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labs · 9 months

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Hello, Tumblr. Labs division here!

Back in June, we announced our comeback as a new team that would imagine big ideas for Tumblr—and would build them in public (aka with you).

Today we're very excited to announce our first failure. The first experiment we want to loudly, publicly admit didn’t work. We’re pretty excited about this because trying and failing are a big part of learning.

A little background

A few months ago, we ran interviews with lots of people on Tumblr to get a better sense of what works and what needs to be better.

Among other things, we heard that people discovering (or rediscovering) Tumblr really struggle to understand how to make it work for them. They sometimes don't know how to follow the right blogs to curate their dashboard, or how to use likes, replies and reblogs to interact with a particular fandom.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, really! Some might be lucky and have friends to teach them, but many come here to find friends in the first place, and leave feeling lost and overwhelmed.

So here at Labs we're working on ideas to help people discover what makes Tumblr a unique corner of the internet, making it easier for them to find belonging here.

Our (failed) idea

Our first idea was to simplify certain parts of our interface, thinking through each element and putting what is important to you front and center. We called it "Mini"—mostly because it was a cute name.

We started work on the post interface first, because that's the most important part of your experience on Tumblr, and we wanted to improve some of the problems there.

Our goal was to make labels and actions on posts easier to differentiate, and make each post the same height, so diving into a long post is a choice. To achieve that, we designed a new header, a new footer with separate actions, and a mini version of the post:

As we started to build it, we realized that scrolling through the dashboard after the changes… didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like Tumblr anymore. But we didn’t want to make a decision based solely on our own gut feelings… we needed to ask the Tumblr community.

An essential part of how we're working in Labs is speaking to people who use Tumblr (and those who don't use it, but could love it) pretty much on a daily basis. So we showed them this idea, and their response was indifferent at best, and confused at worst.

We learned that it's hard to limit the height of a post without sacrificing the magic of reblogs, and that loss was too meaningful for us to pursue this any further. So we're putting it in the trash.

What's next

So Mini didn’t work out! That’s okay. We’ve learned a lot. While minifying posts might not be the answer, there were parts of the idea that worked, and you might even start to see some improvements being tested from what we learned. We’ll see where that goes!

We're working on other ideas at the same time, and some of them are getting a lot of love from people in research. So the next time you hear from us, we'll hopefully have something more successful to share—stay tuned!

With love, Labs division

#tumblr labs

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nostalgebraist · 3 months

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information flow in transformers

In machine learning, the transformer architecture is a very commonly used type of neural network model. Many of the well-known neural nets introduced in the last few years use this architecture, including GPT-2, GPT-3, and GPT-4.

This post is about the way that computation is structured inside of a transformer.

Internally, these models pass information around in a constrained way that feels strange and limited at first glance.

Specifically, inside the "program" implemented by a transformer, each segment of "code" can only access a subset of the program's "state." If the program computes a value, and writes it into the state, that doesn't make value available to any block of code that might run after the write; instead, only some operations can access the value, while others are prohibited from seeing it.

This sounds vaguely like the kind of constraint that human programmers often put on themselves: "separation of concerns," "no global variables," "your function should only take the inputs it needs," that sort of thing.

However, the apparent analogy is misleading. The transformer constraints don't look much like anything that a human programmer would write, at least under normal circumstances. And the rationale behind them is very different from "modularity" or "separation of concerns."

(Domain experts know all about this already -- this is a pedagogical post for everyone else.)

1. setting the stage

For concreteness, let's think about a transformer that is a causal language model.

So, something like GPT-3, or the model that wrote text for @nostalgebraist-autoresponder.

Roughly speaking, this model's input is a sequence of words, like ["Fido", "is", "a", "dog"].

Since the model needs to know the order the words come in, we'll include an integer offset alongside each word, specifying the position of this element in the sequence. So, in full, our example input is

[ ("Fido", 0), ("is", 1), ("a", 2), ("dog", 3), ]

The model itself -- the neural network -- can be viewed as a single long function, which operates on a single element of the sequence. Its task is to output the next element.

Let's call the function f. If f does its job perfectly, then when applied to our example sequence, we will have

f("Fido", 0) = "is" f("is", 1) = "a" f("a", 2) = "dog"

(Note: I've omitted the index from the output type, since it's always obvious what the next index is. Also, in reality the output type is a probability distribution over words, not just a word; the goal is to put high probability on the next word. I'm ignoring this to simplify exposition.)

You may have noticed something: as written, this seems impossible!

Like, how is the function supposed to know that after ("a", 2), the next word is "dog"!? The word "a" could be followed by all sorts of things.

What makes "dog" likely, in this case, is the fact that we're talking about someone named "Fido."

That information isn't contained in ("a", 2). To do the right thing here, you need info from the whole sequence thus far -- from "Fido is a", as opposed to just "a".

How can f get this information, if its input is just a single word and an index?

This is possible because f isn't a pure function. The program has an internal state, which f can access and modify.

But f doesn't just have arbitrary read/write access to the state. Its access is constrained, in a very specific sort of way.

2. transformer-style programming

Let's get more specific about the program state.

The state consists of a series of distinct "memory regions" or "blocks," which have an order assigned to them.

Let's use the notation memory_i for these. The first block is memory_0, the second is memory_1, and so on.

In practice, a small transformer might have around 10 of these blocks, while a very large one might have 100 or more.

Each block contains a separate data-storage "cell" for each offset in the sequence.

For example, memory_0 contains a cell for position 0 ("Fido" in our example text), and a cell for position 1 ("is"), and so on. Meanwhile, memory_1 contains its own, distinct cells for each of these positions. And so does memory_2, etc.

So the overall layout looks like:

memory_0: [cell 0, cell 1, ...] memory_1: [cell 0, cell 1, ...] [...]

Our function f can interact with this program state. But it must do so in a way that conforms to a set of rules.

Here are the rules:

The function can only interact with the blocks by using a specific instruction.

This instruction is an "atomic write+read". It writes data to a block, then reads data from that block for f to use.

When the instruction writes data, it goes in the cell specified in the function offset argument. That is, the "i" in f(..., i).

When the instruction reads data, the data comes from all cells up to and including the offset argument.

The function must call the instruction exactly once for each block.

These calls must happen in order. For example, you can't do the call for memory_1 until you've done the one for memory_0.

Here's some pseudo-code, showing a generic computation of this kind:

f(x, i) { calculate some things using x and i; // next 2 lines are a single instruction write to memory_0 at position i; z0 = read from memory_0 at positions 0...i; calculate some things using x, i, and z0; // next 2 lines are a single instruction write to memory_1 at position i; z1 = read from memory_1 at positions 0...i; calculate some things using x, i, z0, and z1; [etc.] }

The rules impose a tradeoff between the amount of processing required to produce a value, and how early the value can be accessed within the function body.

Consider the moment when data is written to memory_0. This happens before anything is read (even from memory_0 itself).

So the data in memory_0 has been computed only on the basis of individual inputs like ("a," 2). It can't leverage any information about multiple words and how they relate to one another.

But just after the write to memory_0, there's a read from memory_0. This read pulls in data computed by f when it ran on all the earlier words in the sequence.

If we're processing ("a", 2) in our example, then this is the point where our code is first able to access facts like "the word 'Fido' appeared earlier in the text."

However, we still know less than we might prefer.

Recall that memory_0 gets written before anything gets read. The data living there only reflects what f knows before it can see all the other words, while it still only has access to the one word that appeared in its input.

The data we've just read does not contain a holistic, "fully processed" representation of the whole sequence so far ("Fido is a"). Instead, it contains:

a representation of ("Fido", 0) alone, computed in ignorance of the rest of the text

a representation of ("is", 1) alone, computed in ignorance of the rest of the text

a representation of ("a", 2) alone, computed in ignorance of the rest of the text

Now, once we get to memory_1, we will no longer face this problem. Stuff in memory_1 gets computed with the benefit of whatever was in memory_0. The step that computes it can "see all the words at once."

Nonetheless, the whole function is affected by a generalized version of the same quirk.

All else being equal, data stored in later blocks ought to be more useful. Suppose for instance that

memory_4 gets read/written 20% of the way through the function body, and

memory_16 gets read/written 80% of the way through the function body

Here, strictly more computation can be leveraged to produce the data in memory_16. Calculations which are simple enough to fit in the program, but too complex to fit in just 20% of the program, can be stored in memory_16 but not in memory_4.

All else being equal, then, we'd prefer to read from memory_16 rather than memory_4 if possible.

But in fact, we can only read from memory_16 once -- at a point 80% of the way through the code, when the read/write happens for that block.

The general picture looks like:

The early parts of the function can see and leverage what got computed earlier in the sequence -- by the same early parts of the function. This data is relatively "weak," since not much computation went into it. But, by the same token, we have plenty of time to further process it.

The late parts of the function can see and leverage what got computed earlier in the sequence -- by the same late parts of the function. This data is relatively "strong," since lots of computation went into it. But, by the same token, we don't have much time left to further process it.

3. why?

There are multiple ways you can "run" the program specified by f.

Here's one way, which is used when generating text, and which matches popular intuitions about how language models work:

First, we run f("Fido", 0) from start to end. The function returns "is." As a side effect, it populates cell 0 of every memory block.

Next, we run f("is", 1) from start to end. The function returns "a." As a side effect, it populates cell 1 of every memory block.

Etc.

If we're running the code like this, the constraints described earlier feel weird and pointlessly restrictive.

By the time we're running f("is", 1), we've already populated some data into every memory block, all the way up to memory_16 or whatever.

This data is already there, and contains lots of useful insights.

And yet, during the function call f("is", 1), we "forget about" this data -- only to progressively remember it again, block by block. The early parts of this call have only memory_0 to play with, and then memory_1, etc. Only at the end do we allow access to the juicy, extensively processed results that occupy the final blocks.

Why? Why not just let this call read memory_16 immediately, on the first line of code? The data is sitting there, ready to be used!

Why? Because the constraint enables a second way of running this program.

The second way is equivalent to the first, in the sense of producing the same outputs. But instead of processing one word at a time, it processes a whole sequence of words, in parallel.

