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ao3readingproject · 2 years

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Heat Waves Chapter 1: First Impressions

The second I’m reading on my mission to read the top 10 fics on Ao3. Thoughts on chapter 1 below the cut!

Okay, so this is where my experiment really begins, because I know absolutely nothing about any of these people or even minecraft, really. AtYD was a good intro to engaging with fan content for something I’m familiar with but don’t often engage with online (as most of my HP conversations take place with irl friends and I’d never read a fic before this one). Here, I’m well and truly lost, and I kind of love it. It literally feels like I’m just reading a book that’s gotten a ton of hype.

The first thing I noticed was that I was actually right in my intro post when I said I think one of them lives in Florida. Turns out it’s Dream so it looks like this fic might end up entirely taking place there? It’s a strange feeling. I spent the vast majority of my life there and I still consider it home. But I also never want to live there again. I love it for what it is and hate it for everything it isn’t, if that makes sense. So it’s definitely weird to read a fic that’s set in Florida, probably because I so rarely find any media set there even though it’s super populated.

Tangent aside, I’m going to get into my actual perception of the fic now. I know I’m reading about real people, but since I don’t know anything about them, it really just feels like a book. Like, I think I’d feel weirder about reading After even though the name has been changed just because I’m familiar with Harry Styles and I know it’s about him. This isn’t something I was expecting. I really thought I’d be constantly thinking about how these are real people in the back of my mind, but I’m just not. I’m not really sure how I feel about that, but at least now I know I’m not as easily fazed as I thought.

Plot wise, I’m a little confused. I did read the tags on this fic but I don’t remember what they were. And now that I’ve started I don’t really want to go back and check since I kind of like the idea of not knowing what’s going on. I’m assuming that this dream was somehow real and George is somehow being transported? I just feel like 50k isn’t long enough for the dreams to be their own subplot that George isn’t aware of if everything is going to get resolved. But I guess since this is a series that doesn’t really matter. I was also a little surprised that this fic just jumped right into kissing, but maybe that’s just a consequence of reading it immediately after AtYD.

I’m also curious about Dream’s mask thing. Is he one of the ones (or the only one?) that no one knows what he looks like? If that’s the case is the mask something he wears in streams? And if that’s the case why did this first chapter mention Dream being on a stream with his camera off? I’m definitely getting hung up on small details here, but I feel like I’m genuinely experiencing culture shock just by virtue of reading fanfiction and not already knowing about the (for lack of a better word) characters.

Finally, I thought the author’s note at the end of the first chapter was hilarious. They clearly weren’t expecting the fic to blow up, and I’m kind of wondering when and why it did. Was it between the first two chapters or was it more gradual? I do remember this fic being really popular as it was publishing (because it crashed Ao3 multiple times when I was trying to use it 💀) but all time is bleeding together for me given the state of the world right now, so I have no clue when that was. It was well-written, but it’s pretty on par compared to what I’ve read in other (albeit bigger) fandoms. I can’t imagine that with something I see trending so frequently on here that there’s a lack of good fic, especially since from what I can tell the youtubers seem to encourage it. It’s just interesting to me how many hits this has when 1) it has fewer chapters than a lot of other fics with such high traffic, 2) it’s pretty new, and 3) it’s not explicit. That’s not a commentary on the quality of the writing (which was very good!), just that the stats on this fic go against a lot of the trends I see on my reading list. I don’t want to do any additional research until I finish the fic, but it’s definitely something I’ll be thinking about as I read. I am very excited to continue unravelling this mystery and I am absolutely running straight to fanlore as soon as I finish.

#also please note since you can never too cautious on here that i never said this fic *shouldn’t* be popular #i’m just trying to get to the bottom of why it *is* as i read it for a broader sociological experiement that i invented for fun #mcyt #heat waves #ao3 #fanfiction #rpf #<- for ts please note i do not actually endorse rpf

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nekropsii · 2 years

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hii i discovered ur blog yesterday and i love it 👀!!! idk if uve done this before but im interested in what u think about mitunas personality, and also how he was before the incident (and what the incident was cause canon is super vague and cryptic??). i don't know a lot about brain damage and how that can look in people just that there's more than one possible way so i'm also curious how to handle that from a writer's perspective (like, besides the obvious of not infantilizing him like everyone else seems to do for some fucking reason)

Hi there!!!! I’m so glad you’re liking the blog so far! It’s pretty recent, and I’m honestly surprised at the reception so far! I wasn’t really expecting much of anything!!!!

Those are ABSOLUTELY things I can discuss! Mituna is actually one of my top favorite characters, so I’m really, really glad you’ve asked!! Due to this being a multi-part question, it’s going to be really, REALLY long, so let’s start this off with a read-more!

[Cracks knuckles]

Regarding your first inquiry, of my thoughts on Mituna’s personality-

One thing I’ve noticed that people typically fail to keep in mind is that Mituna is absolutely a Captor. It’s a trend I have noticed for years, and it is a damn unfortunate one! Traits that are most often beloved aspects of Sollux’s personality are also relevant to Mituna’s personality. Let’s be real with ourselves for a moment- Mituna is the funniest motherfucker in the (remnants of the) Alpha Troll Session by a long shot. Let me list out some traits of his, because it is definitely worthy of getting a spotlight shone on it.

Mituna has a penchant for sarcasm and employs it regularly. A great example of this is the moment where Cronus said to Mituna that he was going to fake another suicide attempt for sympathy points (his words, not mine!,) and Mituna essentially replied “How about you try that out on me?” Cronus does so, and Mituna’s immediate response to it is going “Woah, let’s fuck!!!!,” which is IMMEDIATELY shown to be completely, obviously sarcastic. Mituna, to Cronus’s face, calls him a “fucking idiot” for even for a second thinking it’s genuine.

A fun trait to notice, playing through his OpenBound- Mituna is actually pretty self-aware! Especially in regards to his own clumsiness. Keep a track of times he mentions skating. He keeps making up different names for his skateboard specifically to poke fun at himself. A personal favorite of mine is (paraphrased,) “Rad-ass fall down slat.” We know he’s just making up words, because when he’s talking to himself, he literally just calls it a skateboard.

Sex jokes. So many fucking sex jokes. What else did we expect of the man who’s first name literally just means sex? Which, mind you, isn’t even a joke! His name is derived from the word Maithuna. His name means sex. He makes sex puns. He isn’t innocent, he’s not clueless regarding sexuality. I’ll hazard a guess that he’s done plenty of it, considering it’s been 1,000 years and he is in a relationship. Sex puns wherever applicable. They’re funny as hell. It’s awesome. #Spornts.

Mituna is kind of a flirt! Sure, he’s mostly joking, but jokingly flirting still shows that the person knows how to flirt in some capacity and will do so. Some of the lines were kinda smooth, in my opinion. It’s actually hilarious. Personal favorite is in one of his interactions with Meenah, where she asks “What will you grind on,” in relation to skating, and he replies, smugly, “I volunteer... that thing to be... You.” Like, you know what, let’s give him some points there. He stuck that fucking landing. That’s really funny.

While Mituna is a pessimist, and he can come across as a bit abrasive if you aren’t used to him, we do know that he’s actually pretty nice to his friends, and when he feels the impulse to be kind. (I separate the two because I’ll be damned before I call Cronus Mituna’s friend.) It’s something to keep an eye out for, but a good example is his brief interaction with Kurloz, and... You know, the concentrated implications behind the fact that he’s been able to hold a steady, loving romantic relationship for over 1,000 years. With a freakin’ Knight of Mind. The man’s probably a damn good boyfriend. At least in his own way.

I could say more, but we’d be here all day, and some things are better left to either later parts of this essay or entirely separate essays.

———————

Regarding your second inquiry, of how I see Mituna’s personality prior to the Great Act of Heroism-

Alright, okay... This is going to be a bit of a hot take.

I do not think pre-incident Mituna was all that different than he is now.

Not at all. No. I think his brain injury destabilized him mentally in the way brain injuries tend to do, and I think that subsequently pushed his personality to some extremes, but I don’t think he’s all that different in any which way. The core of his personality is the same. The way his brain works changed, not who he is at his core.

Think of it like this- Say you’re an artist, and you mess up the nerves on your hand or injure it badly. It might work a little differently after- unable to sense certain things, maybe even not as flexible as it used to be. Maybe you can’t use it as long as you used to be able to without it hurting, but it’s still a hand. It’s still your hand. It’s the same as it always was at it’s core, it just works a little differently now, and you have some extra limitations to you. They might be annoying at first, and it might even make you a little sad sometimes, but it’s still your hand.

Now consider this- if everyone around you kept making comments about your nerve damage/injury, and the new limitations you have to work with, which you are probably already stressed and/or insecure about... Constantly comparing your old capabilities to your new ones, calling you broken even if in polite wording, saying your work just isn’t the same after it all... And essentially blaming you for everything. Always stressing they prefer “the old you” over “the new one”... Wouldn’t that be really fucked up of them?

Yeah.

That’s basically just how he’s been treated. Except, like... The way he’s been treated is so much worse. Both in the sense of canon, and how the fandom handles him.

I think about pre-incident Mituna very little. It comes up in my thoughts every now and then, but it’s fleeting. It’s something worth thinking about, yes, but more often than not people will just use that stage of his character to either- not trying to be rude- basically just make an OC bearing his name, or make him more palatable. And I’m not a huge fan of that, to be blunt. I’m not a very big fan of comparing befores and afters on the topic of disability. Character exploration is good, yes, but I’ve only really seen one well done depiction of pre-incident Mituna.

With that said, check out Befriendus! I absolutely LOVE that interpretation of pre-incident Mituna. One of my favorite ideas that came of it was them making Mituna psychotic. Actually pretty good representation, in my opinion! Made me really happy! 10/10.

———————

Regarding your third inquiry, of what I personally think the Great Act of Heroism was-

Ohhh, yes. This old doozy. There’s several ways to interpret it! But there’s one core thing you have to keep in mind when speculating-

The only person there to witness the Great Act of Heroism was Kurloz. And he refuses to say a word about it.

How fucking suspicious is that, am I right? Especially since we know Kurloz uses his quadrantmates like puppets. Double especially since we know Kurloz is capable of mind control, and said mind control causes lapses in memory.

I will admit, that second part is added there for flavor. I don’t think I believe Kurloz mind controlled Mituna into doing something actually horrible in that moment- but it’s not fully out of the question. I also just wanted to remind people that Kurloz literally does mind control Mituna in canon.

I subscribe to (a slightly edited version of) the classic theory, dubbed All Trolls Go God-Tier: The Mituna Method, by Tumblr user bladekindeyewear, that Mituna straight up fucking yeeted Prospit with his mind and caused a universal domino effect that made god tiering possible for all. Give it a read, it’s awesome!

I really could go into what I think might have happened within the Alpha Troll Ssssion one day, vis-a-vis the Great Act of Heroism. One day!!!

———————

Regarding your final inquiry, of how Mituna’s brain damage manifests and how to tackle that from a writing perspective-

Research, research, research!

In my opinion, the best place to start is studying frontal lobe damage in particular, because that seems to be what he’s mostly based on. I am by no means an expert on brain damage, mind you, so this is advice to take with a grain of salt. I am writing from the perspective of someone who knows some things from study, not as someone who is an expert on traumatic brain injuries.

With that aside... The ways it seems to manifest in Mituna, at least from what I can see, are interesting. It also makes how his peers treat him, and how the fandom handles him, all the more frustrating.

Five hugely noticeable ways it shows up are poor impulse control, impairment of motor skills, trouble handling complex tasks, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty communicating “properly.”

Mituna, by all accounts, has zero filter. He acts inappropriately at times, and reacts inappropriately at times. He seems to just say whatever appears on the top of his mind with not much regard for consequences until he is met with them. This is absolutely a trait that could get him in a fair amount of trouble, but it’s also a neutral trait to have. Hell, you could absolutely boil his attempt at committing public indecency down to just him not having any impulse control. You could also boil his attempts at being nice to Cronus as a lack of impulse control.

