to be honest, it's not like this stuff is eating away at us. The Mountain King felt like a fitting closure to the show. But I'm so glad season 3 exists because of what it decides to explore and ending the show on such a beautiful note.

All the actors do a fantastic job as always. Such as Bella Ramsey, Daisy Haggard and everyone else. Especially with the time skip they decided to do. Having these characters grow up a little bit to me is a good decision. To showcase these characters are still growing. Yes, I'm one of the people who didn't mind Hilda growing a few more inches.

The show still has its very funny moments. But what was surprising about season 3 is how well...this is possibly the darkest the show has gotten. And somehow the scariest. Which may sound really stupid. But I swear to God as the show goes on. With the unraveling mystery about these "Two hooded" figures. There are times I legit worried for these characters.

I even felt like there was a contrast in tone between chapters 1 and 2. With chapter 1 feeling like a fantastical return to this world I've loved watching. And chapter 2 I swear, I feel like I'm watching something akin to Silent Hill. Which sounds like a very stupid comparison. And then there's chapter 6 where I am scared for these characters I have cared about for so long. It really says a lot even in a show like this, and the fact this isn't based upon any existing material. It gives you a feeling when you've grown attach to these characters and seeing them in some of these situations. Whether harmless or not.

I swear, I felt uneasy during certain moments. Because I now understand a certain friend of mine and whoever else. I just felt even more genuinely worried for these characters. In fact, there is a scene that I told my best friend RySenkari, "I HATE THAT F***IN SCENE!" not because it was bad or anything. But because let's say my...the show really tugged at my heartstrings or something. Because there was no way they were going to do that, you don't do that to me.

In a funny yet sick way of looking at it. I think I went through my "Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good." moment because again, I hate that scene in the finale.

Yet that also grows into how far these characters have grown since the first season. How much they have changed since we first met them. And it's a beautiful thing when see them succeed.

The soundtrack by I think it's still Ryan Carlson is still powerful as always. That I want this soundtrack to be released on YT and Amazon Music soon. It's likely the best the score for this show has ever been. Also, the main theme by Grimes is beautiful as always.

Also, I've been wondering about changing my header/background images again. The ones you see on my Tumblr and Twitter accounts. I'll even do the same for my PlayStation profile's background.

The animation is fantastic as always. The scenery is beautiful as always. I feel like I have nothing else much to say. But it's merely me just loving this season. Yet compared to the earlier ones, I feel...hesitant to rewatch it. Again, this may sound stupid. This is the tensest the show has been. And the writers somehow made this more intense than some things they pulled in season 2 and The Mountain King. Those mad geniuses. And this is a show that's geared towards kid but everyone in general. That speaks volumes of how good the writers are.

And while there were some reveals that I feel little bothered by. But I still liked what they delivered. Again, that finale...that finale is something.

Again, despite it being only 8 episodes. Season 3 is pretty an emotional final journey for the fans of this show. A humorous, yet pretty scary at times adventure that pretty much makes you cry over these characters if you've become attached to them. It had that effect on that. I talked about my reaction. I'll admit, I do think maybe my...Autism might've had an effect of how I reacted. It likely did, but I'm not going to bring that up again. It's something I just wanted to mention.

I'm wondering if I should say anything else. But I want to be done with this review. I don't think I have nothing else to add other than the fact if you've haven't watched Hilda yet. I highly recommend watching seasons 1, 2, The Mountain King and season 3 right now. If you have time that is. December is the perfect time to watch this show. I talked about how this show feels kind of perfect to watch it during this time of year. I assure you; you will not be disappointed. And hopefully, if you've read my reaction to season 3, you'll understand how I felt.

And especially with how stressful the last few weeks have been. Watching Hilda again is always a great thing. I'm still not leaving this fandom. I will always love this show. But right now, I'm going to take it easy a bit. I'm not going to post a lot, make any manips and whatever else. I'm going to try to relax a bit. It's weird this time around I have a job now in the morning and I couldn't or well...I didn't want to lay in bed after I finished the show. I stood up all night after finishing it. Luckily, I took a 5-hour nap before that.

Again, thank you Luke Pearson and everyone who has worked on bringing this beautiful show to life. I'll never forget this. I'm always going to cherish what you all made. You made me and others so happy with what you've made.

#geekgem rambles #hilda the series

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emmabirb8 · 2 years

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Dismissive Behavior and Intricate Rituals

*Again this has nothing to do with the most recent ep and almost nothing to do with season 4 as a whole, just a quick fyi*

Okay, part 2 of my Nandermo ramblings that I promised:

In my previous post, I discussed how I think it's possible that Nandor fell in love with Guillermo before Guillermo had fully fallen for Nandor. If that is true (and I'm not saying it is, this is just fun speculation as always), then why the hell has he often treated Guillermo so flippantly through the years?

Obviously, part of the answer is simply that Nandor is immature and doesn't handle his emotions well and can be a jerk about it sometimes. But I also think he had legit reasons for his behavior toward Guillermo.

For one thing, vampires are kind of expected to treat their familiars a certain way (that is, as lower class beings). Treating them as equals would be socially frowned upon, and falling in love with them would be near taboo levels of socially unacceptable. (I'm not talking about casual sexual relationships, I'm talking about true love connections and commitment, which vampires seem a bit averse to in general, but that's a discussion for another day.) Nandor is not the kind of person to want to make himself into a social pariah for any reason, so of course he followed the unspoken rules and made sure to display to others that his familiar (supposedly) meant nothing to him. He insulted Guillermo and disrespected him frequently, but especially when they were around other vampires, to keep up appearances.

Furthermore, Nandor knew that Guillermo was an excellent familiar. He knew that if he boasted in public about how great Guillermo was at his job, another vampire might come along and try to steal him away for themselves. Or, worse yet, they might just try to kill him out of rage and/or jealousy (or, y'know, just flat-out eat him). So, making Guillermo out to seem dumb, clumsy, annoying, inept at his job, and unappetizing actually served a secondary purpose of keeping him safe and secure in Nandor's employment.