Here's how it works:

In parallel, run f("Fido", 0) and f("is", 1) and f("a", 2), up until the first write+read instruction. You can do this because the functions are causally independent of one another, up to this point. We now have 3 copies of f, each at the same "line of code": the first write+read instruction.

Perform the write part of the instruction for all the copies, in parallel. This populates cells 0, 1 and 2 of memory_0.

Perform the read part of the instruction for all the copies, in parallel. Each copy of f receives some of the data just written to memory_0, covering offsets up to its own. For instance, f("is", 1) gets data from cells 0 and 1.

In parallel, continue running the 3 copies of f, covering the code between the first write+read instruction and the second.

Perform the second write. This populates cells 0, 1 and 2 of memory_1.

Perform the second read.

Repeat like this until done.

Observe that mode of operation only works if you have a complete input sequence ready before you run anything.

(You can't parallelize over later positions in the sequence if you don't know, yet, what words they contain.)

So, this won't work when the model is generating text, word by word.

But it will work if you have a bunch of texts, and you want to process those texts with the model, for the sake of updating the model so it does a better job of predicting them.

This is called "training," and it's how neural nets get made in the first place. In our programming analogy, it's how the code inside the function body gets written.

The fact that we can train in parallel over the sequence is a huge deal, and probably accounts for most (or even all) of the benefit that transformers have over earlier architectures like RNNs.

Accelerators like GPUs are really good at doing the kinds of calculations that happen inside neural nets, in parallel.

So if you can make your training process more parallel, you can effectively multiply the computing power available to it, for free. (I'm omitting many caveats here -- see this great post for details.)

Transformer training isn't maximally parallel. It's still sequential in one "dimension," namely the layers, which correspond to our write+read steps here. You can't parallelize those.

But it is, at least, parallel along some dimension, namely the sequence dimension.

The older RNN architecture, by contrast, was inherently sequential along both these dimensions. Training an RNN is, effectively, a nested for loop. But training a transformer is just a regular, single for loop.

4. tying it together

The "magical" thing about this setup is that both ways of running the model do the same thing. You are, literally, doing the same exact computation. The function can't tell whether it is being run one way or the other.

This is crucial, because we want the training process -- which uses the parallel mode -- to teach the model how to perform generation, which uses the sequential mode. Since both modes look the same from the model's perspective, this works.

This constraint -- that the code can run in parallel over the sequence, and that this must do the same thing as running it sequentially -- is the reason for everything else we noted above.

Earlier, we asked: why can't we allow later (in the sequence) invocations of f to read earlier data out of blocks like memory_16 immediately, on "the first line of code"?

And the answer is: because that would break parallelism. You'd have to run f("Fido", 0) all the way through before even starting to run f("is", 1).

By structuring the computation in this specific way, we provide the model with the benefits of recurrence -- writing things down at earlier positions, accessing them at later positions, and writing further things down which can be accessed even later -- while breaking the sequential dependencies that would ordinarily prevent a recurrent calculation from being executed in parallel.

In other words, we've found a way to create an iterative function that takes its own outputs as input -- and does so repeatedly, producing longer and longer outputs to be read off by its next invocation -- with the property that this iteration can be run in parallel.

We can run the first 10% of every iteration -- of f() and f(f()) and f(f(f())) and so on -- at the same time, before we know what will happen in the later stages of any iteration.

The call f(f()) uses all the information handed to it by f() -- eventually. But it cannot make any requests for information that would leave itself idling, waiting for f() to fully complete.

Whenever f(f()) needs a value computed by f(), it is always the value that f() -- running alongside f(f()), simultaneously -- has just written down, a mere moment ago.

No dead time, no idling, no waiting-for-the-other-guy-to-finish.

p.s.

The "memory blocks" here correspond to what are called "keys and values" in usual transformer lingo.

If you've heard the term "KV cache," it refers to the contents of the memory blocks during generation, when we're running in "sequential mode."

Usually, during generation, one keeps this state in memory and appends a new cell to each block whenever a new token is generated (and, as a result, the sequence gets longer by 1).

This is called "caching" to contrast it with the worse approach of throwing away the block contents after each generated token, and then re-generating them by running f on the whole sequence so far (not just the latest token). And then having to do that over and over, once per generated token.

#ai tag #is there some standard CS name for the thing i'm talking about here?#i feel like there should be #but i never heard people mention it #(or at least i've never heard people mention it in a way that made the connection with transformers clear)

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callofdudes · 10 months

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I’ve been thinking about how how TF141 + König would react to the reader having a period accident..

Idk it might be weird but some peoples reactions have my heart, like when they're nice about it and help you instead of being disgusted by you😭

That's not weird at all. Got instant inspiration for this one. It's also spawned some little headcanons in my head so I might post those separately as well. Here ya go, let me know if it's ok 😊

141 + König helping you after a period accident.

141+König x Female!reader

König 🐙

You and König were walking around the mall when you got the feeling in your gut. That feeling that kicked you right in the pelvis and almost made you stop walking. Shit... Not here.

König was currently looking at some new movies when you felt it again, clutching your pelvis to try and help it.

"König..." You whispered to him, tapping his hip.

He hummed, looking back at you and the awkward expression on your face. "What's wrong Schätzchen?"

"I think we need to wrap it up early. I'm not feeling good suddenly."

König was worried now. "Are you alright? Are you sick? Do you need medical treatment in this moment?"

You shake your head, walking slower and stiffer, hoping to get home before it was too late. König could see there was something going wrong but he followed.

He kept a close eye on you as you both made it back to the car, by that time König was helping you in the car and noticed. "Y/n... I think you are bleeding."

You groaned, immediately feeling more embarrassed about it. "Yeah..." You just wanted to rush home and change. And get your clothes in the wash before they stained.

König however, grabbed the car keys and rushed back inside. He had no idea what he was doing but he rushed to the drug store at the entrance of the mall and decided to ask a worker.

"Hey uh.. my um.. my friend, she is hurting and I want to help her. C-could I get some help with the feminine products..." He was a sweating mess asking about it. But he wanted to help you.

The clerk was also super nice and pointed him where he needed to go and gave him a quick suggestion on what to get. So without a second thought he purchased them and ran back to the car where you were still holding yourself.

"Here y/n... I-I got those for you. And you can do it in the car if you want- I don't mind, and I won't look!"

He immediately shut the door and turned around. He waited nervously outside. He hoped that was right, that he'd gotten everything. He did want to help even if he wasn't the most knowledgeable about this sort of thing.

You felt happy that he went through all the trouble. It would... Work for now.

So you put it on and got out, giving him a thumbs up while he nervously fiddled with his fingers. After, König got in the driver's seat and looked at you. "Are you doing better?"

"it'll work until we get home. Thank you König."

"Yeah.. yeah! Of course! Now let's get you home."

Price 🥃

The two of you were at a barbecue with 141 and some other soldiers, you hadn't even noticed or felt anything, probably too busy eating and talking. You'd felt weird and had cramps that morning, but after an hour and no actual blood, you'd assumed it was early cramping.

Price was sitting in a chair, talking to Ghost about one thing or another when he happened to look up and over to you, in your white pants, clear as day...

"Excuse me Ghost." Ghost nodded, letting Price leave for a moment. He came up behind you and set his hands on your shoulders. "Y/n..." He whispered. "You've got a stain on your pants."

You look up at at him. "I what- I do??" Your face turned red as you soon realized what it would be. Oh you were stupid to wear these pants...

Price gently pats your arm, you were so lucky you were over at Laswell's house. "Come on, come sit inside until we can help ok?"

You nod, following him closely as he opens the screen door and brings you inside. He could see the embarrassment on your face. "That's alright y/n, we'll help you out. Let me go find Laswell alright?"

You nod, staying behind and waiting as Price went to talk to Laswell about the situation.

"John, everything ok?" Laswell asked. While she'd let them use her expansive yard for the barbecue she wouldn't be in charge of supervision. So she was in her at home office room.

"Hey Kate. Y/n is having a little... Feminine emergency. She got her period and I was wondering if you would have anything to help?"

She nods, coming back down the stairs to see you still sitting there awkwardly. "We'll help you out kiddo." Price assured as Laswell brought back down a box of sanitary pads for you. "I might even have a spare pair of pants for you to wear?" She offers.

"If not, I can let you borrow my jacket." Price finishes.

"Thank you guys." You head to the bathroom and start to figure things out. While you were doing that Price went down to his car and got his big thick jacket.

Once you'd come out Price handed it to you and let you wrap it around your waist. "Thank you Price."

He nodded and patted your shoulder. "All good. We'll get you set up properly when we are home, alright?"

You nod, unable to help hugging him tightly. Price chuckled softly and hugged you back. "Alright, would you like to stay in here or go back out with everyone else?"

"I think I'll be ok to go back outside."

"Alright, you let me know if you need anything ok? And we'll get you all set up when we get home."

Soap 🧼

"Yes captain." You smile softly.

Price gave you the next two days of leave to let the cramps settle down and you were very, very grateful.

Growing up with all girls in his house he still didn't know everything about periods, but they didn't disgust him. So much that avoiding his sisters when they were acting like soulless floor crawlers was habit.

But when he noticed you in need, his brotherly instincts for you came into action.

You were in line for food, just standing there when you suddenly looked very troubled. "Soap... I think we should go home." You whispered.

"You want to go home y/n? But we just got here."

You nod a little, stance a little stiffer. He frowned, and you could tell he knew something was up. "What's wrong? Are you not feeling good?"

You shake your head softly, rolling your hand over your pelvis. "I think I just got my period..." You whispered, barely that. But John caught it.

He nods, ushering you from the line up. "Alright, we'll go home then. Do you want to pick up some pads at the drugstore while we're here or should we head back to base?"

"I think I'm almost out on base..."

John nods, that settles it then. "Alright, we'll stop at the drugstore and we'll get you what you need."

"You don't mind? I know we went out for food... No a sanitary trip..." You felt embarrassed. You really didn't want anything like this to happen with one of the guys. You just didn't think they'd understand.

You felt like maybe Soap of all people would make fun of you. But he brought you back to the car and drove you to the drugstore.

"Do you want to walk in or stay here??"

"Can I stay..?"