Impairment of motor skills is decently self explanatory, and it’s even something that’s joked about a lot whether people realize it or not. His impaired motor skills is what’s making him clumsy, and is most likely why his typing quirk has so many typos.

His trouble with handling complex tasks is also something that was joked about regularly. Remember how he couldn’t figure out how to take off his clothes? While on the surface that’s genuinely fucking hilarious because even I can’t figure out how that thing works, because it’s a skin tight latex jumpsuit with no visible zipper... But then you realize having difficulty getting dressed and undressed is actually pretty common amongst people with brain damage. And suddenly it’s less just a joke about how his clothing choice is weird and he’s an idiot that can’t figure out how to take his clothes off, and more like... He literally just has brain damage. He’s not stupid, he’s just struggling. He’s only been read as stupid because people haven’t taken the time to realize that getting dressed and undressed is honestly a pretty complex task. For emphasis, next time you get fully dressed, start actively thinking about and counting the amount of steps it takes to do so. Include everything. It’s so complicated.

Emotional dysregulation is... Also self explanatory, though now it ties into his already existing mood disorder. Mituna is bipolar. There’s no dancing around that. And the TBI made his mood swings worse. Hell, the environment he’s in might be making it worse, too! People are just complete and total dicks to him because they can be. But... That’s besides the point. He doesn’t have much in the way of emotional stability, that much is obvious, and I don’t have to spoon feed it to you. That would just be patronizing, probably.

(Warning for direct discussion of assault coming up. It’s Cronus. What did anyone expect?)

Difficulty communicating “properly”... Oh boy, is this a thin rope to walk, but man is it a necessary one. Let me start this off by saying he is very much so capable of communicating with people clearly. We have SEEN him communicate with people very clearly. When Cronus was... basically just straight up on-screen assaulting Mituna, Mituna kept VERY CLEARLY telling him to stop, that he does not want Cronus to touch him, and that he “does not want [his] hand there.” Several times he voiced his nonconsent, he was very clear about it. He is capable of communicating clearly. But nonetheless, his communication skills are impaired. He can be a tad difficult to understand at times, and he sometimes throws in words that aren’t supposed to be there. Prime example coming to mind is also from the assault scene- “I want that your hand to not be on my body please” is very much so a coherent sentence, but it’s just a bit stilted. There’s also the fact that he has difficulty recounting things to people, which very well could be related.

There’s a lot of other avenues you could take regarding it, though! And I do recommend research above all else. I’m just a guy on the Internet.

———————

Overall, the way Mituna’s character has been largely handled by the fandom is bizzare to me. All things aside, he’s literally just some guy. He’s just standing there, minding his own business, and some people just really, really hate the fact that he has symptoms. You can write Mituna in a way that feels more realistic. That’s fine and dandy. But if symptoms of brain damage as a whole are what is unpalatable to you, you’re probably an ass.

The symptoms he has aren’t inherently bad. They aren’t inherently good, either. It’s neutral, and it’s situational. What fucks me up is that people have this tendency to cringe and look away because his symptoms aren’t inherently pretty or relatable. So, they pretty him up.

There’s zero reason to infantilize Mituna that doesn’t involve ableism in some way. He’s just some greasy 4Channer skater dude who wants to make music and draw. He’s just vibing, bro.

#thank you for the question!#hope this wasn’t too rambly or meandering #adhd. you know how it is #homestuck #homestuck analysis #homestuck fandom #alpha trolls #dancestors #beforans #beforan trolls #mituna #mituna captor #meenah peixes #kurloz makara #cronus ampora #mituna.pdf #cw assault #nekro.sms #nekro.pdf

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roo-bastmoon · 2 years

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Hello I wanted to know that whenever taekook or jikook Trend on Twitter I have noticed that the tweets are more of taekook (195k )but jikook 15k 20k 30k 50k not more than that. I wonder why? I am new to this fandom so I don't know much how the Twitter trends work but just curious . Why aew taekookers more when it is evident jikook has something more then just friendship?💞

Hello Nonie!

I’m pretty new myself to being ARMY and a Jikook fan. Only about three months in and still finding my way around.

I’ve heard that Taekook is the more popular and dominant ship online among international fans due to their visuals (conforming to beauty standards) and comfortable, teasing relationship… I’ve also heard that Jikook has more fans in Korea, and this is seen by some as having more credence, as K-army know the language and cultural context when viewing the relationship—which has been intense for years and breaks a LOT of norms, which raises suspicions.

No one can know for sure if a ship is real except the members of BTS and they don’t owe us any explanation. But it is natural to speculate! I wouldn’t worry too much about social media. It’s an echo chamber of carefully manipulated content (and sometimes what’s being echoed are the howls of hormonal preteens with no understanding of real life who feel fanatically possessive of idols—I say this about both ships).

Just keep watching original content to see plenty of evidence of genuine bonds between all members. And in time you’ll find good Jikook blogs and Twitter accounts who are kind, have integrity, and don’t spread misinformation or villainize anyone just to further a fantasy narrative. Quality over quantity!!

In short: for the most part, I’ve found Jikookers to be rational, supportive, and open to new evidence. Sane people are rarely the loudest in the room. But we are here, and we embrace you!! <3

#jikook #kookmin #minkook #jimin jungkook

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radramblog · 3 years

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Album Discussion- Shinjuku Mad

Usually on a Tuesday I like to take my time with a blog post. Listen to a full album, do a little research, put some real effort into it.

Unfortunately, time is not my ally today. So I kinda have to do one that’s a bit easier- in this case, I think I’d rather go after one of the ones that’s already on my phone, in case I have to do this on the bus or something.

(wait, I drove in today…)

Today we’re going to go into a self-titled album that is somehow not the artist’s debut. Rather, Shinjuku Mad is the second of two albums released under the name- the reason I specify as such is that one of the two (and later, the vocalist would help out again) members would go on to relative fame under a different name- Vaportrap pioneer Blank Banshee.

Peering into this album is like looking at a beta version of what was to come. It’s very much a different genre, an IDM album that completely predates Vaporwave’s explosion of popularity and Blank Banshee’s seminal album, Blank Banshee 0. It’s a solid enough album in addition to this, but it’s kind of hard to talk about seeing as there’s basically nobody who knows about Shinjuku Mad that didn’t learn about it through Blank Banshee. As such, expect a lot of BB coming up in this post.

Also a block of words, because no music videos exist for this at all. It’s one of those obscure albums.

This album opens on Cure for Fear. It’s one of those introductory tracks you often get in albums, at about a minute and a half long, with very reverb-y percussion and vocals and an almost ethereal haze of noise. It’s got these chimes that occasionally come up, reminiscent of some of the tracks from the AKIRA soundtrack, but beyond that there’s not a huge amount going on here. It does introduce a problem, however, one which we’ll get to later. It’ll be pretty evident if you’re listening along, though.

Track 2: Kowloon. I really did forget how short a lot of these songs were, with this being 2:13- the whole 10-track album clocks in at under half an hour. There’s a mix of drum machine and hollow wood percussion on this track that gives it a really interesting sort of feel, and some of the effects on the vocals feel extremely vaporwave- it’s no surprise that the dude behind this went on into that genre. Here’s where I can’t help but hammer on that issue I mentioned earlier, though.

The vocals on this album are quite weak. I know they’re very much trying to be ethereal, the reverb and falsetto make that much clear, and that style very much suits the instrumentation. But it just doesn’t sound great. It kinda comes and goes, but by and large I’d label them as subpar. I don’t really think it’s the fault of the performance either, it’s not like the bloke is missing his lines or mumbling more than is necessary for the album’s aesthetic, but there’s just something about them. They might be too loud in the mix for this kind of genre? I’m not 100% sure.

Resistor, the third track, is the best known song from this album by an order of magnitude. I mean that quite literally, as the track as over 540,000 monthly listens on Spotify as compared to Kowloon’s 32000. It’s kind of shocking, I mean for such an obscure album with zero singles, why is this of all tracks the one people suddenly latched onto?

As it turns out, it’s because again of the artist’s future work as Blank Banshee. Resistor would be reworked into one of the more popular tracks from BB0, Dreamcast, and it would appear that people got curious as to what the source was.

The thing is, aside from sharing a vocal performance, the tracks are very different. As it is, Resistor is a much faster track than the previous, driven by this fast percussion and bassline, making for a genuinely solid exercise track of all things (I say from experience). It’s got a fun little synth solo in the middle, the vocals are pretty solid (aside from like right at the end of the last chorus, holy shit), and the song’s coda and outro are a fun little bit of controlled chaos. I’d put Resistor as one of the better tracks on the album, is what I’m saying.

I’m going to do something I haven’t done in a while when discussing music on this blog- I’m going to jump through a few things. As much as I like this album, the songs aren’t nearly interesting enough to justify a song-by-song breakdown. I think if you listen to Resistor and like it, it’s probably worth chucking on the rest of the album- it is, again, less than half an hour long. But its an album where it’s more valuable on a meta level than it is sonically.

Shinjuku Mad as an album feels a lot like a hybrid between older IDM trends and the synth/vaporwave elements that would become popularised in the 2010s. There’s also tracks like Inductor, which border on rock songs with the power behind that bassline and percussion- in general much of the instrumentation is cleaner than you’d expect from an artist like this, especially considering how muddied much of the vocals get. There is a real focus on the vocals, which as I’ve discussed is a weakness of the album, but I do think it’s possible to look past that issue. There’s some really fun synth lines, some excellent percussion, and real aesthetic. Songs like Human Wave Attack feel stark and lonely, notes echoing into the void, which ironically is not at all like Track 4, Void- with synths and vocals disguising a guitar and drum line that feels extremely garage band. As in, the concept, not the program. Singularity is a song that feels again predictive of Blank Banshee’s future work, a low, slow synth track reminiscent of BB songs like Hyper Object or Metamaterial.

There are some genuine gems on here in addition to Resistor, though. City of No Tomorrow, the eighth song, has got to be one of my favourites- somehow, despite featuring none of the instrumentation typical of the genre, it’s extremely cyberpunk, a sense of struggle and futility resonant through the track. It’s the one song on the album I listen to regularly, getting myself lost in the groove of the bass and tapping my foot along to the percussion. It’s just really good, man.

If this isn’t your first time encountering Shinjuku Mad, reading this might cause you to go back and have another listen, upon which you may notice a few somethings missing. I don’t expect that to be the case for literally anyone reading this…but I needed a segue. This is because, upon the reintegration of Shinjuku Mad and its predecessor Organic Thoughts from the Synthetic Mind into Hologram Bay’s catalogue for the 2019 reissue, two songs were cut, likely for fears of legal issues regarding sampling. The version of this album that I remember has those tracks!

Those songs are Negatives (formerly track 6) and Neon Exodus (formerly track 12). Negatives is another one that’d show up as a Blank Banshee track (in this case, Gunshots), and is actually really solid? Like it integrates a raid siren into the instrumentation without having it sound weird, out of place, or, well, alarming. Neon Exodus is…wow I just don’t know this track at all. It’s fuckin aesthetic though. Welcome to this spontaneous live-reaction, I guess. I recognize the sample this is built around (and thereby why it isn’t on the album anymore) but I cannot name it for the life of me. It’s, uh, interesting. I dunno, 6.5/10?

Anyway, part of the reason I bring this up is that before I want to close this out I have some complaining to do. Said 2019 reissue was something I tracked at the time, and noticed both SM albums were releasing on Vinyl, Cassette (because, you know, nerds), and digitally. But not CD. I threw an email at the website about it, and they did eventually respond (it genuinely took like two months though), but not in the positive. The reissue had no plans to include a CD, unlike all three previous Blank Banshee albums.

But the original 2010 version of the album, along with a few slight differences in songs and in album order, does have a CD release, albeit an extremely limited one, according to Discogs. These CDs have to exist, they’re now listed on the new Shinjuku Mad website. Apparently one sold 6 months ago through Discogs. I need to find a copy, though considering on that site 7 people list it as owned and 72 (including myself) list it as wanted, it’s probably not going to happen.

And that, ultimately, is Shinjuku Mad. It’s a very odd piece of history as far as vaporwave goes, considering it’s both a prototype and also something completely, utterly different. The album is pretty decent on its own, but not mindblowing, and something you could probably live without. There are like two tracks (three if you include Negatives) that are 100% worth it, but the rest are skippable. Which is a shame, but mediocre music has to exist somewhere, right?

That I apparently haven’t discussed Blank Banshee on this blog before (aside from when I was talking about Vaperror) is actually kind of shocking. I suppose, then, that there might be some lacking context. I probably will have to do that at some point, though I probably won’t do BB0 because I like picking the hipster options- so either BB1 or MEGA. Metamorphosis didn’t really pique my interest, and I somehow missed GAIA existing in the first place and still haven’t listened to it. So if you’re interested in seeing me ramble over some of that, I’ll see you then. I mean, it’ll still happen if you aren’t interested, but nobody’s going to make you read it.

Or am I…?

#ramble #music #electronica #vaporwave #vapourwave #shinjuku mad

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rosesgonerogue · 4 years

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Presents

Daminette December Day Twenty-Four

There were very few things in life that could reduce Damian to actual panic; he could count the number of times he’d experienced the emotion on one hand.

Now was one of those times.

By some miracle, Damian had found a girlfriend who saw him, not Damian Wayne, not Robin, not the prince of the League of Shadows, but who he was. Marinette was everything that he wasn’t, kind, sweet, optimistic.

Good at giving presents.

In fact, Marinette was the best at giving presents. Her gifts always showed that she paid attention to the receiver, remembering things that had been mentioned once in a conversation well over a year ago. She also insisted on hand-making her gifts, making them specifically tailored to the tastes and preferences of the receiver.

It was amazing when you were opening your own gift, but gut-wrenching when she was opening whatever she was given. It could and would never measure up.

But this year Damian was determined to at least try to give her something worthy of… well, her. The only question was what that would be.

So, he began his investigation, asking the opinions of various people. He started the questioning with his own family.

“For Marinette?” Dick thought for a moment. “A package of needles? Some fabric? I don’t know, something like that.”

“I believe Miss Marinette will be delighted with whatever you may choose, Master Damian,” Alfred said. “I’m sure you will find something suitable for the young lady.”

“Paris is dangerous with all of those akuma thingies running around, right? Like a taser? I would say a gun, but I think Pixie-Pop would shoot me in the foot if you gave her one,” Jason had said before punching out a garden variety thug. In hindsight, asking Jason in the middle of a job probably hadn’t been the wisest option. At the same time, he probably would have given the same advice wherever they were.

“Women always like flowers and jewelry,” Father had said dismissively, only for Selina to look at him archly.

“Yes, most women tend to like those,” she said, eyes staring into Bruce’s soul, “but we prefer things that mean something. Like her favorite flower, or something that will remind her of something you’ve done together. On that note, I’ll be looking forward to what you decide to give me for Christmas, darling.”

Tim had given the question some real thought, but just as he was opening his mouth to respond, Damian cut him off. “What am I thinking? I’m not so desperate to go to Drake for help.”

Damian was lost. He even gave in and called a few of Marinette’s closest friends for help, but they only lamented how impossible she was to shop for. He was alone, well and truly alone.

He came up with an idea. Well, it was closer to half an idea, but it was all he had to go on, so Damian went with it.

When the time came, Damian wouldn’t say that he was nervous about how the gift would be received, but that was simply because Damian Wayne would never admit to being nervous. In reality he was shaking in his boots.

“Dames!” Marinette said, rushing towards him as soon as he saw her, arms outstretched. “I missed you so much!”

Damian opened his arms, chuckling lightly. “It’s been a week, Angel.”

Firm in his embrace, Marinette pouted up at him. “That doesn’t mean I didn’t miss you.”

“And I missed you as well,” Damian said truthfully, pressing his forehead to hers. The two stood like that for a few moments before He reluctantly pulled away. “Come inside, I’d hate for you to catch a chill.”

“Oh, shall we go inside and play a rousing game of whist?” she teased. “A spot of tea while we’re at it.”

“I’ve told you before, the way I speak is not old fashioned, it’s timeless,” Damian groaned.

“Sure, sure.”

He led her into the parlor of the manor where everyone else had explicitly been banned via Alfred’s orders. They sat down, respective boxes in hand.

It only took a few moments for Marinette to thrust her box at him. “You go first, I want to make sure it fits.”

So she had made some sort of clothes for him. There really was no surprise there. She likely also had a bag entirely full of gifts she had made for his undeserving family.

He almost regretted tearing into her perfect wrapping, but he was also eager to see what she had made.

Time and experience had taught Damian to have high expectations of Marjnette’s work, but what lay inside exceeded that. An olive army jacket lay inside, doubtlessly made of the finest material and fit to his exact measurements, but upon removing it, he found that the back was embroidered in an intricate pattern he would have known anywhere.

Damian breathed in deeply. “Where… How did you…?”

Marinette smiled. “I got to visit some of my family in China, remember? I did some research while I was there.”

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Marinette and Damian had ties back to the same country. Grandfather had been a member of an ancient Chinese nomadic tribe, largely lost to history. He had shown Damian a few things he had kept through the years, simply to have some idea of his roots. On the back of the jacket, Marinette had captured the symbols perfectly, down to the exact shades of the colors they would have used. He hadn’t thought that would be possible without the dyes that literally no longer existed.

“Angel, I… I never thought I would see anything like this again,” Damian said, looking up at her. “Seriously, how?”

In truth it had involved little more than some time with Fluff, but Damian didn’t need to know that. Instead she smiled slyly. “Just remember never to underestimate women.”

“We were never in danger of me underestimating you, Angel,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to her hand. “After this, I’m afraid my gift is going to pale in comparison.”

“I’m sure I’m going to love it, whatever it is,” she said, tilting her head up. “After all, I do love the person giving the gift.”

“I wanted to get you something that you loved because it’s a genuinely good gift, not because you love me,” Damian said, presenting her with his own (inferiorly wrapped) gift.

His heart was beating a little erratically while she tore off the paper. “It’s… a book?”

“Open it and see.”

“Oh, it’s a photo album! This is so sweet! It’s too bad that we only have a handful of pictures together, but it looks like there’s plenty of room to add in!”

“Keep looking.”

Curious, Marinette flipped through a few more pages. There were more pictures as well as letters lovingly placed inside. But aside from that, many of the pages were covered in Damian’s elegant scrawl. It told the stories behind the pictures, as well as the stories that had no pictures. But as Marinette had noticed, there was a lot of room for later.

“I want this book to tell our story, a story that I don’t plan on ending any time soon. I want there to be volumes upon volumes, because you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Taglist:

@daminette-december2019 @cravethosecrazysquares @krispydefendorpolice @thesunanditsangel @sonif50 @kris-pines04 @persephonebutkore @tbehartoo @corabeth11 @caffeinetheory @drarryismylife101 @bluerosette23 @weird-pale-blonde-person @mystery-5-5 @heaven428 @thethirdwheelfriend @thetinymoonflower @interobanginyourmom @chocolate1721 @akana-sama @skyel0ve @katiegardneriscoolerthanyou

Again, I’m blaming the fever and the excessive family time. I haven’t had time to write for a hot minute, and it seems like that trend is going to continue the next few days. I love my family but I want to write.

Also, I was looking into the lore of Batman earlier, and one source told me that Ra’s was a part of a Chinese nomadic tribe. However, the more frequently cited source says that Ra’s was born somewhere in the Arabian Desert. I thought the Chinese thing sounded a little off, but China is also a LOT more diverse than we generally think it is. I’m keeping it as is for now, because the Batman lore is actually a joke. I can pretty much write what I want and there’s probably been something written to back it up.

#maribat #daminette #maridami #daminette december

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fridayfirefly · 4 years

Text

Picture Perfect Chapter Two: #Adrinette

Masterlist | AO3

By the time the Gabriel catalog came out, Marinette had almost entirely forgotten about the photoshoot. So much had happened in the past five months, that the summer photo shoot was the last thing on her mind. Marinette and the rest of her class started their first year of lycée. Marinette designed and created a whole new wardrobe for herself and created an online store after some of her designs started getting attention. Nathanial and Marc finally started dating. Yet despite all these changes, so much had stayed the same. Adrien and Marinette were still just friends. Lila was still manipulating the class with her lies, and Adrien and Marinette still had no plan on how to stop her from lying.

Marinette spent her winter break designing, and it kept her so busy that she completely missed the Gabriel catalog drop. It wasn't until she got a phone call from Adrien at five o'clock on New Year's Day that she realized that the photos from their summer shoot had been released.

The phone rang while Marinette was in the middle of hand-stitching her dress for the upcoming girl's choice Valentine's Day dance. It wasn't for another month and a half, but Marinette knew that once the new semester started, she would have no time to sew. Marinette answered her phone on the second ring, her caller ID telling her that it was Adrien who was calling. "Hey, Adrien," she greeted.

"Marinette!" Adrien exclaimed through the phone. "You haven't checked your twitter recently, have you?"

"No? Why?" Marinette was already logging on to twitter on her laptop, curious as to what had Adrien so frantic. Then she saw it: #Adrinette is trending in your area. "Oh. I'm going to call you back." Despite Adrien's protest, Marinette hung up the phone. She had some tweets to read.

It took twenty minutes of digging to find the original twitter thread that caused the catastrophe:

Marinette finally called Adrien back, half an hour after she hung up on him. He picked up on the first ring.

Marinette didn't hesitate in getting straight to the point. "What do we do about this?"

"Father already coordinated the PR Department to release a statement telling my fans to stop making inquiries into either of our personal lives. The next step is a little more complicated. Father would like for you and your family to come over for dinner so we can discuss it."

"What is there to discuss? Shouldn't we just tell everyone that we're not dating and be done with it."

Adrien hesitated. "It's complicated. I don't really approve but my Father insists that we at least discuss it."

"What is it?" asked Marinette, exasperated at the way he kept dodging around the point.

"My Father wants us to fake date," Adrien blurted out. "Which is a silly idea, I know, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"Why does he want us to fake date?" Marinette was absolutely blindsided by this development. Of all the things Adrien could have said, fake dating was at the bottom of her list of possibilities, right under her secretly being a princess and an alien invasion.

"He thinks that it would be good publicity. I tried to convince him to just forget about it, but he's insisting that he speaks to you and your parents about it."

"Okay. What time should we come over?"

Marinette quickly got herself ready for dinner, picking out a dress made of midnight blue velvet, one of her own creations, for a commission that canceled on her when she was half-way through making the dress. Marinette had been furious at first, but she channeled that rage into turning the dress into something that she could wear herself and be proud of. She finished getting ready by braiding back her hair and putting on a light coat of makeup. That was the easy part.

The harder part was informing her parents of the situation, a task that took Marinette almost twenty minutes to fully explain. From the photoshoot over the summer that they vaguely remembered signing a permission slip for, to the catalog that came out that morning, the rumors and speculation that blew up on twitter, and the invitation to the Agreste Mansion - they had a lot of ground to cover. Sabine and Tom were both concerned, primarily for their daughter's safety.

"You haven't been harassed, have you?" asked Sabine.

"I haven't checked my DM's yet," Marinette admitted. "I'm just going to turn my account to private and ignore them. I'm sure people are saying terrible things about me, but I don't really care. It doesn't bother me that they're jealous of a relationship I'm not even in."

"If you see anything that does bother you, or if anything threatens you, make sure you report it," urged Sabine.

Marinette nodded. "I will."

"Marinette, can you finish closing up the bakery while Sabine and I get ready for dinner?" asked Tom.

"Yep." Marinette made her way down to the bakery and started tidying up. She put ingredients away, took leftover bread out of the display case, wiped down tables, swept the floor. The menial tasks soothed her overstimulated brain, allowing her a few minutes to process everything that had happened in the last hour. Once she finished cleaning, Marinette got out her phone and started mindlessly scrolled through twitter as she waited for her parents to get ready. There were a lot of opinions about her and Adrien's 'relationship', some of them better than others.

"Marinette, are you ready to go?"

"Yep." Marinette glanced up from her phone. Her parents were both dressed up for the dinner - Sabine in a dark green dress that Marinette had made for her mother to wear to a wedding six months ago, Tom in a suit with a matching dark green tie. "You both look nice," Marinette complimented.

"Only because I'm wearing your creation. Gabriel Agreste had better take note of your talent before he loses you to another fashion company."

The Agreste Mansion was only two blocks away, so Marinette and her parents walked there, rather than taking a taxi. The sidewalks were icy, and Marinette was glad that she chose to wear flats over heels. Breaking her ankle on the way to break up with her fake boyfriend would be enough to push Marinette over the edge. She already wanted to hole up in her room and never come out again, as it was.

The Dupain-Cheng family was welcomed into the Agreste Mansion by Nathalie, who gave Marinette a sympathetic smile. "I'm very sorry for the trouble that social media has been causing for you and Adrien."

Marinette shrugged her sympathy away. "It's certainly giving me some trouble, but it's not the end of the world. Once we get the word out that Adrien and I aren't dating, I'm sure the public will stop obsessing over it.

Nathalie's smile turned into a frown. "I must warn you, Mister Agreste is going to try to change your mind on the matter."

"Let him try. I've already made my decision."

"I admire your conviction, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Follow me, I'll take you all to the dining room."

The first thing Marinette noticed when she entered the dining room was the worried expression on Adrien's face. The second thing she noticed was the absolute lack of expression on Gabriel Agreste's face, though that seemed to be normal for him.

"Welcome to my home, Mrs. Dupain, Mr. Cheng, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng."

"Thank you for inviting us over," said Sabine.

"Were this about anything else, I would allow the pleasantries to go on. However, this pertains to the safety of our children, so why don't we get down to business."

Sabine nodded. "From what I understand, speculation has been circling the Internet about a relationship between Marinette and Adrien, due to the nature of the photos released in the 2020 Gabriel Catalog."

"Oscar Perrin, the director of the photoshoot, paired Adrien and Marinette up to be featured in photos together. The Internet has mistaken the pictures to mean that there is something more between the two of them."

Nathalie approached the table and set a Gabriel catalog down in from of Marinette's parents before taking her own seat. Marinette glanced over at the catalog, and in all honesty, she understood where the speculation had come from. Though her crush on Adrien had faded to almost nothing at the time of the photoshoot, there was a genuine fondness in both of their expressions.

"This is fairly incriminating evidence," Sabine noted as she flipped through the catalog. "It won't matter though, not once their lack of relationship is officially confirmed by your company."

"That's the part I brought you here to discuss. I do not want to publicly discourage the rumors. If anything, I would like to encourage them."

"Why?" Sabine narrowed her eyes, a look of distrust that Marinette very rarely saw on her mother.

"There is already a lot of attention around Marinette and Adrien dating, especially from people their age, the demographic that the Gabriel brand has been targeting for the past year. If their relationship is confirmed, and Marinette start showing up with Adrien at Gabriel function and appearing in photoshoots, it would be incredible advertising for the new lines of clothes we are releasing for young adults."

"I understand your motivations for keeping them together, but why should Marinette agree. She's already receiving harassment online, and the speculation has only been around for less than a day."

"Marinette is interested in fashion design, is she not?"

All eyes turned to Marinette, who gave a small nod of her head. "I am."

"The Gabriel company does not currently offer a lot of opportunities for young designers, but that could change. Should you and Adrien be in a relationship - fake or real, whatever you decide between the two of you - you would have access to all of Gabriel's resources. I could set up an internship with one of my top designers. Additionally, as a designer, you would begin your career in the fashion world with name recognition as a former model."

Hesitantly, Marinette interrupted. "Former modeling? I thought that I wound just be fake dating Adrien. I understand that I would be going to some functions with Adrien and being seen out in public with him, but how does modeling fit into this?"

"I want you to replace Lila Rossi. She has not endeared herself to Adrien's fanbase and has been causing more trouble than she's worth within the ranks of the Gabriel brand models. I had considered replacing her for quite some time and recently terminated her contract after I found out that there have been quite a few complaints lodged against her from both designers and her fellow models."

"That's... a lot to consider." Marinette didn't want to give her answer yet, because quite honestly, she didn't know whether or not she wanted what Gabriel Agreste was offering.

"I'm not requiring you to make a decision yet. However, until you make a decision I will not engage with any of the fans making speculations about the relationship between you and Adrien. Until you make a decision, the rumors will only increase. The longer we wait to engage with the media about this, the more difficult it will be to discourage speculation afterward, should that be the route you wish to take."

"We'll be giving Marinette all the time she needs to make her decision," Sabine said, her narrowed eyes staring down Gabriel, daring him to disagree with her.

"Of course," Gabriel agreed. "I'm just making sure that Marinette knows all of the possible consequences of her decision. It isn't one to be made lightly, after all."

"Hmm," Sabine didn't let up with her interrogating gaze. Marinette had faced it only a few times before in her life, times when Marinette lied to Sabine about important things. The most recent time Marinette had faced her mother's interrogation was when she tried to hide Lila's bullying from her parents. It had worked for a few weeks until Tom walked in on Marinette sobbing over her own helplessness in the face of Lila's lies. Her parents had called a family meeting and urged Marinette to tell them what had caused her breakdown, but it wasn't until Sabine started putting pressure on Marinette that she finally admitted the truth to her parents. Of course, they would have found out eventually, no matter what. Lila made sure of that when she framed Marinette for assault and theft, getting her suspended until Adrien forced Lila to reverse her lies and reverse Marinette's suspension.

As they ate dinner, making small talk that Marinette wasn't invested in, she weighed the pros and cons of her decision. There were certainly a lot of pros: making connections in the world of fashion, getting to model again, and especially, spending more time with Adrien. However, there were cons: lying to her friends about the relationship, being harassed online, dealing with Lila when she was certain to spin a story about how Marinette 'stole' her spot as a Gabriel model.

In the end, it was Adrien who was the reason behind what she chose. He caught her eye mid-way through the dinner and shot her a hopeful smile. Marinette hadn't gotten to spend much time with Adrien that school year - he was busy with modeling and fencing and she was busy with schoolwork, making commissions, designing her own clothes, babysitting Manon, her duties as class president, and above all, her responsibilities as Ladybug. Without her crush on Adrien pushing her to spend time with him, they only ever saw each other outside of class in group settings. It would be nice to spend some one-on-one time with Adrien, with her friend.

"I've made my decision," Marinette announced as soon as the dessert plates were taken away. "I will agree to go through with the fake relationship."

"A wise decision, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. I hope that we get to know each other better as your relationship with Adrien progresses," said Gabriel Agreste as he looked Marinette in the eyes.

Though his expressionless face was slightly off-putting, Marinette maintained eye contact with Gabriel and gave him a nod of acknowledgment. "I hope so too."

"One last thing before you leave. I must make sure that you are aware that you may not tell anyone about the nature of the relationship between you and Adrien. No one may know that it is fake - not even your friends."

"I understand."

"Good. Adrien will see you and your family out the door. Until next time." Gabriel exited the room swiftly, the sound of his footsteps fading away as he left the room.

"Sorry that he can be so... aloof, sometimes. I really do look forward to this. I think that it'll be fun to get to hang out with you more." Adrien's bright, hopeful smile reassured Marinette that she made the right decision. "Do you want to get together tomorrow to figure out all the details of our fake relationship?"

Marinette nodded, her own smile tentatively forming. "Sure. Meet me at the bakery?"

Adrien nodded. "It's a date." His wink revealed that it was just a joking quip. However, the tiny part of Marinette that still harbored a crush for Adrien absolutely jumped for joy at the words she never thought she'd hear him say to her. Marinette crushed that tiny part down as best she could - the beginning of a fake relationship was not the place for her crush to reemerge.

Marinette fell into bed that night utterly exhausted by the day she had experienced. As she closed her eyes to fall asleep, she remembered one last important detail - she had forgotten to tell Tikki about everything that had transpired that day. Crap.

#miraculous ladybug #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrien Agreste #adrinette #adrienette #miraculous ladybug fic #my work

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toonstarterz · 5 years

Text

BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #165

Summer shenanigans are a staple of the manga and anime work, though how much you can expect the clichés to actually happen depends on how much effort you’re willing to put into making it a reality. Fact is, summer is never as fantastical or memorable as we’d like to dream. You only get three(in Japan) high school summers in one lifetime. But as they say, it’s who you spend it with, not what, that will stick around with you.

Chapter 165: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Enjoy My Last High School Summer Break

Hey, if Futaki wants to be a professional gamer girl (minus the bathwater), she’s gotta stay on top of the new releases.

Mother always knows. Always.

There’s a fine line between persuading and threatening, Katou. Just saying.

I can already see the (not totally implausible) jokes about Mako and Yoshida secretly meeting to hook up. Even though that’s 99% not what will happen, Mako’s vagueness is something to note. The way I see it, Mako doesn’t want Yuri to feel left out, so she’s downplaying the “fun” she’ll be having with Yoshida.

Or Nico Tanigawa are blatantly ship-teasing. Either or.

Nemo’s got a pretty sweet LINE avatar.

Even through her messages, Nemo is still passive-aggressive, like she expects Tomoko won’t listen to her unless she’s demanding in her tone, exclamation points and all. She still gots a way to go to meet Katou’s level of intimidation, however.

Summer school?

Oh, the beach.

The greyscale nature of the manga medium makes this beach look a lot prettier than it probably is. Those delightful memories involving washed-up stingrays sure doesn’t help.

I’m not entirely certain just how studious Yuri is as a student, but I imagine she’s playing up the “all work, no play” angle just to free herself from Nemo.

Nemo makes a fair point. Getting too cooped up indoors where it’s comfortable can make it difficult to study, especially when you're surrounded by distractions. A change of scenery can clear your head and make it easier to retain information.

Of course, that sort of environmental shift doesn’t work for everyone. Someone like Nemo may appreciate the summery atmosphere, but a girl like Yuri would get agitated by the heat and humidity. Having external stimuli is ideal if you’re the type who operates better when your attention is dispersed. But for those that need to be focused on a single task to complete, it can be quite difficult.

Next time on Mythbusters...

But in all seriousness, I would like to see if there have been any real-life studies on certain sounds–waves in this case–improving one’s ability to concentrate and overall performance. My amateurish theory is that a lot of that “improvement” is a result of the placebo effect, or that there are otherwise too many extraneous factors to make a clear correlation.

In that respect, I think Yuri and Nemo’s arguments are both valid.

A recent trend I’ve been noticing with Yuri is that she looks to Tomoko for validation. She acknowledges that they’re not the same, but having Tomoko back her up probably makes her feel more confident in her opinions, if for nothing more than having an equal-to-majority rule.

Of course, when Tomoko does disagree with her, that’s when Yuri has to either stubbornly stick to her guns, or honestly reassess herself. And thanks to the beauty of character development, the latter’s been happening more at a healthy pace.

OUCH.

It pains me to see Okada call out Yuri like that.

It pains me even more that you can’t really call out Okada for it, either.

Introverts are generally self-conscious about the very traits they embody, even when it’s that’s their comfort zone. Much like how an otaku will get uncomfortable when non-otakus hype them up. Sure, Okada probably meant it as a compliment when she called Yuri talkative, but it’s based on the idea that Yuri’s quiet nature was an incorrect assumption, which can feel kind of demoralizing.

It’s not an easy thing to address, and I’m curious to see how they’ll work through it going forward.

Quick, someone go update their Wiki pages!.

Reality ensues. All those amazing anime-esque summer plans can be deterred by something as simple as unreliable weather.

Although, having to make your own wave sounds kind of defeats the purpose of being there, doesn’t it, Nemo?

Now playing...”Eroge BGM” Playlist.

Set on autoplay.

I’m glad that no one’s complaining about translating this text, cause let’s get real. The amount of redraws that would take is ridiculous, especially for an unofficial translation.

If you think that I’m going to screencap every image of Yuri smiling just so we can bask in her cuteness...

You’d be absolutely correct.

Oooh man, this is arguably worse than calling out the quiet kid as “talkative”. At least during that time, it could pass as just an innocent observation. But being able to smile is one of those things they supposedly instill in you during primary school. Bringing it up like that suggests that Yuri is a child who purposely tries to hide her smiles. Again, Okada meant no harm, obviously, but if they’re going to push for an OkadaxYuri friendship, there’s going to be a lot of hoops to go through.

Tomoko may have opened her mind up more about the negative stereotypes about “normies”, but the positive stereotypes still persist. In this case, it’s the idea that her more sociable peers would enjoy school simply because they can hang out with their friends. Little did she know, that’s often not the case...

PINEAPPLE-CHAN DEVELOPMENT, BABY!

Ahem, pardon my outburst, but I’ve got a lot to say about this. We’ve known for a long time now that Okada is part of the “semi-in-crowd”, and it was easy to assume that all her socializing–going to karaoke for example–were just things she always enjoyed.

But what if it wasn’t. From what Okada’s implying, she sometimes ends up hanging out with people that she would rather not. Perhaps its a friend-of-a-friend type of struggle, where she hangs with people she doesn’t really like out of politeness for a mutual friend. And even if Okada is harboring a few dark thoughts, there’s plenty of reasons to not like going to school, as she said. As someone who’s relatively extroverted, having to work through the more solitary parts of school like studying can be especially difficult.

In short, hidden depths are great.

I can’t really blame you, Tomoko. When you secretly put people on a pedestal like that, it’s hard to acknowledge their human sides that show how they struggle with everyday problems just like anyone else. Even the most well-adjusted of people have their share of frustrations.

This was totally Nemo’s plan all along.

All these panel shots of Yuri off to the side while everyone else gallivants fills me with those paternal feelings of a father wanting their daughter to make friends. It goes against everything I know about Yuri’s character, but I guess you shouldn’t underestimate the power of moe.

This is a pretty good example of the line that separates Tomoko and Yuri. They have very similar perspectives, but it’s Tomoko’s status as an introverted extrovert that allows her to go in the ocean, while Yuri’s extroverted introvert personality lets her stay on the sidelines.

Poor Beach-kun is not having a good day.

So even the others are noticing how Tomoko is like Yuri’s social floatation device.

Another person probably would’ve taken the sentimental route, going on about “saving these precious memories” or “I want you to experience this with us”. The kind of things Yuu-chan would say.

Thing is, Tomoko would get too embarrassed saying that touching crap, so she has to go the indirect route instead. Using pseudo-logic so she doesn’t have to exaggerate her emotions (which are there, just more reserved).

Either way, it still sounds vaguely creepy coming from her.

Thankfully, it actually works here because Yuri has trouble articulating her emotions, too. Tomoko probably knows subconsciously that touching crap doesn’t work on Yuri, so it makes a great deal of sense that Yuri would be more responsive to dumb logic. Especially if it’s from her loveably dumb friend.

I can get used to Tomoko and Yuri unknowingly showing Nemo up.

Off in the distance...

“Getting tangled up in gross seaweed so you can spread your own grossness to other girls? Gross!”

Okay, so I know Tomoko is probably just genuinely startled by what's happening here, but you can’t tell me that her face doesn’t scream, “NOW’S MY CHANCE FOR A GROPIN’!”

lewd.

Okay, let’s be honest. I’ve watched enough anime to know that shots like this are easy fodder for fanservice. Conveniently transparent wet uniforms, amirite? And to be frank, I don’t think the mangakas are totally playing the innocent game. Sure, it’s not as blatantly objectifying as a lot of other series tend to do in scenes like this, but the posing of the girls and angle of the camera just seems too opportune to be anything but deliberate. Be careful when walking that fine line, Nico Tanigawa.

On a more positive note, I’m glad Tomoko’s first instinct was just to help them up. Though heaven knows she’s gonna milk this for all it’s worth back home.

Oh, Yuri and your accountability issues.

When life gives you lemons...you know the rest.

The best part about watching the crazy shenanigans you see in anime is that you can omit all the boring and troublesome real-life consequences. So yeah, accidentally getting splashed by beach water may seem fun in the moment, but the annoyance of having to wash your clothes afterward just isn’t worth it.

Sometimes, summer just won’t give you a break.

Yes. Yes, you did.

Ignoring Tomoko’s embarrassed (or lewd–it’s kind of interchangeable) expression, this is probably the most wholesome summer chapter is the series’ run. That’s not to say that the chapter is “unrealistic” in any way. Sure, the end shot of all four of them reeks of 4-girl slice-of-life moe, but it actually deconstructs it a little. Instead of a fun memory, the memory itself is decidedly bothersome and more trouble than it’s worth, but there’s a sense of enjoyment to be gained from that. As Tomoko once implied, doing stupid, embarrassing things isn’t so bad when you can share in the experience. There’s a reason for the saying, “A few years from now, we’re gonna laugh at this,” after all.

It may be Tomoko’s final summer in high school, but it will most certainly be her fondest.

#watamote #watamote review #chapter 165 #no matter how i look at it it's you guys' fault i'm not popular!#tomoko kuroki #asuka katou #yuri tamura #mako tanaka #hina nemoto #akane okada #review

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bluemoonpunch · 5 years

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Hey, any tips on getting to know yourself better or “ascending”? I’ve been into all this self love and becoming a better person trend lately but no idea of where to start. Love your work here darling, you don’t need to answer if you don’t really know how.

Well, for me personally, to love yourself is to recognize and take responsibility for how you feel and what you experience in your life, and then once you’ve done that, take that recognition of responsibility and turn it into the power and the will to serve yourself. Honor yourself by following what you feel. If you don’t like someone or something, don’t try to force yourself into it just to make someone else feel better. Obviously, don’t go out of your way to be an asshole either, but you know, balance. Be mindful and take care of yourself so that you can tell what makes you uncomfortable because it’s genuinely not a match for you, and what makes you uncomfortable because you’re afraid of it. This is actually really important because a big part of self-love for me is nurturing and promoting self-expansion on all levels. I have really bad anxiety so sometimes it’s hard for me to tell the difference between a frequency mismatch and something that I’m repelling simply because it’s beyond my current comfort level. Have to stay mindful of that and ask yourself why you feel the way you feel, and be kind enough to yourself to not shove those feelings down or rip them out, but to FEEL them, process them, and integrate them.

A big thing with stuff like that is that it’s really hard for a lot of people to integrate their negative qualities and experiences. Like really, really hard, and it’s so personal when it comes to how people actually do that, so I won’t go into what I do with that, but know it is important. It’s important to recognize negativity and to not show hatred or shame towards it within yourself and simply embrace it. If there are negative qualities that genuinely hurt you or hurt other people (such as my tendency to be a judgemental asshole with a big mouth) then recognize that as being PART of who you are and try to “spread it out.” Hard to explain, but rather than having this one giant lump of upset energy of feelings, spread it out, thin it out, and use it as a tool rather than a pure state of being. Like my asshole tendencies make me a really good person to help others analyze their own situations and issues, however, I have to THIN IT OUT. I have to be mindful to not run my mouth and tell people how to live their lives. I use my judgment but I’m careful of how I express it.

For me, that’s like the peak of self-love. It’s learning to use and appreciate negative aspects in a way where they become an asset. I’m still judgemental, I’ll still pick people and their problems apart, but I’m mindful to express it in a way that is constructive and provides guidance rather than authority so that they can come to their own conclusions based on their own perspectives. It makes me feel better about being an *~!~*ASSHOLE*~!~* because that negative quality is now something beneficial to myself and other people.

It can be a long process to go through and it takes real solid effort and dedication to keep yourself in that perspective, and there are slip-ups every now and again, but really all self-love is acceptance of your own existence, not just specific qualities, not just what you have to offer, but the whole thing. Your whole mind, body, and soul and every experience that that mind, body, and soul have produced in this lifetime.

Anonymous: I know it’ a bit random, but your site and Tumblr blog are really beautiful.

Thank you! I’m annoyingly keen on organizing web pages making things look nice and clean and easy to use, so I appreciate you noticing, lol. :)

Anonymous: I don’t really know what it is, but every time I visit your blog I get a really heavy feeling. Really “dense”, too. Thoughts? Your posts are curious, yet I can only read through one page until I have to take a “break”

Hmm, interesting. I don’t know what that would be exactly other than a negative response to the frequency of the activations that in some of the readings, but for sure if something makes you feel like that you shouldn’t partake in it. Even with people that I watch on YouTube religiously, if there’s ever a video that just doesn’t feel right to me or I know it’s coming from a different wavelength that I’m just not on yet, I’ll turn it off and go back to it down the line, or sometimes not at all as I feel that it just wasn’t meant for me.

@liannie93 Hi, idk if you’ll see this or even answer it but I want to say that I really fucking admire you and what you’re doing with your blog and how strong of a person you are. You might find it hard to view yourself that way but it’s the honest truth, you’re amazing. Even though you don’t put many personal details out there, the things you’ve said really made me empathize with you because I’ve had similar experiences and have PTSD and other mental illnesses that I deal with, I’m really proud of you 💕

Thank you so much! :)

@liannie93 Hey, so I’ve been doing research on spirit guides/guides recently and read your post on them in the faq but I’m pretty sure that I actually don’t have spirit guides and just guides? Especially since you said that I was mostly getting guidance from my higher self instead of my guides and that they were taking a step back so barely any cards came out? I don’t know for sure though, it’s just a feeling and if I do only have guides I don’t know how many or how to find out?

Yeah, people have a lot of different kinds of influences and “helpers” that guide them and push them along. Some people have very, very strong influences from ancestors, but don’t seem to have set Guides in place for purpose work, or they’ll have Guides but they won’t have any soul connections with Spirit Guides or ancestors. It all depends really, what you chose, what was necessary, and what/who volunteered to help you out is all a factor, and when it comes to origins and all of that, that can dictate what kind of guidance you have with you and how they actually go about helping you.

The only way I know to actually find that stuff out is through channeling and meditation. You can use guided meditations, but for something like that it may be better to do a meditation on your own, just make sure to clear your energy and put up energy blocks, set the intention that only your guides and positive influences with good intentions can enter that space while you are trying to connect with them.

#sipinha #self love #guides #spirit guides #meditation

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skygemspeaks · 6 years

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submitted by @rosejen8675

So, I have a story idea for My Hero Academia that I’ve been wanting to bounce off of someone for a while now. You always seem pretty cool in asks and have a lot of fun AU’s, so I’d thought I’d ask you.

Izuku has gotten pretty used to people dismissing his quirk ramblings by the time he’s a pre-teen. Then one day he comes across a video online of someone talking about a hero’s quirk and sort of picking it apart, just like he does every day. He sees that the video has gotten a good amount of views and positive feedback, and it bolsters him to know that people out there do like to talk about this stuff. He notices something a bit off about one of the observations the person makes though, and feels bold enough to leave a comment about it. The person messages him back saying that the Izuku actually had a really good point, and that maybe he should make a video about it himself. And Izuku becomes inspired to do just that.

His first videos aren’t great, mainly just recordings of his usual mutterings. Some comments are mean about it, but a few provide constructive criticism about how he could make the videos better and make his point better understood. Izuku starts putting more planning into the videos, doing a bit of research and actually writing out scripts for himself, and they start to get better. A couple episodes get recognized by older and more popular channels, and that causes Izuku’s channel to become more well known.

Izuku is thrilled to have people who actually approve of his hobby, even if he’s never actually met them. He starts to recognize certain regulars, especially ones that leave comments that lead to discussions among the viewers and himself. Some people leave mean comments of course, but they never really say anything worse than Kacchan already does.

After his channel gains a certain amount of notoriety, people start to leave comments asking about his own quirk. He’s analyzed so many others, what does he have to say about his own? Izuku doesn’t want to tell them he is quirkless, because he’s afraid that they will take him less seriously or stop watching all together if they know, just like most everyone else has done. He doesn’t feel comfortable just ignoring it though.

One day when he’s having lunch his glass does that thing where water condenses in just the right way at the base of a glass that it starts sliding on it’s own, and he gets an idea. He can make people think he has a quirk. He’s mentioned in previous videos what type of quirks his parents had, so people would believe he has some kind of telekinesis. He practices enough that he figures out how to get the glass to slide when he wants it to, and during his next video he sets it up to slide toward his hand part way through. He acts super casual about it, and lets people think what they will.

People end up taking the bait. Izuku feels a bit guilty for the deception, but tells himself he’s not outright lying. One person comments it’s a shame he didn’t inherit his dad’s fire-based quirk, and suddenly Izuku is getting ideas. Could he find a way to make it look like he had? Would people believe it if he did? There’s only one way to find out.

After some research into sleight of hand and stage magic, Izuku is able to make it look like’s he’s accidentally coughing up smoke in one of his videos. People start debating in the comments about which is his real quirk and whether or not he could have inherited both. From there it starts to escalate. Izuku becomes curious to see how far he can push this. He keeps coming up with new quirks he could have and different ways to imply he has them. People start getting really into it. Entire threads are created trying to piece together the mystery Izuku is presenting them with. Some argue that he has an analysis quirk that he’s been using the whole time, and that he’s doing this to tease them for not realizing it. Others say he definitely has one of those quirks, and he’s challenging them to figure out which one it is. Some say he has an illusion quirk. Only a very small number put out that he might be quirkless and messing with them all.

Even with all the fake quirk shenanigans, Izuku makes sure that his video’s analysis content is still top notch. Because of this, a few students at UA end up showing one of videos to their teachers. Then some of the teachers start watching episodes that sound relevant to the topic they covering, and telling the students about it. At one point Present Mic mentions a video of Izuku’s in response to a caller question, and Izuku proceeds to lose his mind over that endorsement for a week.

In the grand scheme of things, this AU changes little. Izuku still ends up getting attacked by a sludge villain and meeting All Might. He still inherits One for All, and most of the events at school and with the League of Villains fold out in the same way. The difference is made in little things. Izuku becomes a bit more confident before UA, at least when it comes to his ability to analyze and make plans. Certain teachers recognize him during the entrance exam, and are delighted that they now know what Izuku’s ‘real’ quirk is. A number of the 1-A students recognize him, tell him how fun or useful they found his videos, and ask if he’ll give them advice later. Even some older students come up and tell him that such and such episode gave them new ideas on how to use their quirks in combat.

At the end of the day it’s not a huge difference, but all of them combined make a world of difference to Izuku.

So what do you think? I’d really like to get a more polished version down at some point, because I like the idea a lot. I do kind of worry about the whole ‘pretending to have different quirks in his videos’ part. Do you think that’s too out of character for Izuku?

I’d appreciate any feedback you could give. Thank you!

AhhhH????? I would read 100k of this!! It’s super interesting, and I do like the idea of him teasing his viewers about what quirk he has. It’s a fun, harmless little thing, and if I know the internet, it would ABSOLUTELY help bring in the views lmao.

I’m super interested to see how this would affect canon though, in small but noticeable ways, how the people in his life see him.

All Might, who’s seen a couple of his vids (because at this point, who HASN’T?) despite being technologically illiterate. He’s always had a fondness for the boy who does such great quirk analyses, at the easy confidence he seems to portray in his audience, the kindness that shines through, the mischievousness, the resourcefulness in making it seem like he has all these different quirks. And then he meets Izuku, and he feels his heart break for him, and he’s amazed that even with the online fame, this boy is so genuinely modest.

There’s Aizawa, who watches all of Izuku’s videos, because having in depth knowledge of all kinds of quirks is especially important for a hero who doesn’t have a physical enhancement quirk of his own, a hero whose true strength lies in his mind. When Izuku is put into his class, Aizawa doesn’t immediately dismiss him. He knows the kid has the brains to be a truly amazing hero, and maybe now is the time for Aizawa to repay him for all the help he’s received from his videos in the past.

Imagine the sports festival - the name of his channel trending on twitter as people freak out about how the winner of the obstacle race is actually this famous youtube personality? Imagine the chaos, especially if he didn’t tell any of them that he entered UA. Or maybe he told them he entered, but didn’t specify which department

(because that seems to be Izuku’s theme these days. Now in addition to what quirk he has, people are arguing over whether or not he’s in the hero department.

“Of course he’s in heroics! He’s mentioned before how much he’s wanted to be in a hero since he was a child, you morons.”

“Just because he wants to be one doesn’t mean it’s possible for him though. He obviously has an analysis type quirk, so he’s gotta be in support or management.”)

Imagine people finally getting CLOSURE as they find out what his quirk actually is, and isn’t it so cheeky of him that the quirk he was “born with” was the one quirk he never teased in any of his videos.

He makes a sheepish apology video afterwards for nearly scaring his audience to death in his match against Todoroki, and he quietly makes his disapproval known when his fans start commenting about how that Bakugou kid is so villainous and shouldn’t have won the tournament.

Dear god, imagine the Stain incident! People seeing our boy almost carried off by a Noumu.

And once people know he’s in heroics, imagine his fans begging him to upload vlogs, the day in the life of a ua hero student. At first he refuses to, because he thinks his teachers would disapprove, but after UA’s reputation takes a hit with all the villain attacks, Izuku suggests the idea to Nedzu, to help show people that UA really is doing its all to help.

Imagine him giving a tour of class a’s dorm building, and getting ready for the cultural festival!

Imagine him meeting Gentle, and La Brava is lowkey salty about how many more views he has than them, but Gentle is quietly freaking out because he’s been a fan of Izuku’s channel since forever now???

Ahh, sorry for getting so carried away my dear, but this idea is just too good for me to leave alone!! I would definitely love to read this if you decide to continue it. And if you want to talk to me about it more, please feel free. It’s such a fun verse to play in and I’d love to help contribute to it :)

#bnha #boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #youtube au #rosejen8675 submits #bnha submit #submission #long post #raw fic

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spilledreality · 5 years

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"New Fiction is Psychic Occupation” is generally warm piece on this trend in contemporary autofiction (Knausgaard, Ferrante, Lin, Kraus, Ben Lerner, Maggie Nelson) of really letting the reader occupy a certain psychic filter. Mark de Silva "Past Resistance" notices a similar pattern but calls it "Facebook Fiction" belittlingly. Here's de Silva making the case against types like Knausgaard:

Here are a few platitudes about memory. It’s subjective. It’s plastic. It’s often self-servingly selective, when it’s not simply fiction. Naturally, memoir, by which I mean that recounting of a human life in which protagonist and author are one, can’t help but inherit these liabilities. They once would have counted as such, anyway. In many quarters—in humanities departments, for some time now, and more recently and troublingly, in American politics and popular culture—acknowledging the frailty of memory and narrative history, whether personal or collective, seems to have brought with it a kind of relief from the age-old demands for objectivity (or even intersubjectivity). In many spheres of life, and especially online, we are now asked to admit to the looseness of memory’s grip, and the tallness of every tale. It’s what authenticity and honesty require, we are told: a frank reckoning with human finitude. But the news isn’t all bad (or is it?). For we are also invited to celebrate a newfound power over our pasts, and our presents too, through a curious form of autonomy that would have come as a surprise to a philosopher like Immanuel Kant: freedom from the tyranny of fact. Subjectivity, partiality, the fragment and the shard have all become refuges from the fraught, anxiety-making project of assembling wholes.

As a novelist, I have watched closely and with some dismay as this phenomenon has manifested in literary circles. Lately, mainstream critics and readers appear besotted by a shrunken, self-pitying strain of autobiographical fiction, one you could call with some fairness Facebook fiction, to distinguish it from the far thornier versions of the past, like Jacques Roubaud’s The Great Fire Of London, the first book in a notoriously vexing six-volume cycle of memoirs. Novels by Geoff Dyer, Sheila Heti, Ben Lerner and Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose own memoir cycle, My Struggle, might be usefully compared to Roubaud’s, if only to measure the diminution in ambition, seem premised on the notion that if it is our fate to embroider and even fabricate our pasts, insulating our preferred identities from the sharp edges of actuality, we ought to openly acknowledge our fraudulence and fantasize with purpose, even panache. (The current White House has taken note.)

For my part, I’ve never found this particular conscription of the imagination, whether in literature, electoral politics, or daily life, especially appealing. Some liberties aren’t worth taking. Reading these authors, one feels that if they had more conviction, they would exercise their imaginations properly in the invention of characters, plots, and settings, without simply lifting them from their own lives; or else they would get down to the painstaking work of research and corroboration that’s involved in any plausible (authentic, if you like) history, including autobiography. Instead, they’ve settled on a middling path, both creatively (why struggle to invent from whole cloth, when you can just use your life, your memories to fill in your novel?) and intellectually (why sift and weigh the facts when you can just make up what suits the tale you you’d like to tell, the person you’d like to be, whenever reality doesn’t oblige?).

This fall, I’ve been examining problems for the autobiographical self in our research seminar here at the University of Tulsa. I’ve also been teaching a course in the philosophy of art at Oklahoma State University. The combination has been revelatory. My aesthetics course has me thinking that the deepest difficulty attending the autobiographical self is one that afflicts art too: sentimentality. Nostalgia, its most obvious form, is hardly the end of it. For the tint of the glasses needn’t be rose. The red of self-lacerating shame, say, or of righteous indignation, will do just as well. As will the gray of ironic ennui.

Do just as well for what, though? Evasion—frequently of the self- variety. This, I think, is what binds the various forms of sentimentality together: the desire to feel a certain way about oneself or the world perverts the desire to know. Fantasy comes first. Yes, memory is malleable and subject to all sorts of failings, no one can seriously deny this, and no one should want to. But why treat these banal faults as insuperable, a limiting horizon of our humanness? When it comes to memory and personal testimony, we nearly always have some form of corroborating evidence to aid us—written records, videotape, artifacts of various sorts, and of course other people’s memories—which we can check our memories against, if we genuinely interested in the truth.

Now, the significance of events may be impossible to settle definitively, no matter how much checking and rechecking we do. But this fault cannot be accounted a failure of memory or narrative; it’s simply a consequence of events almost always being able to bear multiple interpretations. That lends no credence to the more extreme claims we now hear, for instance, that all narrative or memoir is really fiction. This claim is of just the same order as that all news is really fake, even if the people making these two assertions tend to belong to different political parties.

So here’s my provisional conclusion: rather than any intrinsic limitation on the faculty of memory or the practice of storytelling, it is sentimentality—ginned-up outrage at political goings-on that barely touch our lives, say, or tender melancholia about what America used to be like—that stands in the way good autobiography, good politics, and good fiction. That sounds like something we can work on, though, if not exactly master. Nothing like fate.

By way of mediation:

੪: Adding Dyer and Heti to the pack is sharp. "Facebook Fiction" seems more like Megan Boyle's Live Blog than someone like Ben Lerner, who is maintaining a serious ironic distance from his actual lived experience. My reading of 10:04 is that it's as many parts science fiction, poetry, and criticism as it is memoir. But the line that really loses me is:

Reading these authors one feels that if they had more conviction, they would exercise their imaginations properly in the invention of characters, plots, and settings, without simply lifting from their own lives.

It's a deontological appeal to work ethic that falsely equates proper procedure (or traditional conception thereof) with successful results. It seems like a mistake to think of art this way, where technique and materials are given values in themselves outside of their efficacy in imposing themselves on (& providing value to) the reader. Anyway, it seems like he allows that fiction-as-subjective-lived-experience can be valuable as an art form if it's done without sentimentality, so maybe the real point of contention is over how much sentimentality is in the air and how/why/the extent to which sentimentality hinders.

The phenomenology of consciousness isn't captured in this approach to writing, I think I agree, and also that it's troubling so many have taken a literary enterprise at face value. I think it probably speaks to the neutering of critical discourse.

I guess what I'm saying is perhaps there's a way the takes aren't mutually exclusive? Something like, “memory and writing are highly lossy, flawed forms of preserving and disseminating subjectivity, and should be treated skeptically/critically as such — but they're also probably the best we've got, and constitute a central reason why literature is still healthy despite major technological change” (compare the visual arts world, which is in a total mess).

I was messaging with a friend today about how I felt like one of the main benefits of experimenting with drugs was getting a glimpse into an alternate brain state, the experienced possibility of another way of being. This might even be part of the mechanism that makes LSD and ketamine such successful antidepressants: a glimpse, via serotonin or mu-opioid distortions, of a world packed with meaning and significance, helping disrupt the depression's feedback loops.

I wanna quote Brian Evenson here again because he made the same case I would before I did: for me [such fiction] is successful to the degree to which it allows readers to undergo an experience outside their immediate realm of possibility, and to the degree to which that second-level experience in turn functions in relation to the first-level experience that we think of as living. That’s not the same thing as a meaning. Nor does it have much in common with information or figuring out a puzzle. Rather, it is a form of affect intensively conveyed by utterance. […] Fiction is exceptionally good at providing models for consciousness, and at putting readers in a position to take upon themselves the structure of another consciousness for a short while. It is better at this than any other genre or media, and can do it in any number of modes (realistic or metafictional, reliably or unreliably, representationally or metafictionally, etc.).

#mark de silva #karl ove knausgaard #maggie nelson #ben lerner #brian evenson

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greyliliy · 6 years

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You also have a tendency to write Katsuki as a deer in the headlights or suffer emotion induced paralysis/stupidity/recklessness which works for your plots. Usually by the time that comes up you have written him into a state where that response is believable. Path to Villainy/early Villainy featured glimmers of intelligent, competent and cautious Katsuki, but recent stories and updates he seems to have lost his brain which is a shame because his intelligence would make him more of a challenge-

- for your villain Izukus. Canonically his emotional immaturity does compromise his intelligence and in One exception there is very good reason why he’s compromised, so I see why you write him like you do.

However, is it because you do see him a little stupid that you tend him write him this way, or is having two intellects/tactians against each other difficult to write that you need to nerf one or is it just so he is vulnerable in a way that Izuku can win.

I hope this is not read as me getting at you. I am more curious about your process as a writer and challenges when writing the plots and characters as well as this emerging trend. Is it so you can keep the stories reasonably short? Is it because you don’t see the character as intelligent or is it just how you characterize Villain Izuku is so much smarter or his will so much greater that Katsuki’s comparative intelligence is barely a factor.

I am asking because I think your a greater writer and care about your thoughts but if this upsets you and you don’t want to answer, that is perfectly reasonable and I’ll apologize in advance.

[I only jumped in your ask box because you showed self awareness about Izuku and this trend with Katsuki is something I noticed in your stories and was interested in but I don’t want to put something that looks negative in your comments so I just leave kudos in AO3.]

Yo! Oh man. I saw this an hour ago and was upset I wasn’t someplace I could answer. I love attention and I could ramble about my fanfiction and the headcanons behind it all day if you let me (If any of you want to hit me up on Skype or Discord to talk fic meta I’m here. Just sayin’). Ha ha. So this was awesome to see and I’m gonna’ just drop an essay in your lap because I can. :D

My next thought was “Ah yes. That lovely thing happened where what an author intends doesn’t always make it to the page, which is why for all my original writing I try to have a beta reader” followed immediately by “This is karmic retribution for giving Harry such a hard time in his fifth book when I read it with absolutely zero thought or awareness given to his mental state.”

It’s my turn on the other side. Ha ha ha. XD Anyway this is a super long post so I’m just gonna smack a cut right here~

I guess I’ll start with saying that fanfiction is a fun, self-indulgent thing for me so I am very guilty of exaggerating traits of characters that I like.

In the case of Izuku, I make him way thirstier for Katsuki than he actually is (for rule of funny & shipping purposes) and I like to play with his more selfish/greedy side such as Izuku specifically wanting to be the star hero that people look up to to make them smile/feel better/cheer, even if it was unreasonable because he was Quirkless etc. vs Just Helping People However He Can, even if it’s not in the limelight.

This sort of leads to writing an Izuku that wants Katsuki to see him specifically. A “I worked hard for this and became someone amazing so he should notice me.” attitude.

(I’m not saying this is a bad thing. Wanting to be a public role model & person people look up to is natural. But there is a fine line between genuinely wanting to help people, and wanting to do it for the fame & spotlight. Which is a much longer discussion. Canon Izuku is genuinely empathetic and cares about people and he’s definitely a Hero, but he’s also selfish, angry, and reckless and I like highlighting that second part of his character because it often gets ignored.)

Whereas for Katsuki, I like exaggerating his general lack of social awareness (he has a bad habit of not paying attention to the people around him; like not learning their names or not knowing his classmates Quirks at the Sports Festival), his misunderstandings of others due to his pride and his general insecurities (The entire “Deku was looking down on me” thing), and I like to headcanon a little bit of self-hatred and denial (Less in canon and more things I like to explore as ‘what-ifs’). Etc.

I also am very guilty of exaggerating how much he picked on Deku in middle school. In the canon, I honestly don’t think it was that bad. I think there was the one time he beat up Deku when they were tiny, and then the rest of it was a lot of Katsuki ignoring Izuku. Their interactions in the first episode seem like a special case due to Izuku being an open threat to Katsuki’s future (He was scared enough Izuku might actually make it in and ruin his “I’m the only one who got in” that he didn’t want him to even try). He was threatened and lashed out with harsh words that even his friends thought were “too much.”

But I admittedly like violent characters, so I tend to exaggerate Katsuki’s physical side. Heh.

However, one thing that I’ve never seen him as is stupid. Ignorant at times? Sure. But stupid? Never.

In fact, I had to laugh because I end up writing a lot of his “Deer in the headlight/Panic” moments very specifically because I think he’s a smart guy.

I like to write Katsuki as someone who does not understand & can’t wrap his head around why Izuku would like him. Katsuki remembers Middle School too and this “I totally forgave you the second you finished beating me up” just doesn’t make sense to him. Izuku is dropping Unconditional Love in his lap and he’s like “What is this? Who does that?”

Because I also like to headcanon that Katsuki is in constant denial that he likes Izuku. Because if he admits that, he has to admit to all the things he admires about Izuku that makes him special which leads to Katsuki admitting that Izuku is heroic in nature and kind and all the things he wants to be, which leads him down the jealousy/angry/frustrated route of insecurity so he just covers it up with “I hate him” - when it reality it’s a “I hate that I don’t hate him” if that makes any sense.

(Long story short, I like Katsuki as an emotional mess that doesn’t know what he wants or how to deal with himself which often leads to him making bad choices, whether it’s punching Izuku in the face or just flat out avoiding him.)

However, I can’t really think of anything I’ve written so far that makes Katsuki seem ignorant or stupid? Which makes me wonder what I missed.

I’ve tried very hard to keep most of his bad decisions be due to being overemotional and not thinking things through clearly. I wouldn’t call someone stupid or dumb for making rash decisions while they’re angry or upset. Heh.

OH. Or like. The latest chapter in Villainy. I’ve gotten a lot of comments that read along the lines of “Why was Katsuki so stupid to walk into a trap?” which confused me because I actually put in the effort this time around to set all that up.

(Spoilers for Villainy now if you haven’t read it. Also it’s a little long on the “This is why I did stuff” front…)

I’ve been planning Toga’s attack on Katsuki since Chapter 3. In chapter eight I made sure to add in a line that he’s got Mrs. Midoriya’s phone number in case she needs anything while his parents are out of Town. Katsuki was prepared to get a phone call or text from her asking for his help.

Toga saw that text exchange which is why she made her plan to Text Katsuki pretending to be Deku’s mom.

Why would Katsuki question that she needs a bookshelf put together? She’s a small, single woman and probably doesn’t have anyone else to call. Katsuki has no reason to think twice about it.

As for why he didn’t react to seeing “Izuku” there, one of the reasons Katsuki’s dreams have been such a big deal is because I wanted to highlight his mental state after Path to Villainy - he’s not in a good way. He is still seriously anxious and disturbed after watching Izuku try to kill Kirishima. Kirishima almost died. And he’s upset because he liked Izuku the entire time.

“Villainy” Katsuki has had a crush on Izuku since they were little and he feels guilty about it because of his behavior. He got a kick out of roughing Izuku up and he feels bad about it. He doesn’t think Izuku would want anything to do with him and then he finds out it’s the opposite so then he’s just guilty and confused and “I still like the guy who tried to murder my best friend” messed up.

Second, his dreams having been getting worse. Those dreams where I fooled the readers into thinking it was real? Did that on purpose. Because Katsuki’s having a hard time realizing when he’s in a dream at first, too. That’s why he’s been having intrusive Dream thoughts, too. Just to help blur that line a little.

I also made sure that only Dream!Izuku calls Katsuki “Katsuki” so that when Toga did it, he’d question whether he was awake or not.

Toga calling Katsuki “Stupid” was a callback to when she said “He’s not too bright is he?” at the theme park, and because she isn’t aware of Katsuki’s own internal issues or about all his “Make out with Deku” nightmares, she just thinks it’s dumb he’d make out with a guy who’s been trying to kidnap him.

Anyway, long story short, I don’t see anything Katsuki did in that situation as “Dumb” aside from maybe going by himself. Which is less “stupid” and more exactly the reason he gave in the text itself with a “I need some time alone doing something mindless like putting together a shelf” to get his thoughts together.

(End spoilers)

I hope that wasn’t too long. But I really can’t think of any other moments where he’s been particularly unintelligent?

I mean, there were a few moments were I exaggerated his social awkwardness for laughs (Like in One Exception, I’m pretty sure Canon!Katsuki would pick up that Kirishima was trying to play nice and be friends–like he did in Path to Villainy–but that story was so dark, I needed a little humor to balance it out), or had him act rashly from time to time for drama’s sake.

I guess overall I just sort of feel like Izuku and Katsuki are weak points for each other, so when they get involved they tend to act more recklessly and emotionally than they would in other situations, which I guess may come across as unintelligent as they make Bad Life Choices? XD

Anyway, I’m not sure if that answered your question or not but I’ve rambled enough. Ha ha.

Thanks for the asks!! :D

#Ask Liliy #This was long. XD #BakuDeku #Gotta' love them.#Liliy Fanfic

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smokeybrand · 3 years

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The Curious Case of Billie Eilish and Cultural Appropriation or Bad Guy

Billie Eilish be cultural appropriating? How? The baggy clothes? The way she speaks? I'm genuinely curious. I have a passing interest in her as an artist so i don't really pay all that much attention to her career. Is she really that bad cats have taken notice? Like, Bad Guy is an ear worm. That's as far as I've really gotten into her catalog. I'm a thirty-seven year old Black dude. She got nothing for me outside of dope beats. My kid sister feels the same. She’s Desi and tells me that she hasn’t seen Eilish crib anything from the Indians and I'm inclined to agree. I think it's a little more obvious when people crib Desi culture, though. They have a very distinct aesthetic that is hard to steal with aplomb. You know that sh*t when you see and Billie don’t match that look at all. Black culture IS American culture. The US is a hodge-podge of different races and ethnicity but we, as Black folks, are too dope not to rise to the top. Like the cream! The cream of the crop, he says in a Macho Man vice. Oh Yeah! Everything dope about the US can be traced back to Black people. Slang, fashion, music, and even food; All of the dopest sh*t is directly tied to Black folks. By the time Billie was old enough to even understand music, Black culture had shattered US borders and conquered the world. From the sneaker game in Japan to the objective influence of RnB in K-Pop, to the aggressive adoption of Basketball in Germany, and so much more, Black culture dominates everything.

We set the trends now and Billie has been swathed in that since she was literally born. Chick is a Zoomer so, instead of having to watch my people's shine creep in incrementally like generations before, that sh*t is objectively indistinguishable from other, less dominate, truer to her, heritages. Billie never had to see the indecency cases for Luke and 2 Live Crew growing up or the the villainizaton of street culture. She didn't have to watch the fight for legitimizing hip hop in the Eighties or the abject anger and cynicism of rap in the Nineties. She doesn’t know how Black kids were used as bogeymen for suburbia by unscrupulous politicians for wearing baggy clothes, sagging our pants, and wearing our natural hair. She doesn’t know the very real blood, seat, and tears my people shed to be heard, to be seen, to be acknowledge. She doesn’t know the long road that came before. All she knows are the a victory laps of the Aughts and the introspection of the Tens. She doesn't know that Vanilla Ice was a joke and, until Em came through doing his thing, that White kids were straight up dismissed as rappers. Now, we got cats like Lil' Pump and MGK straight stinking up the joint. She doesn't know that Black Panther was preceded by Black Man or Meteor man, she just knows that Chadwick Boseman was dope and it's sad he passed away. All of that is academic to her like the toll of WWII or the veracity of the first Civil Rights movement to me. I can’t understand any of that on a practical level because didn’t live any of it.

Billie doesn’t know the history of my culture and it’s fight to be seen as not a threat, but pure expression, and i think that’s kind of a beautiful thing. I don't think kids Billie's age can actively appropriate Black culture because it's the only culture they know. Black culture has been pop culture longer than she’s been alive. She's apparently stated that Hip Hop is her favorite genre of music and her biggest inspiration. The fact that this upper middle class White girl just naturally accepts my people’s art so effortlessly, notes that it’s her favorite music, and pays credit to the Black artists whom inspire her whenever she can, is f*cking dope to me. She doesn’t think of us as thugs or criminals. Our music isn’t the anthem of the violent urban menace anymore. Eilish actually is pretty outspoken about race relations in the US. She was blowing up Trump whenever she could and making her voice heard during the second Civil Rights movement last summer. Chick ain’t wearing us as a gimmick to cash in like Elvis or Miley and is never overtly disrespectful like Shane Dawson or Rachel Dolezel. This chick not only loves our culture and respects the f*ck out of it but loves US as a people. It’s weird that cats think this chick has ill intent with the way she manifest what is effectively her culture, too. That tells you right there where her heart is. This doesn’t feel like appropriation to me. It doesn’t have that malevolence to it. This feels like genuine appreciation and i think we should recognize that.

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themidnightcircusshow · 4 years

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Hello :) for the Brutal Honesty Ask. Feel free to ignore any you don't want to answer! P, R, T, U, W. Have a good night!

P - What kind of music I like. I have extremely eclectic tastes when it comes to music. I will say I’m particularly fond of Southern Gothic and Symphonic Metal, but really there is no way to predict if I will or will not like a piece of music. Whether I’ll say it’s good is a whole other story lol

R - For me to tell 10 of my curiosities.

So you said to interpret this as either things I’m curious about or curious quirks I have so five of the first:

History, in particular the lives of interesting people. Julius Caesar, Henry V, I’d actually put in Dean Stockwell because a huge part of why I’m so interested in him is how you can trace so much of American pop culture back to him. It’s like 20th century 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon Trends in pop culture Random historical trivia (gosh I miss Cracked) Tracing connections between things (like intertextuality in art, or how a book can reference something in real life that was also related to something else etc etc) I’ve recently gotten really into cake decorating videos. Finding out how some designs are done is great

And five curious habits I have:

I mean, you know this one, and I think anyone who reads this blog regularly has figured it out, but I cannot swear. There is a genuine mental road block. I can think it, and I can copy and paste it, but unless I really talk myself up to it I just can’t swear. It’s something that I acquired due to my extremely conservative upbringing, which is hilarious because as I’ve gotten older I’ve noticed my parents swear quite a lot (or at least more than me). I enjoy eating ice, a lot more than regular people. If I got too long without eating it, I get a craving. If it’s a small amount, I count in Spanish. Unfortunately, I then have to translate it which is basically me just recounting. I often fidget by doing trumpet scales with my right hand I can’t eat with a knife and fork at the same time because I find it so difficult to do different tasks with each hand

T - 5 things I love unconditionally.

Uhhhhh... I don’t think I have any? For me loving something unconditionally implies a lot that I don’t think anything can live up to. Fiction I’m a big believer of acknowledging its faults no matter how important it is to me, food and physical items are super susceptible to error, and with people I’ve always believed you can love someone without liking them. I continue to love things regardless of this though, if that is what loving something unconditionally is? I don’t know, that’s quite a loaded term for me. Or I’m just pessimistic right now.

U - How many texts I send daily.

(Is this because I sent you over 50 texts yesterday). Depends. I can go days without sending a text, and sometimes I can send up to 100. It depends who I’m talking to and what I’m talking about

W - An idol.

Again, idol is a very loaded term. For someone who I genuinely look up to, both on a personal and professional level, I’m going to say Wentworth Miller (I have a dream... and it’s to one day write a tv series with him...)

#shadowedsnowglobes #Asked and Answered

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semi-sketchy · 6 years

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Sassy I'm a bit curious but feel free not to answer this question if you don't want too. Why do you think the webkinz fandom is so bad lately. I've probably had my head in the ground the whole time because I haven't seen anything that bad recently. I have seen bad things before on kinztube and kinztagram but what part of it recently is so bad. I'm only asking this to get a new perspective not to tell you you're wrong. you've known this community longer than I have.

Don’t worry, I understand what you’re saying. Curiosity and wanting to learn is a great thing and I’m always happy to help, so hopefully I can explain this well.

The Webkinz fandom isn’t just bad lately; it’s been for awhile. I touched on it slightly here, but I’ll go more in depth below.

I guess the simple TL;DR is that I have never seen a community more willing to put someone under the chopping block to “spread awareness” or simply to engage in callout culture. (I’ve reblogged a few things on callout culture if you wanna read them.) Now for the actual part that’s long.

WAIT. I said I understood and I didn’t. I thought you were asking just what’s wrong with the community and not just recent drama. I’ve already spent over an hour typing all this and only caught that proofreading it. It still stands for today, but recently, since I’ve basically said “bye not dealing with you” to everyone, I haven’t really seen any drama. I don’t watch KinzTube anymore, I don’t follow members of the community, so I’m not really the best one for this. It’s really past experiences that set my opinions, although from what I’ve heard, it hasn’t gotten better. Alright, back to the post, carry on.

Being on KinzTube 8 years, I’ve seen a lot of things. Trends, secrets, scandals, but I took it as normal. I figured “every fandom is this bad. This is normal” until I saw it wasn’t.

I’ve seen people go on about Starrystar33 saying how she was a mean person and no one should have looked up to her, their main point being that she said “please don’t use my name” even though that’s just the thing nearly everyone said back in 2010. People used to get very defensive and angry back in 2007 and 2008 when someone wanted to be queen or king of a Webkinz (for real though, people stopped caring in ‘09 and this isn’t a thing anymore. Everyone making rants like it’s still a thing…no. No one has cared about it in a decade.) I used to see videos saying “block this person!!” although now it’s gotten a lot dirtier.

See, the Webkinz community has stepped aside from yelling “Billy hurt me!!” and has turned instead to “I wish I could give you my pain just for one moment. Not to hurt you, but to make you understand how much you hurt me~ ♥” And people praise them. Praise them for posting an “inspirational quote” and “keeping drama out of this” when really, the person is going to read it. Their friends will show them. It will hurt like the dickens. And because the original poster is so highly praised, they’ll keep doing it. The fallout is public and everyone knows who the post is about, but because there’s no names mentioned, it’s taken as acceptable and keeping things “drama free” when really it’s just a dirty trick to hurt people. It gets even worse when someone asks “what’s this about?” and they answer “I’ll message you” and the talking behind others backs happen. It spreads from person to person in private as it travels through friend groups. Everyone slowly gets turned against the other party because it’s a lot easier to trust gossip from a friend and have it taint your views.

To someone on the outside that’s not tuned in, it looks harmless, but pay attention to the subtle details and you’ll begin to notice a pattern. To eat my own words a bit here, there was a video made about me awhile ago. I think it’s been taken down, but the user and I had a spat. My friend sent me the video saying “look what they did.” It was a video where a Webkinz that represented them pushed through the crowds, above all the haters, but took special time aside to push down and diminish a Signature Siamese Cat; a Webkinz I use to represent me. To others, it was about standing tall, to my friends and me, it was about them going out of their way to say “fuck you.”

Through the addiction to gossip, hatred is born. Unbeknownst to a user, an entire community can be turned against them. The amount of back-handed exchanges and how people thrive off of it is sickening. And it’s happened to me.

This isn’t even the end of it. One of the reasons I had to disable comments on my channel was because of Webkinz users overall being salty. When I got my third Signature Siberian Husky, Karma, the comment section was a bloodbath. About 4 people sounded genuine saying she was cute, the rest were passive aggressive “I want one” and “oh yay good for you I don’t have one” along with flat out “you’re so spoiled lord you already have two huskies and you had to buy a third and keep someone else from buying it!” I kind of wonder if that video is what sparked the KinzTube trend of making rants on getting doubles.

I was prepared for the messages and when I got Timber, my second Signature Timber Wolf, so I went on the offense. Flat out spewing what I had learned and seen. I made a full on rant that I still stand by. Webkinz fans are salty. If they didn’t have something and they deemed someone had something they wanted, that person was a devil and needed to be put in their place. If they disagree to give/sell it to you, they’re even worse. I was surprised when rather than getting hate messages, I actually got a few people praising me for speaking up. I’m far from the only one affected by this issue.

As I said in the video, I believe this is due to the general age range for Webkinz fans being 11 - 16, a tough time in life where they’re learning social skills. Hormones are raging and I believe this is the time when people are most self-conscious. Low self esteem paired with a community that has hate and gossip knocking on every door leads to a pack mentality, or how I see it, a mob mentality. A confusing and hard time when you’re so angry, anything can set you off. That rage is often directed at whoever is the most recent target, whoever your friends have told you about, who hurt someone you follow.

Not everyone will be like this, I’m speaking mainly from my own experience and what I’ve seen, not any studies or anything. I don’t fully blame them, I was in that exact spot a few years back, but it’s toxic and shouldn’t be normalized.

The worst part of this being normalized and just “something everyone does” is that some don’t grow out of it. I hate to be this way, but you need the punch in the face to realize and learn. No one can tell you social skills and you acquire them like moves in a video game; you have to learn through life the hard way.

I understand I’m highly biased here, but this has been my experience.Has there been good in the community? Of course. There’s also the “village idiot has the loudest voice” thing, so the bad are always more vocal than the good. You just gotta pick your battles and push through, that’s the only way you’ll make it in this community.

-Sassy

#ask #sassy answers #webkinz #kinztube

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