Beyond that though, I think Nandor was also trying to convince himself that Guillermo was not as wonderful and amazing as he truly is.

See, Nandor fears the intense feelings he has for Guillermo because they are something he has never actually felt for anyone before, not really. So, he subconsciously has tried to talk himself out of those feelings by belittling Guillermo and trying to convince himself he believes that Guillermo means nothing to him beyond providing service. He's also (as we all know) tried acting aloof and unbothered as a way to escape his true feelings, forever hoping that they will just disappear. But they never do.

(Honestly, Nandor has one of the most blatant cases of cognitive dissonance that I've ever seen in a fictional character. If I could, I would force his stupid ass into therapy.)

No, Nandor's disrespectful behavior toward Guillermo will never be okay or the right thing to do. But it's what's (unfortunately) expected, and it's how Nandor felt comfortable attempting to subtly protect Guillermo while simultaneously trying to dodge his own feelings.

(Thankfully, he has mostly stopped treating Guillermo that way and has actually gotten to a point of calling him his friend recently, which is a big step in the right direction. It's baby steps, but it's progress nonetheless. Guillermo's not even technically Nandor's familiar anymore, and their dynamic is always complicated and shifting. But still, it's nice to see that bit of growth anyway.)

Another important element to consider in Nandor and Guillermo's early relationship is the fact that they are both very touch-starved individuals. They still are now of course, but especially when they were first establishing the master/familiar dynamic, they craved physical intimacy.

Neither knew the other felt the same, and because of those unspoken rules about the proper way to act with familiars, they couldn't just initiate even the smallest of gestures. But touch deprivation can cause one to subconsciously seek out contact, and this is no different for people as repressed as these two idiots (affectionate) are. So, what did they do to help sate their mutual hunger for touch?

They literally constructed intricate rituals.

That's right, folks. I believe Nandor insisted upon Guillermo helping him to dress, brush his hair, get in and out of his coffin through hand holding, and possibly bathe (tho I'm not sure this has been canonically confirmed) so that he could achieve that precious intimacy with Guillermo without even being aware of what he was really after. And of course Guillermo agreed to help with these things; for one thing, he wouldn't have been apt to deny or even question fairly simple requests like that, but also - these chores allowed him to indulge in that sweet, sweet physical contact as well. It was a total win-win and it fit right into place in a master/familiar dynamic. Who cares if other vampires don't usually make their familiars do that kind of stuff? Nandor is just a bit more particular than other vampires about how he wants things done.

And of course, later on, as both Nandor and Guillermo's feelings for each other grew into legitimate fondness and then full-fledged love, these daily/nightly routines became even more meaningful and evolved to encapsulate the true essence of the "intricate rituals" phrase.

I know we all joke about the fights Nandor and Guillermo have had so far as being embodiments of the intricate rituals meme (and they totally are), but I think we forget sometimes that the basic stuff Guillermo does daily as Nandor's familiar/bodyguard is quite literally the definition of constructing intricate rituals.

#what we do in the shadows #wwdits #wwdits meta #wwdits analysis #nandermo #nandor the relentless #guillermo de la cruz #wwdits nandor #wwdits guillermo #nandor and guillermo #intricate rituals #constructing intricate rituals #nandor analysis #nandermo analysis #my posts

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waitmyturtles · 1 year

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(CW: LOTS OF JOYFUL YELLING)

I LOVE OUR DINING TABLE, I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT! I LOOOOOVVVVEEE ITTTTTTTTTTT.

We’re already getting into GOOD Kinou Nani Tabeta/great pace/lovely softness/all the emotions/fabulous food shots territory! Flashbacks! Little kids! Lots of ma! Longing shots of dudes!

Fuck yes. God damn it, I am so, SO happy TBS adapted this manga.

(Before I go on, I must implore any of you who have the time to PLEASE read this manga. It’s only one volume, beautifully translated, and I think the dorama is going to hew close to the story — at least, this first episode did. It is SUCH a fabulous read.)

I don’t have the moments to write a whole deep thing, but let me continue to list what I loved about this show and what I hope they’ll dive into more:

1) RICE! Y'all know I love rice, and I ESPECIALLY LOVE SHOWS that feature rice as a humble but potent character. (Oh, how I miss you, Moonlight Chicken.)

Onigiri is the humblest of foods, but also so beloved. (Onigiri can actually be a little difficult to make, as depicted in the Kinou Nani Tabeta manga -- if you place the hot rice on your bare hands, you salt your hands in advance and prepare for some owies.)

So about the rice: making rice in a nabe takes legit skill. I've burnt rice in a nabe before, as I'm really only used to using a rice cooker, but: rice out of a nabe is DEFINITELY special, because of the ability to make a crunchy bottom layer of rice at the end. If you can balance the timing just right, that crunchy layer adds so much depth and flavor to the rice. (I got this to make nabe rice at home, and you really need to use proper Japanese short-grain rice to get the best result, in my own opinion as a home cook -- but I'd love to learn tricks from others on how to use this pot for other types of rice, as I'm not skilled enough yet to do that.)

One more point about crunchy/crispy rice: it's beloved across Asia/Eurasia/the Middle East. Persian tahdig, Korean nurungji and dolsot bibimbap (when you order a dolsot bibimbap, mix everything as fast as you can and smush the rice against the hot stone bowl, then let it CHILL for a couple minutes -- then scrape it all off and mix the crunchy rice in with all your bibimbap stuff and AAAAHHHH SO GOOD), all the peeps love it.

So Minoru and Tane getting excited about all the different aspects of nabe rice is so meaningful (the crunchy layer, the middle part of the rice), because honestly -- eating nabe rice means that you're at HOME, and someone at HOME knows how to make this humble food so well. Sitting around a nabe, whether it's filled with rice or a stew, means that you're likely sitting around a table with people you love, eating together. Our Dining Table takes this motif right out of the batting cage and hits a home run with it. (@respectthepetty, I'm goin' off on the food again, natch.) Sigh. All of this makes me so happy. And there's so much more food to look forward to in the show.

2) I love that the yellow smiley face motif is taking a flight from Thailand to Japan. This means a lot if you know Yutaka's backstory already.

3) I think the dorama is going to make me appreciate this even more than the manga, but it's a hell of a lot of work to take care of a little kid, lol. Seeing Minoru grabbing Tane when Tane first met Yutaka, it gave me the mom feels. This is also a really important point to this story, but -- visually seeing Minoru struggle automatically made me understand his character even more.

GIVE ME MORE OF THIS SHOW! Y'all, it's already so great, and it's going to get better. All of the emojis, all of them. I'm meeping so hard!

#our dining table #bokura no shokutaku #mita ori #yutaka x minoru #minoru x yutaka #tane-kun is the CUTEST CUTEST character EVER #roadtrip posts

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soraka-in-warhammer40k · 1 year

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I wonder if Genestealer Cults as a faction resonate with ADHD/Autism people the same way the Adeptus Mechanicus has been a thing with trans/nonbinary-people. Like, obviously not all toaster-enthusiasts are part of that group, but you can't deny that a faction that does extensive ritualistic body-modifiactions and that adheres even less to gender norms than they do to the human form in general definetly will find a dedicated following in that specific audience.

Meanwhile the Genestealer Cults are like "Here's a bunch of outcast mutants bullshitting their way into being a legit 40k army". There's still the bit of lore that links them to the Nid's but going by general faction aesthetics that's pretty irrelevant, except maybe for the fact that it locks out Chaos involvement. You could remove the link entirely and turn them into "Mutant Revolution Cults" and the entire army would lose maybe two units (Purestrains and Patriarch).

They are by definition the most underdog-faction in the setting, even more so than the Guard. Like, a guardsman might just be a regular random guy with a lasgun, which is laughably low in power level compared to what he is facing, but that does not change the fact that said guy is involved in the largest military complex the galaxy currently knows. If you are a random mutant getting thrown into combat it's essentially you, your friends, and whatever your cousin three-arms-Larry nabbed from the mining site last week - and you all gotta rub your three braincells together to make this work, because you are horribly outgunned.

And WHY are they in that position? Because they are outcasts simpy for how they are born. Doesn't even matter if no one knows about the Nids or if you specific mutation can even be useful in a way, imperial society puts mutants not fitting into very specific exception-categories right next to heretics and therefore deserving of death.

That's not very far from "if your neurodivergent ass can't function in capitalist society go starve" if we are being honest here - and given the amount of insane hyperspecialized genius-types (see all character unit choices) the mutations create, "neurodivergent" does suddenly become a fitting descriptor for the whole bunch of them.

So if you've spent your life with an undiagnosed mutation in your brain that no doctor noticed but your middle school peers definetly did, a mutation that within the proper context is even a benefit at times but that makes regular existence within capitalism even more unbearable than it already is, then I would not be surprised if the GSC become THE faction to run - especially when you got some serious issues with authority as part of your whole thing and your primary opponent in lore is the Imperium of Man, the most authoritarian regime in the setting.

Also it would explain why 95% of GSC combat plans look like this

#warhammer 40k #wh40k #genestealer cults

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lolthswcrn · 1 month

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🎹 the worst roleplay trend i ever saw 🚙 the one thing i will never do in roleplay

MY EXPERIENCE IN THE ROLEPLAYING COMMUNITY

🎹 the worst roleplay trend i ever saw

I'm going to have to agree with a lot of the ones I've already seen shared on my dash, but people writing with triple or double spaced words. I just don't get it. I get that it's an aesthetic thing, of course, but it's not something I find practical or eye pleasing. Also agreeing with a lot of those that talked about the tiny, tiny text. I'm also not a huge fan of when people write without capital letters and proper punctuation. I'm not sure why that's an aesthetic in threads? It looks good in some aesthetic posts and themes, which I 100% don't mind AT ALL, but when you're writing threads, I think grammar is important, especially when there's a lot of folks in the RP community that do have disabilities.

I also don't really get the whole washing out of icons and aesthetics to a point where you legit can't recognise what the fuck you're looking at in someone's icons. I want to see pretty icons of the muses I'm interacting with because I love their faces. I don't want to see a black and blue or whatever other colour washed out figure I can't even understand.

🚙 the one thing i will never do in roleplay

I have been writing on tumblr for a loooong time, and there's a lot of shitty things I've seen. I will never make someone change who they are or what they write. I will never blur the lines of reality and what is fictional characters on the internet. I will never force someone to write anything they don't want to. I will never force someone to cater their blog to me (that's fucked up and I've had it done to me in the past, which is why I now refuse to make ship tags). If you don't like what someone posts, then don't follow them. Do not force them to change their entire blog to suit you and your shitty jealousy. >( Move the fuck on and get over it. It's not that deep.

#ooc asks #the mod #// thank you! <3

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arttrampbelle · 8 months

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Some nightwolf/grey cloud self ship art.

A bit spicy. But fluffy.

Under the cut because booty.

Not my best,i tried with the booty but eh. Lol But i love the background. The autumn colored leaves is what makes this pop. It's getting to that season,and fall time is one of my fave times.

And i love how i gave nightwolf a bit of a hooked/big nose/snoot. Unf yes. More big noses plz,we dont see enough of them.

Its fluffy. Its sweet. And honestly its a crime that mk fans here don't actually care about poc/moc characters unless it's a particular canon x canon ship they have. Like people on here are so weird and flip floppy when it comes to moc. Especially asian men but thats for a whoooooole nother post entirely.

I've noticed that. And it makes me sad because nrs actually did something decent with nightwolf. (Granted i feel it was taken back a bit and kinda half assed but they legit were gonna get sued if they didn't change nightwolf up a bit and actually respect native americans a bit more in their games. So yeah. Honestly they probably should have gotten sued imho but eh. ) but i just feel sad that nightwolf doesn't get the proper love he deserves. Solo art,x readers,and even just a proper hcs posts like the other characters. 😔. Like he's always forgotten...again....unless it's shipping him with another character on the roster. It sucks. Like cant i enjoy a character. Self shipping aside. By themselves as they are?!

But anyways. You didn't come here for that.

You came for nightwolf. And the fluff.

Enjoy the peaceful earthrealm warrior,finally having a moments of rest and tenderness.

(Used a base)

New self ship au tag:💙🐺the wolf's den🐺💙 (nightwolf/grey cloud self ship tag. Cuz i haven't really been consistent with that one. So i think this one fits more)

#my art #used a base #mortal kombat #nightwolf #nightwolf mortal kombat #nightwolf mk #grey cloud #grey cloud mortal kombat #grey cloud mk #nightwolf grey cloud #nightwolf grey cloud mortal kombat #nightwolf grey cloud mk #self ship #self shipping #mk self ship au #💙🐺the wolf's den🐺💙

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mochiwrites · 10 months

Note

oh please do share about the miraculous ladybug finale I wanna know what they did this time

-🎵

I love how I made that post about it and then just never talked about it LMAO

doing that now, so !!! I'm gonna preface this with at the time of me watching the finale, I had NO idea that there was going to be a season 6 jfghfjghf I legit thought that season 5 was the final season because that's what had been discussed in previous years (as far as I'm aware anyways) so my thoughts and issues with the season finale were bc I thought we were ending after season 5

now onto what I had issues with! :D

my biggest issue was that it was only ladybug who fought with hawkmoth (or monarch as he's eventually called). like the show has sidelined chat noir PLENTY of times before in the past, and as a chat noir enjoyer it's always been very frustrating. but not having him involved in the finale????? having marinette be the ONLY one to know the truth about gabriel and adrien's family??? bro that is going to tear that poor girl up inside

and also there are SO many loose ends that haven't been tied up (again, this was something I had issue with before I knew about s6). like it would've been really great to have that verbal confirmation that adrien is a sentimonster other than the implications with gabriel's rings and felix and kagami's story to marinette. I don't know if anyone else felt this way but I was a tiny bit confused by the story they told to marinette???? it's like they hinted at the confirmation rather than outright saying it.

aND THEN GABRIEL BEING REMEMBERED AS A HERO. BRO. BRO. HAVING ADRIEN SAY THAT HE WANTS TO BE LIKE HIS DAD..... HERO OR NOT THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT GABRIEL WAS A SHIT FATHER TO HIM??????

all of that being said. when you throw in the knowledge that there's going to be a season 6, a lot of this starts to make sense?

specifically this "perfect world" that we see all of the characters in after gabriel makes his wish. I mean just earlier in the episode marinette says that you can't have a perfect world, but we as humans can use our humanity to find the perfect human and realistic solution to a problem. and then we cut to this almost dreamy type paris after, and I think you're meant to be heavily off put by everything because it feels too good to be true. it's supposed to leave you feeling weird and I think with adrien especially you're supposed to raise a brow.

and this is just me being hopeful but I sure do hope that we get a proper finale. where it's ladybug and chat noir fighting together and we get a proper ending.

ALSO I WAS SO??? DISAPPOINTED AT NO IDENTITY REVEAL??? like okay now it makes sense that they didn't reveal their identities because the show isn't over, but before I knew about a s6 I was so ????

and yeah that's pretty much it. I've been following this show since I was 13 I think, and the writing always leaves so much to be desired man. miraculous is truly a case where the fandom can collectively write the show (and characters!) better than the actual creators of the show can.

but those are my thoughts about the finale! again, most of them were made because I thought the show was ending after season 5, so knowing that there's a season 6 coming a lot of my grievances have been put to rest jgfghfgj but in the moment I was so "what the fuck?????"

#mochi speaks #🎵 anon

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sanddusted-wisteria · 7 months

Text

Latet Enim Veritas [Part 2/3]

Truth is indeed hidden...

F!Builder/Grace; fluff and angst

Warnings: Spoilers for Act 3. Major character death(?), mentions of animal death

Summary: Wisteria and Grace are still talking, even a hundred miles apart.

But is it easier or harder to hide the truth in letters?

Also on AO3

prev | next | index

------------

A/N: So uh…turns out the brainrot don't stop, and here I am again with Wis and Grace! Once again, I have no idea how this happened, but it's hereeeee

------------

Hey Wis,

What’s up? Sorry it took me so long to write. Had a lot to do once I got back to Atara. My professors were really interested to hear about all the relic discoveries we made in Sandrock. Gotta say, the entire field’s real pumped up about what we found. We got experts writing articles left and right about em. I’ve been making talks everywhere too. So many great questions! I’m pooped. But I think I’m back on my Atara schedule now. Feels weird after getting used to the Sandrock pace of life.

But anyway, that’s pretty much it for me. Just gotta keep going with my studies. How’ve you been? How’s Sandrock doing? Heard the Portia tunnel was just built. I can’t wait to see it when I get back!

Grace

------------

Hey Grace!

It’s so good to hear from you! I’m still building (obviously). And yeah, the tunnel’s done, FINALLY. Had to deal with a nasty giant worm in there, but we got it. We started taking on some other projects too, now that the whole bandit situation’s wrapped up. We’re getting a school now! An old house just became available, so we’re building it on top of that. And with the road to Portia, we’re gonna try planting some more trees! Don’t think I’ve ever seen Zeke or Trudy so excited. And then a Geegler showed up one day from the canyon! He was the same guy that was trying to use a train to take over Sandrock all that time ago and broke the bridge. Name’s Larry. Seems like he’s good now…although he’s taken over your job at the saloon. Hope you don’t mind…

Oh yeah, and we got a new commissioner too. SOMEhow, it so happened to be Yan’s twin brother. Oh, and Yan apparently has a twin brother. Luckily he’s a lot more…like an actual human being than Yan was. Well, maybe. Man’s got skin like he’s twenty and says he’s more than twice my age… But at least he’s running a fair and tight ship. My guard’s not down yet, though.

How’d the meeting with your boss go? Never a fun thing to have a 1-on-1 with the boss. Trust me, I know. Hope it went okay. Hope you can come back soon.

Wis

------------

Wis,

The meeting wasn’t as bad as I thought, honestly! The board of directors weren’t super thrilled with the rules violations, but the results speak for themselves, don’t they? Couple of them even commended my quick critical decision making! They let me off scot-free. Not even a warning or anything.

I just submitted my capstone yesterday. Just a final note to the whole Sandrock adventure. It felt really weird stamping it and packing it in the envelope and handing it in. Still feels weird. Thought I’d be throwing a huge celebration when I was done with this project, with drinks and everything. But all I wanted was to go to bed. So that’s what I did.

Slept like a log, even though it was pretty noisy upstairs. Sounded like they were throwing a parade or something up there with all the stomping and the music. Kinda feels nice to have a noisy neighbor every once in a while, I guess. Makes it feel a little less lonely. Especially since I haven’t seen you guys in so long. I really, really hope I can visit soon.

Grace

P.S.: Managed to hear some rumors that that new commissioner of yours is legit. Apparently his death certificate was forged?? Yan must’ve paid someone a pretty penny to get rid of him…or maybe not, since, y’know, he’s still alive.

P.P.S: Ha ha, now a Geegler’s taken over my job, huh? Well, as long as he can cook a proper omelet, I guess I can’t really complain. Maybe he can teach me some stuff when I get back. Wonder what Geeglers normally eat.

------------

Grace,

I still miss you. We all do over here. The saloon doesn’t feel the same without you around. But don’t worry! We’re not going anywhere. The whole bandit situation proved that. Once you’re back, we can have that big celebration you planned.

How’s the archeology work and stuff? Not sure if the field’s cooled down by now and moved on to the next big thing. Hard to say from over here. It’s been like 2 months and Qi still won’t shut up about the spaceships. Not that I mind. Don’t think I’ve ever seen him so enthused about anything. And this time it doesn’t involve any property damage, so that’s a net positive!

Sandrock’s mostly still the same old. Only real difference is that Haru left pretty recently, though. He’s off to study chemistry in Atara. It’s great that he finally has the chance to chase his dreams. He told me to wish you well.

In other news, we planted a bunch of trees, but a sandstorm took them out. But we’re not giving up. There’s an Old World lab of some kind that’s supposed to have some different algae that we can try to make biocrust with. We’re going to explore it in a bit. Hopefully I can take some notes and pictures for you while I’m down there.

Be sure to get enough sleep, okay? Work’s important, but you can’t do it if you’re sleep-deprived.

Wis

P.S.: Wei’s proving himself…but my hackles aren’t down yet.

P.P.S.: Larry’s actually a pretty decent chef! Shame he can’t really partake in the fruits of his labor, though. Geeglers mostly eat algae. Apparently those algae machines we’ve been remaking are their “meal machines.” Fang’s been testing what human foods he’s able to eat. But even so, there is only ever ONE Grace Sand Omelet.

------------

It was warm.

Warm air, warm food, warm lights.

Warm heart.

Owen raised his glass and said something. Grace couldn’t hear exactly what it was, but his smile and his voice were warm.

One by one, everyone around the table raised their glass. Heidi. Logan. Andy. Haru. Qi (begrudgingly).

And last of all, right by her side, Wis.

They all drank and laughed and went back to chatting amongst themselves.

Except Wis. She simply put her glass down and turned to Grace, all the warmth of the room reflected in her eyes. She lifted a gentle hand to Grace’s cheek and leaned in.

It was so very warm.

------------

Grace woke up slowly. Pleasantly. A nice change of pace from forced wake-ups and diligently-set alarms.

She curled tighter into her blankets, trying to hold the warmth in her stomach inside just a little longer. She stole a glance at Wis’s last letter on her nightstand.

I still miss you.

Her chest ached as the warmth faded. She sighed. Well, that was that.

She got up, washed up, and changed, then sat down at her desk to pen her reply.

Wis,

I miss you too. Last night I

She froze. What the hell? Why would she write that down?! “Last night I dreamed that you kissed me”? “Last night I realized I missed you more than anything”? “Last night I figured my chances of seeing you again are even slimmer now”? Well, she could salvage it with something more innocuous…

I miss you too. Last night I dreamed I was back in Sandrock and we were holding that party I was talking about. Don’t remember all the details, but I knew I was really happy.

Heh, funny you mentioned Qi. We’ve been getting his reports on the regular nowadays to assess the area as time goes on. And they are LONG. Like “I don’t even know how he’s typing all this through the telegraph” long. Poor telegrapher’s gotta work in shifts to get the whole thing down. And then we’ve got a committee that simplifies what he gives us. And then another committee goes in and simplifies THAT before it gets to my bosses.

But anyway, it looks like the gist of it is that the region’s pretty non-hazardous now. Y’know, since the pest removal and all the broken relics were so effective. Unfortunately…that means I probably won’t get another assignment for the Sandrock region anytime soon. Unless one of you guys starts wrecking the whole place again, I dunno. (Please do not do that.)

Kinda sucks, but at least we can still keep in touch this way. Maybe that’s why I dreamt about you guys last night. Hope you get the tree problem sorted. You guys always find a way.

Grace

------------

Grace,

Huh. Strange coincidence. I dreamed about you being back too. We were just hanging out at the bar like usual. Think I ordered my usual? Can’t remember. The kitchen wasn’t on fire, so I guess it was a good day!

And yeah, we did get the tree problem sorted…hopefully. We did end up finding some new algae machines in there, so we’re trying those out. Fingers crossed. Didn’t get any notes for you, though. Sorry. There were some leftover Geeglers in there, and they were not friendly. Apparently Larry’s no longer the boss. Ah well. Guess we have something to do when you get back. And you WILL be back some day. I know it. I’ll be waiting. :)

Wis

------------

Wis opened up her mailbox and shuffled through the usual junk mail.

Nothing from Grace.

She sighed. “3 weeks…”

------------

Hey Wis,

Sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote. I’ve just been sooo busy lately. Wish I could give you more details, but…you know. I’ve hardly had any energy left after I come home at night. I just take a quick shower and collapse into bed.

But anyways, how’ve you been? I’m sure there’s plenty of exciting new things going on in Sandrock. Fill me in!

Grace

------------

Grace,

You doing okay? You don’t need to tell me all the details, but still. Letters are still kinda slow even with express postage, but if you’re ever having a bad day/week/whatever, you can talk to me.

Not sure if you have any friends over in Atara, but maybe you should take some time off and hang out with them. Take a walk. Go to a nice restaurant. Just get your head away from work for a bit, y’know? Then you can come back at it with fresh eyes.

You’re strong, I know, but don’t forget to take care of yourself.

Wis

------------

Wis,

It kinda slipped my mind when we were at the station, but I wanted to give you the photo I included with this letter. It’s me with my old partner, Cookie. We were still in training then. He was such a good boy. Did a lot of early missions with me.

But…on one mission…I lost him. I’ll spare you the details, but it hit me hard. Still does, really.

Ever since then, I’ve kinda kept people at an arm’s length. Part of the job, I guess. I interviewed a bunch of new archeologist recruits the other day, and they all came in with such high hopes in their eyes… I just dunno how to tell them what it’s really like here. I have some friends, not a whole lot outside the archeology field. We hang out sometimes and it’s fun, but I still feel the struggle to connect sometimes. You’re the first person in a good long while to really get to know me.

Sorry for unloading all of that onto you so suddenly. I’m fine, though. Really. Although…a little PTO isn’t a bad idea.

Grace

------------

Grace,

I’m so sorry about Cookie… I’m sure he was every bit as good as he looks. Since you’re giving this to me, I figured I should return the favor. Hopefully it won’t get lost in the mail…

And I understand. Making real, true friends is hard. I never really made any good friends at the Builder’s Academy either. Though one of them ended up saving my skin when my old workshop closed down. So even distant friends can be important. Can’t imagine what it’s like in your shoes.

If nothing else, at least, you have me. And again, if you’re ever feeling pressed, you can talk to me. Always.

Wis

------------

Grace laid on her bed, staring at the photo in her hand in the dim lamplight.

It was Wis sitting on the ground outside her front door, cradling a grumpy-looking Banjo in her lap with a grin on her face, while Nemo jumped up excitedly next to her.

A faint smile rose on Grace’s lips. It’d been so long since she’d last seen Wis. Well, outside her dreams, that is.

Her eyes grew heavy. Another long day. She’d get up to tuck this somewhere safe…right after…she gave her eyes…a quick rest…

------------

Sunsets were always better in the desert. Not only was the sky more colorful, but the beautiful reds and oranges of the sands made it all pop that much more.

Grace breathed in a deep lungful of fresh, crisp air, letting it out as a content sigh. This was her favorite time of day.

She waved goodbye to Owen and set out towards the train station. For home.

She glanced over to the distant mountain range as she crossed the tracks. The sun was just starting to sink behind the tallest peak. Beautiful.

But not as beautiful as…

An excited barking got her attention. She looked back down again to see Nemo running up to her.

“Hi, Nemo!” she giggled as he yipped and ran circles around her legs. “Is Wisty not playing with you? Aw, she’s no fun…”

“Just give me a second…” came a groan from the workshop yard. “Don’t steal my doggy, Grace…”

“Too late!” Grace chimed, leaning down to give Nemo a well-deserved scratch. “He’s mine now.”

“Well, doggone it,” Wis said, finally popping up from whatever machine she was working at. “My girlfriend dognapped my dog. I can’t believe it. I’m really in the doghouse now. Ohhh nooo.”

Grace couldn’t help but laugh at the stupid look on Wis’s face as she made her way out to her and Nemo.

“Well, even if Nemo’s yours…” Wis murmured as she drew closer. “You’re still mine.”

Grace felt the gentlest peck on her cheek.

------------

Grace,

Everything okay? It’s been a while since I heard from you. Work’s probably been super busy for you. Just give me a quick check up reply when you next get the chance. No biggie.

Wis

------------

Grace,

Hey, not sure you saw my last letter… Sorry about this if you did. I’m just a bit antsier about getting a reply since your last letter. Hope you’re still okay.

Wis

------------

Grace,

It’s been about a month now… I’m getting kind of worried now. I know field work is dangerous, so not getting anything from you has me wondering if you’re still alive… You don’t need to send an essay, just…a sign? Just a “hi”? Even a blank piece of paper in an envelope? Anything so I can at least make sure you’re still around.

Wis

------------

Hey Wis,

I’m really sorry about the wait. I’m still alive and kicking, don’t you worry. Work’s just been exhausting still. I can’t really make the time to sit down and write. We’ve been looking into a whole slew of relics around the Alliance lately. Lots of data crunching. I’m still doing fine, I promise. Just reading your words is so comforting to me. But what’s new with you? I’m sure at this point, I probably won’t even be able to recognize Sandrock if I saw it! You guys are just so involved! Still a TBD on a return date…

Grace

------------

You know, Grace…

Somehow I feel like it’s easier for me to tell when you’re being dishonest when it’s through writing. Dunno why. Maybe it’s because I can read it over again as much as I need to and take all the time I need to craft an answer.

You don’t need to sugarcoat things for me, okay? You never did back then. Why start now? I don’t know if it’s because you don’t want me to worry or you don’t want to talk about it, but I want to hear it. Whatever it is.

I hope that I’m not your only source of comfort right now, but if I am…then let me be that. I’ll be here for you as much as I can. I promise.

Wis

------------

Grace sat at her desk, a blank sheet of paper in front of her, reading Wis’s letter over and over and over again. Wis wasn’t here. She was a hundred miles away.

So why could Grace feel her eyes boring straight into her head?

She stared at the blank page on the table. It almost felt like it was mocking her. Or maybe that was the sleep deprivation talking.

Grace groaned. She’d finally carved out a good hour to write back to Wis, and here she was with nothing to say. Why oh why did Wis always have to hit her hardest when Grace was weakest?

She really is good at this, a distant part of Grace’s mind hummed.

Grace put her head on the desk, cushioning it with her arms. She stared at the small desk clock nearby as her designated writing hour slowly tick, tick, ticked away…until it was over. And she had nothing to show for it.

She let out a sigh and got up, rubbing her eyes. Time for a shower. She felt filthy. Maybe she could handle this tomorrow…

------------

Grace watched out the window as the train pulled to a stop. Good ol’ Sandrock. Same as ever, it seemed. Somehow, though, there was a different kind of energy to the place. Alive. Crackling with potential. She let the soaring feeling in her heart take hold. She could do that now. Let loose how she really felt. At that thought, she felt her pulse start to race. How she really felt…

As soon as the door opened, she bolted out and across the tracks. Fresh Pines was still lively as ever, machines churning away and generator humming. And of course, there was Wisteria, busy as ever. She was tending to the garden patch next to her front door, her back to Grace as she overturned the dirt. Looked like she had some new seeds coming in.

Grace felt her pulse thudding in her ears. She swallowed and put on a playful smile. “Hey.”

Wis looked up from her gardening, staring blankly at Grace over her shoulder.

Grace snorted. “Missed me, Wisty?”

Wis only continued to stare. Grace’s smile fell. She should’ve laughed or smiled or…something.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

Grace’s stomach dropped. “Huh? Um…oh, are you doing a bit…? Heh heh, good one…” she laughed with a shaky smile.

Wis still didn’t react. “Who are you?”

“I’m–I–it’s…me. It’s Grace.” Icy fear ran through her veins.

Wis’s eyes bore into Grace’s. Why did they look so dull…?

“…Liar.”

She turned back to her digging.

Grace suddenly felt nauseous. She reached out for her, only to see her hands were trembling.

“Wis…Wisteria…I promise, it’s me. It’s really me! N-no more secrets this time, I’m done with—!” She let out a startled yelp. Just as she had gotten close enough to place a hand on Wis’s shoulder, she’d gotten too close to the front door. In the glass of the windowpane, her reflection stared back at her.

Or at least, what was left of it.

A blank face, framed with her blonde hair.

Liar.

A horrid stench filled Grace’s nostrils. She lurched as the nausea got worse. She knew that smell from anywhere. It was a corpse. But where?

Grace tore her eyes away from the glass and looked around. It wasn’t long before she found the source.

Right under Wis’s shovel.

A partially unearthed body.

With Grace’s face.

Decaying and decrepit.

Liar. Liar.

She suddenly heard sniffling. Her eyes darted up to Wis. She was shaking with quiet sobs, head against one arm leaning against the wall of the house, her other hand clutching her chest.

Grace felt her heart wrench. She tried to reach for Wis again. “Wisty…Wisty, no…I-I’m here, it’s okay, I—” Her throat suddenly closed up. As if something was choking her. She grabbed at her neck, trying desperately to free it. But it was in vain. Nothing was there.

Liar. Liar. Liar.

Tears squeezed out of Grace’s eyes as she flailed about uselessly. She wanted Wisty’s tears to stop. She wanted to hold her until everything was okay. She wanted to spill everything that she kept sealed inside her for so, so long. She wanted her to know everything. She wanted to feel safe. She wanted to feel known. She wanted—

------------

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Grace jolted awake with a startled gasp. Her head was pounding. She slammed her hand down on her alarm clock.

Better. But not by much.

She reached a tentative hand up to her neck. Nothing was there.

She stared blankly at a spot on her blanket, trying to slow her breathing down. Swallowing, her eyes found the blank sheet of paper still on her desk, Wis’s letter sitting next to it.

She threw the blankets off and yanked out her desk chair. Her grip on the pen was tight enough to make her knuckles turn white. She forced the tip to the page. A spot of ink pooled under where it met the paper. She willed her hand to move.

Wisteria,

Her heart was pounding. What should she say? What was the best thing she could say? What could get her the info she needed in this scenario? How could she talk her way out of this? What did her handbook say? Remember your training, remember what they told you—

…

What do I really want to say…?

…

Wisteria,

I love you

There was a sharp knock at the door. A message slid under the crack.

Briefing at 1100

Grace’s mouth twisted into a grimace. The next mission. What a day to get all the details finally sorted. She flicked open her lighter to dispose of the message. As the slip burned to ashes, her mind wandered to the other paper sitting so innocently on her desk. She sighed. It was 1030. She’d have to finish it later.

After the last remnants of the paper were flicked away, Grace tucked the unfinished letter away between some books.

As she plodded to the briefing room along the barren hallways of HQ, she tried to push down the growing unease in her gut.

She couldn’t.

------------

Mission objectives: Investigate increasingly suspicious activity in the Northern Eufaula region. Duvosian involvement suspected. Capture or eliminate any Duvosian spies or military entities. Oversee restabilization in the aftermath.

Risk: Potentially life-threatening.

Start date: Tomorrow, 1200 hours. Move to Northern Eufaula base. Await further orders.

Grace was back to staring at the page on her desk, uneasier than ever.

I love you.

She wanted to say it. She really, truly did. She wanted Wis to know. Even if she didn’t love her back. But now…

I love you.

Now she was dumping this new mission onto her, too. Her life was on the line. Whatever she wrote here could be her last words to her.

I love you.

Did she want her last words to be that big of a bombshell? Throw Wis into perpetual uncertainty while the mission happened? Not even sure if Grace was alive or dead?

I love you.

Make the grief even worse…?

Grace took a deep breath. The last thing she needed on a dangerous mission was knowing that Wis was worried for her. But either way, Wis would be worried. There was no way for Grace to reach her from out there. She couldn’t control that.

But she could control something else. So she was going to make a gambit. Gamble on Wis’s worry overtaking her reason for the briefest moment. Her eyes would gloss over the finer details. And Grace could veil the truth that she desperately wanted to share.

She tossed the old letter and got a fresh sheet.

------------

Wisteria,

I’ve got my next assignment.

Let it be known that it’s a big one. Life’s on the line.

Orders are orders, though.

Very soon, I’ll be heading out.

Even if everything goes according to plan, it’s dicey.

You might be wondering if I can ever get back to Sandrock now.

Once this is over, I’ll do my best to get there. I’m not 100% confident, though.

Until then.

Grace

------------

Grace.

Even when you tell me your deepest secrets, you still talk in riddles.

I love you too, alright?

Maybe it’s not my place to pry, and I know I can’t get all the details, but I still just…don’t understand you sometimes. You told me that you wanted a deeper connection that you couldn’t get on the job. That kind of connection is made when you’re vulnerable with each other. You see each other at your weakest and your worst and you choose to keep pushing forward, side by side. In spite of everything. In spite of each other.

I’ve felt that with you sometimes. We’ve come so close to really being at the level you really wish for. When you talked to me about Cookie, I felt it. And so did you, I wager. But even so…you still want to keep a part of you sealed away.

Are you scared? Are you scared of me? Are you scared of yourself? I don’t know what else could be holding you back as much as you have.

I’m sorry if I’m being overbearing. Part of it’s because I’m worried. You’re the most capable and competent person I’ve ever met. But you’re still human, at the end of the day.

The other part of it is because I can see that this is something you want. More than archeology, more than the awards. More than anything.

You want to be you.

Really, truly you.

And I love you.

The real, true you.

Even the parts I have yet to see or learn about.

I have no idea if this’ll make it to you. You’ve probably already been out there for a while by the time I got your letter. But I wanted to get that off my chest. And to let you know that I’m still waiting for you here. All of us are (yes, even Qi. He’s just a dingus about it).

Stay safe. Please. I believe in you, even if you don’t.

And when you come back to Sandrock, we can talk. For real.

Love,

Wisteria

------------

Wis opened up her mailbox. Only one thing in there today. She took it out, looking at the envelope to see…her own handwriting? And it was addressed to Grace…

Her heart froze.

Clutching the letter tightly, she ran off to find Jasmine. Fresh Pines was the last stop on the mail route, so she should be heading back to Construction Junction…

“Jazz! Hey, Jazz!” Wis called as she spotted Jasmine skipping after Macchiato, who probably caught wind of someone cooking something good. She stopped in her tracks and beamed up at Wis.

“Hey, Miss Wis! What’s up?”

“Jazz, do you know what happened to this letter?” Wis held out the letter in her hands, trying not to clench too hard and wrinkle it.

“Oh…” Jasmine hummed with a finger on her chin. “Yeah, the Atara Post Office said that there wasn’t anyone named Grace at that address. So they put the big ‘Return to Sender’ stamp on it.”

Wis suddenly felt a little dizzy. “Oh. I see…”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Jasmine exclaimed. “Miss Grace was real! We really knew her!”

“Yeah, w-we did…”

“Maybe she just changed her address? Forgot to tell all of us, though. Ma’s getting a little worried.”

“Mm-hmm…”

“But I’m sure she’ll tell us real soon, Miss Wis!” she shouted, loud enough to give Wis a jolt. “She’s still got our addresses, so she’ll probably write soon!”

Wis let out a chuckle. “You’re right. I hope so. Thanks, Jazz.”

“You’re welcome! See ya!” Jasmine replied, before running off to catch up with Macchiato.

Standing alone in the square, Wis sighed and looked down at the unsent letter. She remembered the night she wrote it, frustrated and exhausted. She’d tossed out at least 10 different versions before this one. Some were too angry. Others too self-pitying. Others too long-winded. Even now, she had doubts if this was really what she wanted to say.

Regardless, though, there was one sentiment she knew to be entirely true, no matter how she shouted or spat or sobbed it.

I love you too.

She sighed again and headed back home. She tucked the letter away on her desk under a large stack of other papers.

Then she headed out to start her workday. But all the while, her mind stirred, always coming back to one question:

Was it better or worse that it never reached her?

------------

Atara Times

Northern Eufaula Espionage Plans Foiled! Duvos Spies Captured!

Some time ago, the Northern Eufaula Development Plan jumped into full swing, but not without its share of complications. In an incredible twist of events, an investigation by the Alliance Council uncovered that some of the problems were in fact part of a deliberate campaign of disruption.

Who is this dastardly foe? Well, let's ask one simple question. If the Northern Development Plan is to fail, who is to gain? None other than the Duvos Empire!

How did this happen? In order to counter the Duvos activities, Alliance Central Intelligence carried out Operation Weeding. This operation quickly and efficiently identified and eliminated the Duvos infiltration, and effectively restored order to the Northern Development Plan once again. Currently, the plan as already initiated three settlements across the Northern Eufaula, next to the Duvos border.

Unfortunately, three Alliance operatives' lives were lost in the process. The youngest of them was a young woman in her twenties. She had achieved outstanding military achievements throughout her career and had made a lasting impact on the safety of the Free Cities. We shall never know the names of these brave heroes, but we, all of us, owe them our safety.

------------

There was a knock at the door.

Wis didn’t move.

The knocking came back.

“Wisty?” It was Heidi. “Everythin’...well, I don’t suppose anythin’s alright…”

Wis stared at a knot in the wood floor.

“I’m comin’ in, okay? Got some fresh grub from the Blue Moon…”

The door creaked open. Sunlight spilled in.

Wis pulled the blankets over her head.

“Wisty…”

…

“I, um… I asked Trudy if she could get any info, but the Alliance ain’t talkin’… as we’d expect from military types, I guess…”

…

“Uh, technically speakin’…there could’ve been a lot of twenty-somethin’ ladies out there. I don’t wanna jump to conclusions either way, of course, but still…”

…

“I’m still holdin’ out hope. But…I know it’s hard. I know how much you cared about her.”

A tear slipped out of Wis’s eye.

“…I still got your back, Wisty. No matter what.”

Wis choked on a sob. More and more tears flooded out of her eyes. She felt Heidi hug her from outside the blanket, whispering soothing words.

There in the dark, she shook. Left to choke on words that would never be heard. Left to cling to hope that she didn’t hold.

Left to feel a love too late to be received.

A/N: Thanks for reading! There'll be one last part after this.

And icymi, I posted a quick status update on Builder, Researcher, Rooftop, if you've been following that! (psst...it has some sneak peeks of act 2)

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