"Yep, no problem. Just tell me what you usually get yourself and I'll be right back." He smiled softly.

You were embarrassed. Telling him quietly before he shut the door and walked off with confidence. He wandered the aisle for a while, looking for the brand before spotting it and... Oh just grab one of everything you never know. So he came back with a bag full of product to last you a very long while.

"Alright, here ya go. I can wait outside if you want to put one on now?"

"You don't mind?"

"Nope, not at all. Go for it." He stands back faced to the window of the passenger seat. Guarding it while you did your thing. And you eventually you tapped on the window and he got back in the car.

"Alright, let's get you home and set you up."

You nodded. "Thanks Soap."

"No worries, I get it. Sometimes accidents like these happen."

He got you home and set you up, settling you down for a movie and got you your blankets and heating pad. And yes, he did go back and get that food so you both could enjoy it.

Ghost 💀

Man's panics. He knows a lot about periods surprisingly, but they are not in his wheelhouse. He does not have the expertise.

But he is definitely reliant and always a good person to go to for some help.

The two of you were at a very, very high end event. Like the higher ups of your higher ups were there. The both of you dressed up in suits with all your fancy pins on them and the little hats.

It was a big deal and you were nervous. You'd assumed the cramping you'd briefly felt earlier was just from the little amount of food you'd eaten before rushing out the door that morning and your anxiety.

Ghost was off in the corner, watching everything. He noticed somewhere along in the night you'd grown uncomfortable and oddly stiff. Almost as if you were self conscious of something.

He assumed it to be nothing until you walked over to him stiffly, blushing from embarrassment.

"What do you need sergeant?"

"Ghost..." You whispered, making him lean in a little more. "I think I just got my period..."

He's totally cool on the outside but inside he is panicking. He nods. "Do you have... A bag or something?"

You shake your head. "No... I left it all at home..."

Ghost sighed and nodded. "Alright, I'll head back home and get your stuff."

You nodded awkwardly. "Thank you."

He patted your arm. "Just sit tight, shouldn't be long."

And with that Ghost excused himself from the venue and got back in the car, driving all the way back home. He searched your bathroom, grabbing one... Two... Ok three if you need it. He can't be too careful. And a spare change of pants and underwear if you needed it.

He came back with the bag and pulled you to the side. "Everything you need should be in there. Bathroom is down the hall, call me if you need anything."

"Thank you so much Ghost. Thank you." You took the bag and rushed off, delighted to find a spare change of pants as well.

Once you'd changed you came back out and gave Ghost a thumbs up, to which he nodded in approval and the event continued without a hitch.

Gaz 🧢

I just know this man is the kind of guy to hook up the bubble bath and say F You to the world for a while. So afterwards you get full spa treatment from him.

Will do anything to help you.

You were training with some of the other soldiers. A slightly chilly day though you enjoyed it and hadn't worn a sweater. You already felt warm enough.

You'd already been out there for two hours and any burn or cramp was just played off as what would normally happen. You weren't really thinking into it much.

You'd taken a break to relax and you felt another cramp right in your pelvis, making you groan as you bent over a little to hold yourself.

Some of the sergeants noticed the stain forming in your grey jogging pants. "y/n, are your pants dirty or something?"

This caught Gaz's attention who looked over, noticing your discomfort. You looked embarrassed as you started to connect the dots between your horrible cramps and your accident.

He gently pushed past the sergeants and got himself between you and them. "Yeah, I think that last load of laundry didn't come out right. I noticed it on my clothes as well."

You looked up at Gaz with relief as he gently tugged off his sweater and wrapped it around your waist.

"Come on, let's go get you to your room."

You followed, your cramps bothering you the whole way. Gaz got you to your room and grabbed out a fresh pair of pants and let you change and such.

Once you were done he came back in and helped you into bed. "Thanks Gaz." You whispered.

He leaned down and plugged in your heating pad and wrapped you in all your blankets. "No problem y/n, it happens. I get it."

"Do you need any more supply? I have to head out for a bit later and I could pick up what you need?"

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all. Just helping you out. I can even pick you up a snack or two. Does chocolate entice your palette?" You both chuckle softly.

"I'd like that, thank you." You smile, already feeling much better. Gaz made sure you didn't need anything else before leaving you to rest.

And yes, he came back with everything you needed and a giant bucket of ice cream all your own.

#simon ghost riley #call of duty #john soap mactavish #johnny soap mactavish #call of duty headcanons #ghost x reader #captain john price #simon ghost riley x reader #könig x y/n #könig headcanons #konig x y/n #konig x reader #john soap mactavish x reader #john price x y/n #kyle gaz garrick #kyle gaz garrick x reader #simon ghost riley x you

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hypewinter · 1 year

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I'm in a silly goofy mood so screw it, let's make younger brother Danny ideas for all the batbros. Heck! I might even do some of the other batfam members. We'll see. I'll make them all separate posts with one lighthearted and one angsty scenario similar to the Damian post.

Anyway with the set up out of the way let's take care of Dick first!

Jason Tim Damian Cass

Lighthearted

Around the time Danny is born, Haly's Circus is experiencing hard times. Because of this, Mary and John give him up for adoption in hopes of him experiencing a better life. Danny grows up to be super athletic and flexible. He also looks like the carbon copy of Dick. When Danny's class takes a field trip to Gotham, a batfam member spots him and believes he's a clone. Cue the batfam scrambling to figure out this clone's origin and purpose. Danny for his part, is absolutely confused why the Wayne's have such an interest in him until Tucker points out he fits the Wayne adoption bill. This results in him panicking and when Dick approaches him the next day he yells 'I've already been adopted once so no thanks!' and runs away. This peaks Dick's curiosity so he does something none of the other family members considered to do. He does his research. After a while of digging he finds out Danny was adopted in xyz place around xyz date that matches with the time his parents put his little brother up for adoption. Could it be?

Angsty

Danny is reborn as the youngest son of the flying graysons. The night their parents died Danny was in one of the trailers and not watching the performance. Therefore when everything went down, while Dick was being comforted by Bruce, the talons were able to kidnap him without anyone knowing. He is trained as the most prized talon of the court of owls. Eventually Batman proves to be a pain in the court's side so Danny is sent to take care of him. Batman doesn't want to admit it but he's having a lot of trouble with this particular assassin so he calls in Nightwing to help. Together, they manage to knock off the talon's mask. Dick sees his precious little brother's face that was once so full of life now devoid of all emotion and that makes him hesitate. This gives Danny enough time to make a tactical retreat. When Bruce finds out why Dick hesitated, he tries to bench him. The former Robin is having none of that though. He's getting his brother back.

#dp x dc #dc x dp #hyper prompts #younger brother danny #i have a secondary scenario for the angst portion #i thought it up before i thought of this one #if any of y'all wanna see it let me know

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metatronhateblog · 7 months

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As you all know by now

Metatron is sus af. And if you haven't noticed, or you live under a rock (no judgement here) I'm here to add some interesting things I have noticed as someone so obsessed with this show I can only see in the colors and outlines of Good Omens at any given moment.

Fair warning, the only theories or analysies I see are sent to me by my sister, or appear on my dash (and I don't follow many Good Omens blogs that theorize.) So if any of this has been stated or pointed out before, apologies. I'm trapped in tunnel vision mixed with an aching brain.

This one's a doozy and a conglomeration of stuff that I have noticed that I'm not sure actually hold any significance so hang in there, it's worth it.

SO. Let's dive in.

First things first, lots of different theories going around, not sure I believe a lot of them but am fully willing to indulge, and admire the effort people put it. I'm not a huge fan of the 'Metatron poisoned Aziraphale theory' but I have a feeling this post might possibly give those girlies a little 'W.' We'll see, I have various points to touch on.

Something fucked is going on with Metatron. For starters it's very uncomfortable to me, and hits very strangely that no one recognizes him (except Crowley.) Which is so strange because we previously see Michael, Uriel, Gabriel, and Saraqael all in a meeting with the Metratron about....oh maybe ten minutes prior, not to mention Muriel and Crowley were there witnessing it also??? Hello? Why does only Crowley recognize this person that this group of people have seen (Saraqael and Muriel only moments before at the same time as Crowley.)

So how come Crowley is the only one who recognized him??? Sus to me. Any thoughts as to why cause I have none....

But then things to me seem to get a little weirder. I enjoy playing with audio, cutting out background audio and emphasizing little things that might sounds strange to me. And I went through checking all of episode 6 for any weirdly placed miracle noises or waving of hands, and I came up with three things (one of them was actually from episode 5 though).

1.) There's a miracle noise after Aziraphale asks Metatron what they'll be doing in heaven and Metatron responds with 'It's something we call the Second Coming.' This one, with a lot of back tracking and examining other scenes, I've come to the conclusion is simply the elevator being summoned, though I do find it strange to hear the noise yet not see that miracle happen.

2.) In episode 5, during The Ball ™️, Maggie walks up to Nina who is sitting in a chair and offers a hand to dance. Aziraphale, my beloved, is watching so happily and excitedly from the side while holding a tray of hors d'oeuvres. Right when Nina grabs Maggie's hand there's a miracle noise. I'm not sure if it's part of the overall thing Aziraphale has cast over the bookshop, or if it's him from the side and we once again don't see it...(which feels weird) but it's there. And if it is because of the overall miracle cast over the shop then why don't we hear that sound every time something happens that is effected by said miracle. Something is weird about that one to me, but that's not Metatron related sorry. (Here's a screenshot from the exact moment if anyone is wanting to go looking for it.)

And 3.) My big one. This noise is...so unsettling to me. The first time I heard it I flinched. I still cannot figure out if it's part of the soundtrack or if it is a separate noise that segues into the soundtrack or not. But this one. So when Metatron originally enters the bookshop there is obviously a commotion and then once he gets everyone to leave, he looks at Aziraphale and tells him he wants to speak with him or have 'a chinwag' (weirdly Earth term if you ask me) and then offers Aziraphale a coffee who then takes it and sips it blah blah blah we all know that part. But then Metatron says something...weirder. He mentions that he's also consumed things before...which...makes something about him feel all the weirder. He then again asks Aziraphale to chat with him. Aziraphale hesitates and looks to Crowley who is lounging behind him who tells him to go ahead because the 'day can't get any weirder.'

Immediately following that is where I am horribly sus. Aziraphale looks at Metatron who gives him this kind smile and ushers him forward, and once Aziraphale can't see them anymore, Metatron turns a glare onto Crowley, who I'm not sure if we see him acknowledge this sudden cold change.

But that's not the sus part. In my opinion the sus part is the audio. THE MOMENT his demeanor changes to glare at Crowley. We get this little....noise that sounds like a deep kinda dark little twinkle of some sort (and holy shit I'm screaming over this noise because upon checking the official soundtrack the noise is not there) that sounds like magic is happening. And it just. I have listened to the dark way the soundtrack picks up and listened to it through over and over searching for any more signs of that out of place noise and I CAN'T FIND IT. So because I care deeply and am not going to make you people go hunting for this one, I have a screen recording of the audio clip. I kinda took the audio of an actual miracle noise first (I was using it as my reference) and then all the audio surrounding that noise and reduced it, but kept that noise kinda emphasized by not touching it at all. (My apologies now because my editing audio isn't the greatest, I'm no professional, and I did get the first notes of the soundtrack starting in there too.)

HOLY SHIT????? HELLO???? What was that dark little sound there??? I don't know if anyone else has pointed it out but if you have you're amazing and I love you.

BUT WHAT THE FUCK???? I'm sitting here trying to figure out what that strange little audio blip is right there because if I'm correct and when Metatron tells Aziraphale 'the Second Coming' followed by the miracle noise I believe to be summoning the elevator???? Then what is that sinister little???? Almost miracle sounding noise there???? My goodness.

That being said, I did check through the audio in other places, trying to listen real close (and if anyone else is good with audio and can actually find it, then please share I wanna know) and I heard no miracle noises during their kiss scene or when Crowley gets in the Bentley and the Nightingale starts playing. (Disclaimer that could just be because of my hearing loss, so if it is there and you can isolate it, I'd love to hear.) I tried, I searched endlessly to try and help you guys with your theories but I found nothing. I will say though, a bell tolls very frequently in the show when something significant happens and there's a bell toll right as our beloved angelic beings pull away from their kiss.

Now that I've pointed out the strange little audio things I personally have noticed, I want to move on to more colloquial audio and less background noises.

I wanna talk more along the lines of this post by @meatballlady (sorry for tagging you I wanted to give you credit where it's due.)

After seeing this post and doing a rewatch of the show, I have been working more at trying not to make assumptions and trying to think of the ways different things can be taken.

Well the Metatron says something that I think maybe we should focus more on the different things if could mean???

This thing is said (i believe during Aziraphale's retelling of what the Metatron said to him) but also right after another one of those moments of misinterpreting the meaning of what someone's being said. This happens after Muriel interprets Crowley's 'Us time' to include them.

The line I'm thinking of here is

"I've been idling back on a number of your...previous exploits, and I've seen that in quite a few of them you've formed a de facto partnership with the Demon Crowley. Now if you wanted to work with him again, that might be considered irregular, but it would certainly be within your jurisdiction to restore your friend...Crowley...to full angelic status."

Holy shit there's a lot to unpack in that, both for Aziraphale and us. this whole thing could be interpreted multiple ways, I think, and that's why I've included this whole quote rather than just the specific line. It's a lot said in one go with multiple things that are....worded interesting. For a start.

Exploits -

Several different meanings both in the words form as a verb and a noun, and Metatron puts an emphasis on 'previous exploits.' So how is he using the word? Noun meaning bold and daring? Probably not a software tool. What about a verb? 'derive benefit from' is an interesting way to put it. 'Use a situation or person in an unfair or selfish way.' There's plenty of options here. And to say that he is using one specific meaning of the word would be assuming that you know for sure what he's saying. And when it comes down to it, we don't. After all doesn't this season play a lot with the misinterpreting of what someone is saying?

Let's continue.

de facto partnership - is technically an informal arrangement generally for business, formed by two or more parties.

Which is cool, but that's not the emphasized word here. The word Metatron seems to hang on is 'partnership.'

Partnership -

At this point it feels like an almost sterile way to talk about their very clear relationship together. But strange that he hesitates on the word.

The thing I really wanna talk about is

"...restore your friend...Crowley...to full angelic status."

Restore -

Now everyone, Aziraphale included seemed to interpret this as 'reinstate' your friend Crowley. And again it would be very presumptuous to think that it could ONLY mean giving Crowley a position in Heaven next to Aziraphale.

One of those meanings in there says something along the lines of 'to return it to its original condition.' And we all immediately go 'well that would be an angel of course.' But we forget to take the time to realize that...as an angel, Crowley wasn't a demon. He didn't have all the memories and experiences as such. In fact, it feels hinted at throughout this season that Crowley doesn't have all his memory from his time as an angel. And who's to say that if he was restored to angelic status that wouldn't mean wiping him of his memory of his time on Earth? Who's to say that the Metatron isn't implying here that this is another way to make Aziraphale compliant while also keeping him separated from Crowley.

We all know as a team those two will 'raise Earth' for lack of a better term against Heaven and Hell to prevent Armageddon. They are their own side. And I think Metatron knows he has no chance of the Second Coming if those two are still working together.

Who's to say that Metatron wouldn't put limitations or a status quo on the allowances of Crowley returning to Heaven. He can't ensure that Crowley wouldn't cause problems, he can't ensure his trust.

Sorry if all of this has already been said and pointed out, but I personally haven't seen any of it and needed to get it off my chest before I exploded.

#good omens #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #metatron #metatron meta post #meta #i really hate metatron #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 #sorry for the long post with a lot of words #i have a history in theory making and it's been a long time since I've done anything like this #I have to find a way to prevent myself from getting more and more obsessed with this show.

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aerkame · 1 year

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Smooth Moves

🌹Wally and Barnaby teach you how to dance🌹

(Takes place in Alive AU from my A Silly Thought and More post)

Posted later than intended rip

Some mood music for this writing. POV playlist

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It was late at night, most of your guests were inside fast asleep while you, Wally, and Barnaby finished up making space on the large porch. Barnaby was insistent that he and Wally teach you how to slow dance when you mentioned you've never danced before. Plus you two needed to figure out who was doing what tomorrow. Winner gets to choose after seeing who dips better.

"Alright, so if I win I get to pick what we do tomorrow. And if you win you get to pick what we do tomorrow. Deal?"

You held your hand out to shake on it, but Wally gently grabbed a hold of it and turned it over to plant a small kiss on the back of your palm. Heat rushed to your cheeks as the two of you parted ways to opposite sides of the porch. You wished you could just hide away in a corner right now until your cheeks looked normal or at least pretend that you were fine.

You slowly looked over to where Wally was, he was staring at you still, eyes half-lidded and a droopy smile on his face. That cheeky little bugger.

Barnaby walked up to the center of the porch and held out his paw towards Wally. "Hey buddy, I think we should show em' how it's done first, it's their first time right?" His voice was a cheery as usual, but something felt a bit off about it tonight, it had a deeper tone to it. "That it is, maybe we'll each get a turn with our host?" He peered over at you as he took a hold of the beagle's paw. "I sure hope so, I love dancing with new partners!"

Barnaby leaned to the side where a table was and quickly pressed the play button on the stereo you had given him the day before. He loved that thing to bits.

The music started out slow and steady as the two began to step and sway along with the beat. "Make sure to match up with your partners movements...like this." They both swayed to the far right, then the left, both of their feet being in sync perfectly with every single step. Clearly these two practiced frequently. The music went on for a while as the two circled, swayed, and danced around in patterns. It was so smooth that you almost felt hypnotized into a daze, only snapping out of it when Barnaby and Wally slowed down into a large dip. Wally, ever the dramatic suave, put one leg up as he was dipped down. "There, it's as simple as that!" Barnaby looked over at you and gestured for you to come over. You shook your head though, now too nervous to really put yourself in a spotlight like that.

"Ohh? Is someone nervous now?" Wally teased, hanging off of his friend's arm lazily. "It'll be fine, we can both teach you at the same time if you want!" Barnaby butted in, seeing how nervous you looked. Maybe his new friend needed some more encouragement.

"Alright...I'm not good at dancing though so I might step on someone's foot." You did not feel confident in yourself quite frankly.

"That's okay." The two pals separated as Barnaby went to go behind you and Wally right in front of you, boxing you in. "Besides, now you can have two partners!"

You felt the soft blue paws grab onto both of your hands and guiding them, placing one on Wally's shoulder and one on his hip, Wally mimicked the position on you in the opposite direction. Barnaby spoke up "Now remember, try to match your partners movements and just let us guide you until you get used to it." You nodded and looked down at your feet making sure they were in the correct position, missing the knowing looks the two had with each other.

"I think our dear host will catch on quick, won't you?" Wally smiled sweetly, giving your hip a small squeeze as you looked back up, earning a small squeak. How adorable of you. They wondered what other noises you could make.

It started out just like before, Barnaby having restarted the song and returning to being behind you. You stumbled a bit for the first few steps but you caught on quickly, seeing the pattern more clearly. It also helped to have two giant soft paws behind your back in case you tripped or fell.

"Wow, see! You're catching on already!" The blue friend continued to encourage you. "Now this part might be a bit harder, you'll need to swing your hips with the movement of your feet. Let me show you." Barnaby gently cupped your side and helped move your hips along to the rhythm of the music as Wally kept your shoulders in place. You stumbled though, having a hard time trying to match your footwork with theirs.

"Here, like this..." Wally spoke up and his friend backed up a little bit for some space. He took hold of your hip once more, this time more gently. "Just copy what I do."

He put one foot to the side and you did the same, allowing Wally to control the movements of your hips with his, one step at a time, one sway here and there, a few twirls, and it was like you were an expert at this. You didn't even notice that Barnaby had gone to sit down, locking eyes with Wally to give him a big thumbs up. Or the small crowd of friends standing by the back door watching the two of you.

The music kept going. The longer the two of you danced, the more you started to feel yourself getting used to this. Suddenly, Wally guided you into a deep dip, exaggerating his position into what that of a lover would be as the music came to a slow stop. He leaned in closer squeezing your hand in his. "I believe I won, yes?"

#Barnaby totally being a wingman #wally darling x reader #wally darling #Barnaby x reader #barnaby b beagle #slight Barnaby x Wally #Welcome home #wh #wh wally #welcome home wally #welcome home barnaby #welcome home Wally x reader #requests open #fanfiction #welcome home fanfiction #The two are definitely working together

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katy-l-wood · 3 months

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Disasters in Film: The eras of disasters in film.

Here we go! The first in a series of posts I'm going to do giving my thoughts on the college course I'm taking this semester about disasters in film. I made a post with the film list and reading list as well, which you can check out here.

Also. One of the professors teaching this course LOVES quotes. And I mean loves them. 90% of his presentations are just quotes that he then rambles about. So be prepared for lots of quotes in this series. 😂

And I'll open this up with the same image the professors did, which is an image from the Mayfield Kentucky tornado. Because damn is it fitting and evocative:

This is a theater that was damaged by a tornado, revealing the world outside the theater while leaving the interior of the theater itself untouched. The photo was taken by Shawn Triplett.

And a quote:

“Disaster is one of the oldest subjects of art.. It is concerned with the aesthetics of destruction with the peculiar beauties to be found in wreaking havoc.” —Susan Sontag, The Imagination of Disaster

Now, onto my thoughts on the eras of disaster! We covered the basics, obviously, which is that we started off with biblical disaster movies in the 20s and then swung into more exaggerated/"imagined" stuff. Then in the 50s and 60s we kind of swung back to biblical and historical stuff for a bit before going back to exaggerated/"imagined" stuff like aliens and monsters. Then, of course, we had the big resurgance in the 70s which moved away from aliens and monsters and that sort of destruction and swung more towards natural disasters and using them to frame various discussions of class and the real world. The 80s were dominated by action disaster movies with lots of focus on remasculinization of America (aka sweaty men with their shirts off kicking ass). Then in the 90s we just went in all fucking in on completely destroying the world. There were 83 disaster movies released in the 90s, with 21 of them being released in 1998 alone.

And then we've got 9/11. Now, the professor's have stated that we'll talk more about pre-9/11 and post-9/11 disaster movies later, but what I found interesting here is that the professor stopped separating the decades after this. We just went from the 90s to the 21st century as a whole. Which felt weird. We're nearly 1/4 into this! There's two complete decades of it so far! I think we can at least make some broad strokes generalizations about the sort of differences in disaster movies in each of those decades.

But, with that said, I do wonder if the lack of breaking it down farther stems from the sort of cultural stall we're in as a whole. This has been talked about a lot in other realms, such as how quickly fashion trends turn over to the point they hardly count as trends anymore. The same could, potentially, be said of disaster movies. I'm actually tempted to sit down and try and figure it out, to see if I could put a specific trend to 00's and 10's disaster films, but I haven't had the chance yet.

Then, of course, we have the fact that Hollywood is pretty broken right now. Obsessed with remakes and churning out the same content over and over again. Killing unique studios left and right. Constant layoffs. Terrible treatment of its workers. Etc. Etc. Might that also speak to our lack of easily discernible trends in disaster movies?

Either way, it's interesting!

#Disasters in Film

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eriexplosion · 3 months

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Bad Batch Season 3 Episode Title Predictions

Okay, so I've poked at the trailer enough that I think I can do a series of predictions that is likely to topple like a house of cards immediately but hey what else is this month of waiting for? Here is my very rough outline of what I'd love to see in season 3 based on nothing but the trailer and Vibes.

Episodes 1-3, "Confined" "Paths Unknown" & "Shadows of Tantiss"

These three seem pretty obvious, we'll likely catch up with Omega and Crosshair first in Confined, which is likely where we'll see these clips from the trailer:

As well as probably the (SAD AS HELL) discussion between Omega and Crosshair shown in the Celebrations trailer. Mix their scenes in with catching up on Hunter, Wrecker, & Echo - I'm actually really attached to the idea that Echo is searching for Tech, having not given up on him. This also parallels to Omega talking to Crosshair, about not giving up - I think that's going to be a theme this season. Can't run away, can't give up. But if Echo is searching for Tech then it might just be Hunter and Wrecker right now, likely giving us a few of their action shots together.

I do think that Omega and Crosshair's escape attempt is going to be relatively early in the season - either at the end of Paths Unknown or the very beginning of Shadows of Tantiss. I went into it more in this post and paired up a few shots of Tantiss' defense systems as well as the crashed ship with Omega and Crosshair. From the look of it, they likely don't make it off planet due to the damage and crash land and have to try to escape and, in the process, are split up and lose each other. Possibly they are able to contact the batch, who are on the way to try and get them when things go wrong.

My guess is that by the end of this three parter we'll have Crosshair reunited with the batch, or about to be, Omega on her own trying to evade Hemlock and his men, and somewhere along the line our reveal that Tech is alive because at this point I can't see them not aiming at a comeback with how hard they're trying to keep his 'death' on all our minds.

Episode 4 - "A Different Approach"

If Crosshair didn't meet up with the batch by the end of the previous three, then probably he does it here, I just get the sense that he's been gone for so long that we need to get him zipped up with the others early in the season, especially since we'll have several reunions to get to by the end of the series.

With Omega still separated but hopefully out of Tantiss at this point, they have to adjust how they plan to find her. She's now a moving target, because she's on the run still and likely unable to contact them. Echo will meet back up with them here, I think, maybe with info on wherever Tech is (my prediction: still on Eriadu in some fashion, either held with the good old pirates & smugglers or possibly by Tarkin himself, but I'm hoping the pirates & smugglers) and Rex will likely come too. I do think that they have their exchange about losing brothers here but rather than being about Tech, as the trailer implied, it's about Nemec or Fireball (or both) who possibly died getting the information. I just feel like those two are not long for this world, unfortunately.

We'll also follow Omega here, now completely alone for the first time. Previously she always had the batch, then she at the very least had Crosshair. Now she has neither and she has to try and figure out what to do. The title does dual work here, both the batch and Omega have to find a different approach in order to try and reunite.

Episode 5 - "The Return"

I feel like this is going to be a mostly Omega centered episode. Where is she returning to is the question, I still think that this refers to a place rather than a person returning. Pet theory - Cid put out several bounties on her to try and get her tracked down and rescued and she gets a blast from the past when she's grabbed by Bane a second time and taken to Ord Mantell. She of course is Not trusting Grandma Crimes anymore, but Cid is trying to redeem herself and fix what she broke.

While this is going on, the parallel return is the batch getting to Eriadu in order to set up the two parter.

Episode 6 & 7 - "Infiltration" & "Extraction

With the batch set up, they're ready to go get Tech from wherever he's been stuck! These two are likely more action oriented, with a little bit of Difficulty between Crosshair and the others after so long apart, but they find their footing well enough and begin to work together in order to get Tech out. They're 5/6ths of the way to a full family, they just have one more to get a hold of!

Episode 8 - "Bad Territory"

Getting fully into Pet Theories here but I think that this shot from the trailer

is Batuu - going mostly from the distinctive looking spires here. Another possible Omega focused episode, Cid is taking her to Batuu to cash in a favor. Not one owed to her - one owed to Omega, by Roland Durand. (LISTEN HERE'S HOW INFESTED BEING RELEVANT CAN STILL WIN-)

Anyway the focus here is on Roland trying to link her up with the batch. This might be a good place for Fennec to make her reappearance too, working from the Batch's end.

Episode 9 - "The Harbinger"

I'll be real I have no idea, my ideas started getting thin right about here, but I will say the title sounds like a great place for Ventress and the Teth monastery to make their appearance (I'm assuming they'll be together) but how they would actually play into the plot if they appeared here is unclear. I do think that we'll finally get everyone together though or at least be on our way to it, in order to bring us to our next two parter.

Episode 10 & 11 - "Identity Crisis" & "Point of No Return

The team is back together and all is not well, because everyone is still suffering a severe case of the Issues. No one can agree on what to do, where to go, with the identity crisis being the batch unsure of how to move forward together. Omega of course gets immediately stressed out by it all because it seems like she finally got her family back together only for it to immediately start falling apart. Wrecker is probably right there with her. Tech & Phee have their moment together, Echo still thinks they need to fight and I think that Crosshair is going to tend towards that too. Hunter at least absolutely wants to retire to Pabu right now immediately, but as the show has been trying to demonstrate, avoiding things won't be an option because-

Point of No Return is the dreaded invasion of Pabu. The Empire followed them here in order to retrieve Omega, and they barely escape, evacuating as many of Pabu's residents as possible. Shep doesn't make it out and is imprisoned.

Episode 12 - "Juggernaut"

This is where like a full quarter of the trailer comes from because they can show us several exterior tank shots without showing who's in the damn tank. I think the point of this one will be to get Shep back, since it does look like him that Wrecker is carrying. We know that Crosshair, Hunter, and Wrecker at a minimum will go in, but I think likely Omega and Echo are there (likely together thus being why we don't see much of Echo in the trailer) and Tech might be with Phee.

Episodes 13-15 - "Into the Breach" "Flash Strike" "The Calvary Has Arrived"

Grouping these three together because I have no idea what happens here except that we're likely going to be mounting an attack to take down Hemlock and, hopefully, free all of the clones that he's been experimenting on. The time for hiding is over, they have to take a stand against the Empire. Not because they're soldiers, but because they're a family, and the other clones are still their brothers.

For the first time, we don't leave our own behind can get followed and they're going in.

The Calvary Has Arrived is not a title I can see going dark to be quite honest, it's more of a full circle moment, it's the Batch becoming who they're meant to be, a family that fights for each other and for the other clones, I will cling to the idea of a happy ending (hopefully one that sets up a continuation that might focus more on Rex and his clone rebellion) until it's ripped from my cold dead hands thank you very much. I think that after the family has spent two seasons absolutely torn apart, becoming increasingly fractured, the best ending is one that has them finally united, all six of them, for the first time.

Like Omega said. They're more than soldiers. They're a family.

#the bad batch #the bad batch speculation #VERY SPECULATIVE

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elonomhblog · 30 days

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march reflections (2024)

writing monthly reflections is a habit that i am proud of, and i am always excited when it reaches the end of the month so that i can reflect on what i have learnt and how i have grown.

achievements of march: 1. i completed my first exam block and emerged with fairly good grades (a, a, c, b, a, b) 2. completed my longest hike so far-- 22km! 3. started this tumblr account

goals of march: ~ to be more aligned with my higher self!! ~ to try and stay in more of an abundance mindset ~ to join another club i think i've achieved my goals well this month. they're not measurable goals but as proof, i can select actions i made in the last months that reflect these goals. for example, i was much more aligned with my higher self in the fact that i have been consistent with my training and going to school. i know that my higher self would never skip school because 'she wasn't feeling like it'. i have been much more in an abundance mindset--choosing to invest in myself and treat myself, because i know that the money will flow right back to me. i had a goal to join another club,, but i was unable to complete this goal. some clubs i might join include philosophy or spanish club. since hugo is leaving school, i'm not sure i will do philosophy (since he was the one who invited me). i guess i'll carry on this goal, and we'll see where it takes us.

journal prompts about march (going into april): 1. what drained my energy? ~ not having a good system in exam block really drained my energy, and i struggled to get back into routine afterwards. i can improve this by building better exam block systems. ~ separating myself from my extroverted tendencies caused me to feel SO lonely. i need to put myself more out there and talk with people even if i am on a date with myself (it could be as little as someone in the grocery line). i CANNOT ignore these tendencies, it's who i am just as much as gem and mehrnaz are introverted.

2. what are my intentions for this month? ~ my intentions for april are to learn more about myself through journaling, solo-dating and exploring. i'd like to keep aligning with high-vibration behaviors. ~ i'd also like to bring out my creative side a bit more,, fostering it through this tumblr account and my storyvillage account. i believe that this will help me to discover myself.

3. what goals do i have for myself this month? ~ two solo-dates (as always) and setting my intentions before the date. ~ join another club (i'm continuing to work on this goal, since i did not complete it last month) ~ spanish study EVERY DAY ~ daily posts😉

4. what will i do to achieve these goals? ~ have a positive, abundant mindset ~ write and hang up these goals in my room so that i am reminded of them ~ record that i study spanish each day in a habit tracker,, or on a private post

significant events april: 1. school break (until april 14) 2. mum and dads wedding anniversary 3. hellfire pass training

training april: (by week): ~ monday, upper body session ~ tuesday, lower body session ~ wednesday, active recovery ~ thursday, lower body session ~ friday, upper body session ~ saturday, varied training hikes or active recovery ~ sunday, active recovery

(images are from pinterest)

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tenpintsof-sundrop · 5 days

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Nisha, did you know I would step on some legos barefooted for you? Anyways can’t wait to read for another fandom I have never stepped foot in and would probably never engage with the canon in just because you decided that’s what to make, and I’ve decided to read it anyways. Home cooked meal. -Rotten Anon

The opening line of this message made literal cartoon anime hearts appear above my head, just so you know <3

Also you have inspired me to post a rundown of my WIPs because I am really excited about what I have been working on. And for two of these fandoms, I know you have said you know nothing about the canon, but for the third, I am not sure, so we'll see.

My Current WIPs April/May 2024

Heaven's Gate (for The Walking Dead) - Daryl Dixon x GN!Reader. Strangers to Lovers/Soulmates/Lovers Reunited. Angst, Fluff, Hurt and Comfort. Set during Season 1 to Season 5. 17k in counting (will be a oneshot). You can find a preview here. In this fic, you and Daryl get separated when the Governor attacks the prison, and though you both believe the other person is dead (or long gone) you find each other at the most unlikely time, in the most unlikely place.

I am super excited about this fic, and the themes of hope that I have woven into it. Because yes, I unironically love writing about hope and how the human spirit can persevere - which is something that my favourite moments in The Walking Dead show. This is first draft complete and just needs to be edited.

The Jaws of Life (for DC Titans) - Jason Todd x GN!Reader. Sequel to Emergency Contact. Lovers Reunited. Extreme Angst, Smut, Hurt and (some) Comfort. Set during Season 3. 21k in counting (will probably be a oneshot - if it needs to be split up, it will be put in two parts, but I hope I can get away with a oneshot). (I highly recommend that everyone go read the original in the meantime, because it is one of my best fics ever.) In this fic, you and Jason struggle with the new meaning of your relationship after what happened with Deathstroke - only for this tentative change to be harshly disrupted by the Joker. And you're still heavily mourning when a red hooded stranger breaks into your apartment one night, seeking medical care because apparently - you owe him one.

Everyone give Jaycen @nctzenkane a big fucking round of applause for this one, because he was randomly talking to me about Jason Todd today (we were having the 'some characters are only fuckable in costume' discussion) - and I got talking about how this version of Jason from Titans makes me so passionate to write about the character. And it is solely because of him that I opened up this fic and took a good look at it - I have been thinking about this fic for months, wanting to finish it because I know I am gonna be proud of it, but I kept hesitating because I thought I had a way bigger mountain to conquer with it. But the conversation I had with Jaycen really inspired me and I wrote 5k on the fic just today, and I realized that with this momentum, I could have the first draft done by the end of this month. So I am promising myself that this is gonna be done soon.

Speaking of which - when The Jaws of Life is first draft done, I wanna host a poll so you guys can decide which of those two ^^ fics goes through the editing process to be posted first. Both will be posted (hopefully) by the end of May, but I do wanna know which one you guys wanna see posted first. Which leads me to:

Nasty (for Stranger Things) - Sub!Eddie Munson x Dom!Fem!Reader. Established Relationship. Smut/PWP. 3k (this is gonna be a shorter fic lmao). In this fic, you and Eddie have been dating for a while, but you don't like that all of his attempts to have sex with you have him taking on a (seemingly fake) dom persona. When you finally tell him that you prefer to be more dominant in bed, he isn't disgusted like you thought he might be - he loves it.

This is one I have been sitting on for a while, and right before it was ready to be posted - my brain lost interest in it like tiktok does micro trends. But I think this is gonna be really great to post while the poll for those other fics is cooking because it's short and sweet and for the past few days, whenever I have seen the cover for this in my drafts, I have gotten excited about it again. So I am excited to finish it and show it off to everyone!!

#rotten anon #anonymous #sundrop answers #curren wips #wips #daryl dixon x reader #the walking dead #jason todd x reader #dc titans #eddie munson x reader #stranger things

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great-cats · 5 months

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The Compress Analysis (2/?)

(From: This Post) Ⅰ - Ⅱ - ...

Part Ⅱ: The Mask

Yep, I see the mask as a key part of his character to the point where it simply must get a section of its own in this increasingly more insane ramble. One may immediately assume that the thing is used for identity concealment. While this is partially true, I reckon that its primary purpose is the concealment of his emotions, as implied in the ultra analysis entry for him (attached below). He may have a near perfect handle on his body language, but I will personally headcanon that he has a terrible poker face until the day I die. As a villain, his identity is going to come out at some point, you know? Even after the Kamino raid (where he got doxxed the hell out of), he continued to wear the mask up until his ta-da moment in 294. So with that info, we can reasonably assume that identity was on the back burner, and emotion/dramatics took centre stage. The latter option is thrown in because he obviously was saving that reveal to an extent. One can even go so far as to assume he hadn’t even taken his mask off around the league, which would be pretty interesting. We don’t ever see him without it while he’s with them, after all.

Beyond keeping his facial expressions behind closed doors, the mask may very well bolster Atsuhiro’s confidence. We don’t particularly see much of this in action given he wore the thing for so long and has only a select few moments of casual interaction, but I still like to think of it as a very real possibility. For all intents and purposes, Atsuhiro Sako is just a normal man with an interesting background and some past poverty. Despite this, the villain that is Mr.Compress– or what quite nicely amounts to a stage persona –is flamboyant, clever, and has a penchant for monologuing. I quite like to create a separation between “Mr.Compress” and “Atsuhiro Sako” because of this disparity. The latter is the flawed man behind the mask whilst the former is a faux, ideal identity put on for the audience. Only in those rude remarks and reckless actions do we see the facade begin to slip. So, what of the moment in the climax of chapter 294 in which he throws that covering off? Well, for starters, he couldn’t not. Jeanist’s quirk could nab anything fibrous, and the fellow couldn’t take any chances. But, beyond that, Atsuhiro thought that moment would wind up his final stand. What’s the use of concealment if you’re going to die soon? He might as well make things flashy.

A big thing in my opinion regarding the mask is how it often reflects Atsuhiro’s status. While I do like to make the distinction between him and Mister as mentioned prior, again, there’s that smidge of him shining through. When he lost his arm, the mask was solemn and in the times he was at his best, it portrayed a smug/snide grin. That grin in particular is by far his most iconic design! It gets the cogs turning in my head when his real emotions don’t seem to match it, though, Regardless of how Atsuhiro is really feeling, that mask keeps up the smile until it’s either broken or otherwise removed. It circles us back to that emotion concealment point, if that wasn’t already obvious. In pursuit of the perfect villain and the next in line for the illustrious goals and teachings of the late Peerless Thief. Atsuhiro has no room for error with that heavy load on his shoulders and must keep up appearances, even if he has to hide behind a smiling mask to do so. But why hold this legacy in such high regard? Atsuhiro claimed that it was the very reason he was there with the league, so what could’ve possibly gotten the man to be so dead set on the wishes of a long gone relative he likely never met? Perhaps, answers to questions like that could be found in what minimal information we know about…

Ah dear! That's part three exclusive content!! Tune in for "The Upbringing" later in which we'll pick right back up from where we left off!

#mr compress #atsuhiro sako #sako atsuhiro #mha #bnha #mr. compress #league of villains #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #character analysis #also when im done with all this I'll probably post a google doc #since thats what im writing this on #Just so that it's all in one place!!

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demonslayedher · 1 year

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Since Daki and Tecchikawahara have both stated it was, as the swordsmith, Haganezuka's fault that Tanjiro's sword got so chipped in battle, I've been asked if Haganezuka is indeed a bad swordsmith. At the time I said that Haganezuka is a fine swordsmith, albeit a perfectionist surrounded by perfectionists.

However, I came across an interesting comment from real life master swordsmith Asano Taro in this video:

"Katana is a perfect instrument. It is perfect in its creation and the way it looks. The theory behind its creation is also perfect. It doesn't have any faults. And if you use it perfectly well, it will cut anything with perfect precision. But if your spirit and movements are not at peace, the katana will bend or break instantly."

He goes on to say that the samurai is the one at risk for damaging the katana if he isn't mindful of himself, and Haganezuka would be quick to join him in blaming the user for damage, but what with Haganezuka being prone to fits of passion, I'd like to reconsider the question of Haganezuka's skills and final product.

It bears restating that while the smith gets a lot of credit for forming the iron into the blade, there are many other entirely separate and necessary specialists who contribute to the completion of a sword--the engraver, the artisan who makes a sheath, etc. While we see some evidence of crossover in the production of swords in KnY, we don’t know if there is any division of labor in the swordsmith village, or how much. We're going to come back to this point, but for our purposes in this post, we'll focus on sword polishing as a separate discipline.

In historical context, sword polishing was respected as a unique art as far back as the Heian era, and even though the sword production industry took a hard hit when swords were banned in the Meiji Period, they nonetheless were popular as works of art. This means that sword polishers were still in demand, more for bringing out a sword's beauty than for sharpening its usefulness. One famous sword polisher of the Taisho Period, Hirai Chiba, was said to be the sort of genius that only comes around once in every two hundred years, and he could make even the oldest, most decrepit swords glisten, but his methods were so genius that if others tried to further polish his work, they had a tendency to ruin it. The techniques are as unique as brushstrokes; we saw Haganezuka hard at work at a series of rough and primary whetting against large whetstones, but Muichiro didn't let him even finish the first part of initial whetting. That's to say nothing of getting to the series of small tools, many of which are so minute that they can only be worked with a craftsman's thumb.

We see some of the attitudes of the Taisho Period in the light novel chapter in which Tecchikawahara tries find a wife for Haganezuka, but she doesn't appreciate Haganezuka's career because swords aren't necessary in modern society. (It still baffles me that Tecchin thought a woman with these sentiments should be married into the swordsmith village, but he did choose her purely for having a cute photo.) She tries to convince him to switch to making kitchen knives or tools instead of barbaric weapons, but Haganezuka affirms that it's an honor that his swords are used by someone who puts his life on the line to protect others' lives.

So, is he a good swordsmith or not?

Our protagonist assures us he is. However, I've heard it said that you should strive to be the person you dog thinks you are, but perhaps it is higher standard to try to be the person Kamado Tanjiro thinks you are, so we'll set this aside.

What's more revealing, perhaps, is that Urokodaki already knows Haganezuka pretty well. Since Haganezuka is 37 and Urokodaki was in his prime at least 47 years ago when he trapped what would become the Hand Demon, it's unlikely that Haganezuka has ever produced any swords specifically for Urokodaki. Possibly Haganezuka's father did, in which case Urokodaki might had been familiar with little Haganezuka's upbringing. But, if Urokodaki is familiar with adult Haganezuka's work and personality, perhaps he's seen Haganezuka deliver swords to Final Selection graduates before... which might mean Haganezuka is Giyuu's swordsmith, too. If that's the case, I'm willing to bet Giyuu's never earned any special ire.

However, let us not forget that Haganezuka likes Tanjiro because Tanjiro keeps requesting swords from him. Other swordsmen haven't been able to deal with Haganezuka's personality and requested swords from other smiths. Giyuu could very well be among those swordsmen who quit this artisan, and a series of people being unable to look past his personality and appreciate his work doesn't reflect well on Haganezuka as a craftsman.

Back to Urokodaki, though, he's always the one who blamed the swordsman for wear and tear to the sword. If he ever felt Tanjiro got a bad sword, he'd likely have told him so and put in a complaint, making a more valid reason to request a different swordsmith.

To recap the post where I first considered this question, I think a big issue with Haganezuka's fervor is that he was raised by, and presumably taught the most incredible swordsmith in the village. Tecchikawahara may have been hard on little Hotaru because he was talented, and therefore he was dismissive of anything less than genius.

So then where was does genius come into play? Oh yes, with the beautiful Sengoku era sword, and Haganezuka's polishing of it.

Let's take a step back to appreciate this element of the process in context, and assume Haganezuka is familiar with every stage of the process, and more skilled in them that you or I can ever hope to me. First, Haganezuka makes sure to make sure Tanjiro knows about the special iron his sword is made of--and since Haganezuka and Gotouge thought that was important, I thought it was important as a KnY nerdery blog to make sure all of you appreciated this too. However, due to the labor intensity of the process of making iron sand into lumps of ore, I suspect Haganezuke may not usually be involved in this part of the process, even if he may have some experience with it. When it comes to other elements besides the smithing, he perhaps wasn't a preferred artisan for things like making hand guards as the Rengoku clan likes them, or someone who had the right to engrave 悪鬼滅殺 ("eliminate all evil demons") on the Pillars' swords; perhaps there were village specialists, or other swordsmiths who improved their engraving skills because they were responsible for Pillars. Since Tanjiro didn't need a particularly crafty sheath, I'm inclined to think it was either average craftsmanship if Haganezuka made it, or it may have been outsourced to someone else in the village.

However, let's pause here on sheaths. Shinobu's Breath technique works due to the specialized sheath, so her sword and sheath must both be extremely high caliber. Tecchikawahara is credited with them, meaning the greatest swordsmith is adept in multiple disciplines. Tecchikawahara's son is as well, for he developed a special sheath for Iguro to draw his curvy blade.

I bring this up because Tecchikawahara has a son, presumably, the heir to his techniques. Although adopting a son to become an heir to a craft was common even in the aforementioned Taisho craftsman Hirai Chiba's circle, we can infer that Tecchikawahara did not consider Haganezuka Hotaru an heir, even though he raised him since the age of two.

But?? What is this in Chapter 105?

The Nichirin Blade Polishing Technique Passed Down Through the Haganezuka Clan??

Okay, but... Hotaru-kun, your dad didn't raise you, how did you learn these techniques??????

Whatever they are, Haganezuka has full confidence in them, which comes in contrast to how he was feeling about his smith abilities at the time. He was so upset about how his faulty blade might had put his favorite (only?) client in danger that he was off in the forest putting himself through training, the likes of which we can only imagine. If, as swordsmith Asano said, imperfections in the self may risk damage to the blade, does this mean his hot and volatile personality was being reflected in the metal; even if he was totally absorbed in the process, what there still some tension in his muscles revealing his excitement, shaking the delicate blade as it formed? Maybe, Haganezuka always saw something in his own work that he knew was lacking, and maybe Tecchikawahara has always seen it, too.

After all, Haganezuka knows very well how to appreciate good work; he was so absorbed in admiring a rusty sword that he could ignore an Upper Moon wanting to eat him. He could tell right away that it was likely good Sengoku era iron (historical note: we don't actually have good enough records to know why Sengoku era swords had higher quality iron, but it's possibly due to imported iron). Despite having no idea who the swordsmith was, Haganezuka could probably feel the strokes of his hands, like how a skilled calligrapher can see the pace at which someone moved with the brush, or how a master pianist can imagine the movements of the hands at someone else's keyboard. Haganezuka credited that mystery swordsman with choosing and making the engraving himself, and imagined him at work at a whetstone, thereby implying he'd have also done the polishing himself. Like how the tradition of engraving Pillars' swords came later, this may also be the origins of Nichirin blade swordsmiths taking more ownership of more parts of the process than their regular swordsmiths counterparts.

That said, like they have their unique styles and pride, they also have those things passed down in the family, and that might make certain artisans more specialized in some areas than others. If the former master of the Haganezuka techniques had no heir other than Hotaru, Tecchikawahara might have tried to amend the relationship between child and parent and encouraged Hotaru to apprentice under his own father.

So then what of the former Mr. Haganezuka now? Well... in Chapter 105, Tanjiro goes on to orate to Genya that the special sword polishing process takes three full days and nights (funny, so does making the tamahagane, but that's also requires a teams to constantly feed the fire). This polishing method is extremely taxing on the person doing it, and as Tanjiro was told, some people have even died doing this. So, you know, maybe that's some good angsty fanfic material if this has happened in recent swordsmith village history.

In other words, Haganezuka was already putting his life on line before Gyokko attacked.

However, whether it was a result of his recent solitary training in the forest or in his conviction in the Haganezuka Family Polishing Techniques and his own execution of them, he betrays no worry about whether or not he'll be able to finish, and insists that this task be entrusted to no one other than him.

Which is to say, Haganezuka may be an alright-to-very-highly-skilled swordsmith, but his true strengths may lie in what's usually an entirely separate discipline.

From a narrative and character arc perspective, this means that Haganezuka has been somewhat freed from the pressures to live up to Tecchikawahara's standards in overall sword production, especially since he can't manage to keep many clients, or perhaps hasn't managed to keep anyone but Tanjiro. With Tanjiro as his perhaps only client, that means he serves a different purpose for Tanjiro now, as Tanjiro is the owner of such a fine sword---like how no one could work with genius Hirai Chiba's techniques, likely Haganezuka is the only one who can be trusted with the care and upkeep of such a valuable sword.

He's found his true calling, one might say.

Not that this makes me think he'd give up making swords--not at all, he loves them too much! But maybe in feeling assured that he's serving Tanjiro's needs, it can allow him to relax more, and enjoy the process, and relax knowing that Tanjiro's not going to chip his new and possibly more creative works.

For Tecchikawahara, who presumably already has the heir to his own techniques, seeing Haganezuka reach his full potential in the Haganezuka tradition may be what pleases him more than any unfathomably unbreakable sword.

#kny fandom theories and meta #haganezuka hotaru #SWORDS SWORDS SWORDS

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life-is-more-than-just-a-game · 2 months

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Can you write a lovely fluff story between Arisu and female reader who loves get kissed, to get cuddled, to get touched from him (and maybe more) at night?🥰 Maybe something romantic with some kinda sexual parts

♠️ Late night closeness ♠️

A/N: Yo, I'm back and haven't forgot your request yet! As I said in one of my posts, I felt a little sick this one day so I used the next days to recover a little. Plus, I was at work thursday and friday until 6pm, so I was tired and exhausted to be honest. 😬

Nevertheless, here comes your desired story and I hope that you will like it even more. Now that it's finally out. 🫶🏻

Characters: Arisu

POV: fem!reader ; fluff ; slightly sexual content at the end!

Warnings: Includes slightly sexual content, but nothing excessive.

Late at night. To be more precise, it's the perfect time to go to sleep. Just like I always do. Apart from the fact that the surroundings are quiet and empty from dawn to dusk anyway, there is complete darkness all around us. One thing I can't stand since I've been in Borderland. The reason? The red laser beams that shine down from the sky to kill other people whose visas have run out. I know a few idiots who stay up late and look for a higher spot to watch the spectacle. Just to make sure how many will leave this world behind forever - and for sure - today.

Fortunately for me, I also know people who have similar thoughts to mine. People who don't want to see this happen. People who have enough common sense, empathy and decency to look the other way. Call it strength or call it gutlessness.

I want to sleep. Every day, even before the selection takes place. However, my thoughts, which are spinning endlessly in circles, are preventing me from doing so today. My eyes are closed. My back is turned to the window so that I am not even tempted to open my eyes. But as destiny wants it, this shall not be to my disadvantage.

It's a typical time for me to sleep. You lose track of time and space in here, but if I had to guess, it would probably be 10 pm by now. Maybe half past ten at night. So I'm not surprised that the mattress behind me lowers a little, that the blanket is lifted slightly and then gets straightened again. So that I too can enjoy a comfortable and peaceful night's sleep. Just as I deserve- at least according to Arisu.

Arisu and I ... we met here during a game and haven't gone our separate ways ever since. At least not directly. We rarely go to games together for fear that we'll end up in one where we have to kill each other. I know Arisu's story. I know what he's been through. And I don't want him to have to go through it again.

We always promise each other that we'll come back. That we'll meet again at the agreed meeting point and go back to sleep side by side in the evening. The only difference today is that I'm still awake and can therefore feel the dark-haired man snuggling up to me even better.

How he puts his arm around me and presses me closer to him so that my back is pressed tightly against his upper body. As if he's afraid someone might just take me away from him for the night. Or as if he was worried that I would just leave him alone in the middle of the night.

He does that often. Always, actually. Every night when I'm drifting off to sleep. And I like it. Arisu is a shy boy who has a lot of decency as well as respect. He would never do anything against my will or touch someone 'indecently' if he didn't know whether he was allowed to. And even if he was allowed to, he would find it difficult because he wouldn't know how to handle it.

I think he knows that I like this kind of closeness. I'm not sure, but if he pulls me into his arms while I'm sleeping, I think I'll have some reactions that approve of his actions. Be it a smile that creeps onto my lips. It's possible I'll turn towards him to nuzzle my face into the skin of his neck so I can be even closer to him. And then I remember that I once started to giggle a little when Arisu pressed kisses to my cheek, neck and shoulder. I remember, because ... he is doing it again.

"I love it when you try to show me your affection secretly, quietly and silently." As soon as he speaks, I notice how his head shoots up a little and his grip on me loosens. "Surprise, love." I take the chance to turn onto my back in the loose grasp of his arms so that I can see Arisu's face much better- it may be dark, but I don't miss the somewhat indignant look on his silhouette, which makes me laugh a little.

"I thought you were asleep!" he says confusedly, his eyes almost as big as the moon in the sky itself. "How much did you notice...?"

"Everything." Silence. "But I don't think that was enough." I smile up to him, stretching my face a little towards his so that I can give him a little peck on the lips, before staring at him for a second.

"Awkward."

"Awkward?", I asked, bursting into laughter. "What the fuck are calling awkward, Ryohei?! No, that's not!"

"I-It's just ... I thought you sleep, Y/N!" Now he starts giggling himself, so that both of us are just a laughing mess. "You can't pretend just to set a trap for me, that's not how it works!"

"Oh? But it worked very well, don't you think?" It takes a moment for us both to settle down again- until we're both quiet and just smiling to ourselves.

Shortly afterwards, Arisu tightens his grip again and presses me against him once more. He has turned sideways towards me and finally leans his head relaxed against mine. I do the same and start to stroke his arm up and down with one of my hands, while we just lie here together in silence, staring into emptiness. In the soft bed of the tower block that we have made our home for the night.

"I ... actually tried to fall asleep but failed this time." Arisu looks down on me while I look up to him. "It wasn't my plan to trap you, darling. But I have to say, I really do love it, when you cuddle me that much while I'm sleeping, Arisu. And you know, I would be happy when you keep doing this- it makes me feel protected and ... I feel safe in this creepy world when having you by my side." I assume that these words will overwhelm Arisu for a moment, as it's quite a lot at once and … well, very unexpected. "So … I'd be happy if you did that more often. Not just when I'm asleep, but also when I'm awake. I really enjoy your attention and your closeness, so … I think it would be nice if we could build on this ... intimacy." I know it might not be a good attitude.

This is not the world in which you would want to fall in love. We are not in the time warp where you are looking forward to the love of your life, where you want to fall for a person completely and carefree. Here in Borderland, it's a matter of life and death. That's why it might be wrong to tie yourself to one person- morally speaking. But if your heart is yearning and your head is in harmony with it, then it no longer feels as wrong as it really is.

"You know, this ... might getting dangerous, love?", he whispers, making me giving him back a quite "Of course" which makes him sigh a bit. "This … is not something one want to assume, but … you know, it can happen every day that one of us doesn't come back to the other." You can tell from his voice that he feels fear and pain at the thought, which makes me swallow hard- but again I only get out a whispered "I know ...", which should make him realize how seriously I meant what I said to him. "And yet you want me to consciously give you this intimacy?"

"Yes," I said, serious. "Because I love you, Ryohei." This is where I end my caresses on his arm.

Instead, I just look up at him, able to catch his eyes thanks to the light given off by the moon. I notice how his arms wrap around me even tighter in response and I catch myself clawing into the skin of his arm a little, but lightly enough to make sure there's no residue and that I don't accidentally hurt him. He nuzzles his face into my cheek and we close our eyes to enjoy the togetherness for a moment. To forget everything else for just a few seconds.

"I don't think that's something we can decide immediately, Arisu ..."

"There's no need to decide something, I guess." I open my eyes again, looking at him, giving a little "Huh?" right back, before I can catch a smile on his lips. "I ... I cannot deny that I ... like you and that I would very much like to continue to be close to you." I giggle.

"Come here." Without giving it a second thought, I swing myself on top of him and wrap my arms loosely around his neck.

His hands rest on my back from that point on and I make it quick: I pull him into a loving, passionate kiss. I know he needs a moment to realize what's going on, so … I give him the time. And only when he moves his lips against mine do I match his movements and deepen the kiss a little more, burying one of my hands in his mane so that I can push him a little closer to me.

A little later I wander with my lips to his neck, which he frees up for me a little bit by tilting his head to the side. Small kisses are spread over his thin skin before I reach his ear and whisper a soft "Touch me, Arisu ..." into it, making him blush, pretty sure.

"You want me to-"

"I see what you're up to, my love." I'm smiling. "Don't think about it … and just do it." Again I start to work his neck, which makes him hum happily before I add anything else. "When I was sleeping, you weren't afraid to go under my shirt, too." Now I'm laughing.

Because of his shocked "What?!". Because of his big eyes. Because he's a little freaked out all of a sudden.

"How much did you really notice when I thought you were sleeping all this time?!"

"I've been sleeping," I say, "but sometimes I've woken up and just let it pass over me with pleasure~."

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elvenbeard · 10 months

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Hold on tight to yourself, not just anyone else When you've sailed to the edge, nowhere left to go

I've talked about my experimental light and water shooting in last week's wip wednesday, and I'm here to finally share some fave pics xD I have more, and I might post some on a separate occasion or just use them for OC ask stuff where they fit, we'll see!!

Vince is someone who often asks himself where his place in the universe is, even more so growing up, but the doubts keep creeping in again now and then regardless of how much more confident he is now in his own abilities and goals. I kind of wanted to capture this feeling of being lost, just floating for a while as you try to figure things out here... and play with light and color.

I didn't really take any behind the scenes pics for this (I should really start doing that) but I made some shitty sketches just now with my mouse cause I mentioned I wanted to illustrate how I did this xD Also for my personal reference, cause I wanna do something similar, slightly different for another project in the future!!

Very simply, this was the setup xD I used Denny's pool as location, mainly because it was the first that came to mind, had a decent size, and I wanted to do some stuff there anyway xD I think you could pull this off in any other pool or body of water just as well. Originally I wanted to keep the normal pool background, but then I spawned in a black wall from the photostudio props to block out the sunlight and get a darker backdrop, and I really liked that!!

I had three customizable point lights spawned, a red one below V, a purple and greenish one above him - I don't remember the exact placements, I mainly just wanted a nice color contrast and I like those colors and played around with where I put them!

Something like this!

Now, the ripple effect of the water...... I had V spawned in via AMM, and so Player!V was also still there in the scne, so I just ran around his spawned self a little bit to create the splashes xD And voila!

I always take my pics just in in good old vanilla photomode, and at first I had pathtracing on for it (raytracing is also on). And I did like that as well, but look at these unedited pics:

The reflections look a lot more natural and detailed, but are also waaaayyy less colorful. So if you wanna go for a more realistic approach that might be the better option! Everything else is the same, lights, backdrop, etc.

These are some unedited shots with pathtracing off (raytracing still on):

The lights kind of create this oil-spill like effect on the water and I loooove that so much!! Also, the red light from below was reflected in his eyes in a really cool way somehow (less realistic, but very aesthetic xD)

So yeah! If your graphics card can handle it, mess with all the ray/pathtracing settings a bit for a variety of effects xD

Also, all my pics are usually heavily edited in case you couldn't tell XD I love vanilla photomode for its convenience, but it has its limits when it comes to color adjustments, depth of field, and the like!

Same shot, unedited above, edited below. