Had a realization regarding the Aware AU. The question of if Sabrina & Adrien are friends was asked and I think the answer is an emphatic yes.
Cos timeline wise, Emilie disappeared when the previous school year was still on. This was followed by the grief and then the revelation "Our parents don't care about us" crisis's, leading out the school year & a two month break.
Sabrina may not have met Adrien during the school period, but during the break. When Adrien's actively agitating to get out, when Chloe is aggressively trying to both reinvent herself and generally distance herself from her parents. That's when she'd meet him and given how easily Adrien makes friends its easy on his end.
For Sabrina it'd also be a neat experience cos if we go by season 1 she was both very game for anything and also really liked the idea of her & Chloe being thick as thieves. Chloe tended to stamp the breaks on that and remind her who was leading, IE the "We're awesome- sorry you're awesome" thing.
Here though?
That's less of a thing.
Not to say its not present, if anything overcoming her dynamic with Sabrina would likely be one of the hardest things to do. But she also pointedly cares about their relationship and Sabrina idolizes her so there's no shortage of second chances.
Plus she'd be actively trying to cut out some of her more overtly unfair behaviors by virtue of them being mimicry as opposed to her trauma bleeding through. So while she might need practice, some things do get intentionally ignored or rejected to make a point. "No Sabrina's not my assistant she's my friend and probably way smarter than you, Felix."
Adrien's presence would also help in this regard. He'd not see the dynamic itself as inherently terrible. Its Andrey & Audrey, Emilie & Gabriel, even himself & Chloe to an extent. A more gentle accommodating (Weaker) personality being led by a more aggressive, bold (Strong) personality.
His main contributions would be just highlighting when she's acting too much like her parents, especially Audrey & otherwise serving as a buffer for when she's too prickly to be anything but hostile. With the former call out leading Chloe to usually reverse course change thrusters and circle back and the latter giving plenty of bonding time.
Plus, Sabrina's respect for authority is pretty much only respect for Chloe's authority. So she'd be very happy to help in any scheming and generally be down for whatever they are up to in easy defiance of Gabriel or Andre.
So yeah I think they'd definitely be friends by the time school rolls around.
How cognizant she'd be to their situation or what brought the changes on... I think she'd have picked up enough clues that she knows their parents suck & they realized their parents suck & are now essentially in a constant state of low grade rebellion.
The specifics, extent or ways this manifest in issues would be harder to parse given her general reverence/dedication to people she likes/admires. But I imagine she'd have a pretty decent grasp of Adrien's situation mechanically, and knows/deduces far more of Chloe's than she realizes.
Honestly I love Adrien and Sabrina friendships and I really need to write more of that.
Also while Sabrina isn't in the 'rich' club she can be put in the 'oh I realized my dad sucks' club.
24 notes
·
View notes
I am genuinely so impressed by how you are juggling so many projects. What is your writing process like for that? I remember you sharing about how you romanticize the process but like how much time is given to each project? Is it based on where the dopamine leads you during the day? How do you maintain the discipline? How much of a project is mapped before you start drafting and editing? It is so hard to create and i just *genuinely* admire your work ethic so much.
Hi, oh thank you so much, that's really kind of you! So, juggling multiple projects is still new to me, I've only ever had 1 or 2 at once before but the last year has taught me a LOT about how to manage it, how to roll with the punches and the importance of balance.
TL;DR this became a ramble so I summarised:
3 hours a day
dopamine led but with consistent rewards in place
discipline countered with indulgent self care
embracing change and new inspiration
not comparing to others
making work space very pleasing and comfortable
trust you will do it because you've done it before
romanticise
stay open to the universe
you've never failed unless you give up completely - it's fine to miss a deadline, life is very short and it's better to be healthy, happy and inspired than burnt out and sick. take it slow, enjoy it, work when you can and reward yourself CONSTANTLY.
So, time wise, I will try to dedicate at least 3 hours a day to one single project and I'll try to keep it one project per week otherwise my head is all over the place. It's usually dopamine led as following joy is key to my energy levels, but I have also learnt the past year to discipline myself and adapt to a constant flow of creation.
I maintain the discipline by treating myself as wonderfully as I possibly can. I still and always will romanticise everything I do and make it fun; all frills, self indulgent and lovely. Having a space I love that's set up well is hugely important for me. My desk area is amazing now that I've worked on it for well over a year.
One of the best things for crafting discipline but not losing the joy is the THRILL of achievement. When I complete something, i feel amazing and that spurs me on. I cultivate multiple ideas as indulgently as I can and expose myself to a lot of new inspiration. If something doesn't work or feels not good? I give myself the freedom to change it up and the confidence to know that no matter what, it'll work out beautifully so long as I keep going because it always has. There were times during Touched I would CRY it was so hard to write and I was so distracted.
Knowing you can do something because you've already done it is an incredibly powerful little power up that I use often to give myself a boost.
But honestly, overall, I really do romanticise my life in general. I make beautiful things, I love what I write, I'm so grateful for everything and always open to new ideas and I never close myself off by comparing, doubting or clinging too hard to what felt good before. I give myself space to realise that I'm constantly changing and growing and that my writing reflects that which is SO exciting!! I think honestly, I'm my biggest fan. I hype myself, reward myself and treat writing like a blissful escape, which it is, even when it's 7 hours non-stop for a story I am very ready to be done with.
The most important thing about maintaining this level of output (for me) is giving myself space to mess up a little, to miss a deadline, to delay posting and not feel awful. 'You're Divine' is one of the greatest writing lessons I've ever learned, in that just because you can physically write 25k+ a week doesn't mean you SHOULD. Towards the end I had made myself very ill. I won't ever do that again. It's never a failure, unless you give up completely. Life is very short, it's difficult to feel inspired when you're hard on yourself. Treat yourself like the person you love most in this world. Be a little selfish, lean in where you're weird and praise it to the skies.
Thanks so much again!
Love, Az
💜💜💜
22 notes
·
View notes
So Allegedly Infinite Wealth is 100 hours... not that you can't already spend that long on the games if you really want to, but I'd say it's the first time that could be said to be the base experience rather than a time only hardcore completionists are likely to get.
Yokoyama was talking at length about wanting to make the game worth the price tag since the team is incredibly conscious about the value of the players' time and money. They essentially feel they owe players ten times what they paid, so they're aiming for "an enjoyable 100 hours, but also an unforgettable 100 hours."
If they pull it off, I personally think it'd be 100% worth it and not just a "well other studios are doing it so we can get away with it too" price hike... I'm at least happy to know that's not the intent, and I'm intrigued to see how everything pans out and what the ratio is between story and side content
oh yayaya i saw that article this morning!!! 100 hours is actually so unfathomable to me in terms of an rgg game- i mean y7 was At Minimum around 45~50 hours but when i think of other RPGS that easily dip into 70's and 100's of hours, i'm not too surprised to see LAD start to climb towards those numbers now. it'd be such a jump in rgg's terms tho, so i'm TRULY curious to see where the nearly doubled gameplay hours comes from..
i really appreciate yoko's respect not just to RGGS but also to its customers: they want to make a great product, but they also don't want to sacrifice what they want to do to do that in the process
24 notes
·
View notes
The constant Feels Like I'm Going Nowhere that has persisted for years really fucks up your brain huh. I haven't:
Continued electrolysis in pursuit of bottom surgery (No healthcare for a while, and now currently I have no income)
Gotten my associates. Granted, this is something I'm (hopefully) finishing this semester. I should have been done so last semester but health issues and disabilities severely limit how much I can do a semester. I had to basically drop 2 classes last semester. I've been in college for 6 years.
Related to the above statement, watching the industry I started my degree for constantly burning more and more each year has worn me down. 2 years of experience in my field doesn't qualify for a starter position apparently, nor does it seem like applications even get viewed most of the time.
Moved away from family. It is actively harmful in this 'home'. Family constantly belittles and insults me. No money + paying off a car for several years has limited what I've been able to do money wise. One of the few times I could have saved up I was paying rent to my family (except they had me mark it as not rent, so they wouldn't get taxed for it) for pretty much all my extra income. This should be resolved this year when I move in with the loml who has been the best and I can't go into detail without bawling about my love for her and how she helps just being around.
Past jobs have also fucked me over. Becoming the only manager of a medical/retail mix at the age of 19 stressed me out to the point I had breakdowns weekly. 2 years working at a sbux wore my physical body down to the point I'm still having issues 2 years later. I did all this with misdiagnosed fibromyalgia since I was 12 (Idk how a past fucking dr thought I had a certain other 6 WEEKS MAX condition when it had already been years). I'm just so tired. I don't even know if I can get on disability, I feel like I'd be rejected. I hardly know what I could even do for work at this point. I left my last job because of harassment from all the way up to the VP. That job was just sitting around half the time and my pain was so bad I missed weeks of work regularly for a couple months. I just feel so lost half the time. Being in the workforce for 10 years has just made me a broken husk devoid of passions.
4 notes
·
View notes
Forever crying over how much Gojo cares, loves and supports his students/adopted kiddos, believing so much in them when it comes to making the world a better place for sorcerers. The loss of his best friend is such a heavy one, and yet it doesn't stop him in his tracks or slow him down. But instead, it intensifies his resolve, more than anything. He has ofc grown up so much by the time he becomes a teacher (Which is so funny, with how behaves in a different sort of childish manner, when compared to how he was as a teen). GOD I JUST--
4 notes
·
View notes
AU, where Tyelpe is in Gondolin far before he got there in Canon and tries to befriend antisocial little Maeglin... I just wrote this down in two hours right before Christmas and a friend has been encouraging me to post it, so yeah...
Happy holidays to all who celebrate and i hope everyone could have a friend like this, making sure we're doing well...
_________________________________
There is a small, slightly crumpled ball of paper in the others hand, a tiny bow the only indication that it's not just waste. Maeglin blankly looks at Celebrimbor. Looks back down at the outstretched hand in front of him.
“What is this?”
“Well......” the other slightly scratches at his nape, “It is a pendant... I know you don’t usually wear jewelry... And I get it, us noldor, we tend to be rather flashy... But tomorrow is yule... And I wanted to give you something.” He looks back at Maeglin. “Since... You know... I am your friend...”
Maeglin stares.
Celebrimbor still has the small package in his left hand. Arm fully stretched, by now there is a slight tremor visible. There is no insincerity in his face, no hidden agenda shining in his eyes. But people don’t just give gifts. So far, Celebrimbor had always been true to his word. Always outright saying what he means, while still shaping speech to be amiable, gentle. It would be so easy to just trust him. Take the gift as just that, a gift. From a- A friend.
He hesitates.
Maeglin does not have friends. And a gift will always come with an expectation.
“I don’t have anything to give in return...”
Celebrimbors eyes, so hopeful, when he started to reach out, are still searching for his own. “I... That’s alright... It’s probably a bit unexpected, huh? But you don’t have to give me something... I just...” He sighs. Looks away. “It’s just that you tend to be alone... And.... Family can be difficult, believe me, I know... But... Yule is the possibility of a new start... Of letting old habits go and forming new ones... And it should not be celebrated alone... With no glimpse of a brighter future...” He’s speaking haltingly, like the words have to be wrestled out of his throat.
“And... If you do not feel comfortable with your family... I just thought... Maybe you would be more at ease... With me...” The usually light voice roughens, then dies, making the last words nearly inaudible. Maeglin suddenly has a vision of the lone fireplace in his empty room again. But instead of himself, this time he sees Celebrimbor kneeling in front of the flames. Holding his mantle tightly wrapped around himself, an eight-pointed star shimmering in the dim light, while his body silently shakes.
It hits him then. Celebrimbor was right, Maeglin keeps to himself. Stays away from others as often as he can get away with. Gets skittish if there are too many others, even in the forge. He is usually alone. He wants to be alone.
But Celebrimbor? Celebrimbor, who searches conversations. Who goes out of his way to spend time with others. Who tries to make everyone in the room as comfortable as they can be... Celebrimbor, who gets left out of meetings. Who has been forgotten too many times to still call it a coincidence. Who strangers on the street give a wide berth if they see the star on his garments, just to start whispering before he is even out of earshot.
Celebrimbor, who thrives under attention and with company, only to be shunned by those who should praise him.
Celebrimbor, who still has his hand reached out, palm up, holding a plea.
A gift will always come with an expectation. But maybe, just maybe, Maeglin is willing to fill it.
He takes the hand. Wraps the fingers back around the package and turns.
At the door he looks back to Celebrimbor, standing alone in the dim, seeming even smaller than he already is.
“Yule gifts are handed over in the morning.”
Celebrimbors head whips up, eyes round with surprise.
“What with renewal and all that stuff. Also, we will need to buy more food if you’re staying for a few days, and I refuse to carry everything on my own.”
He steps out into the night.
8 notes
·
View notes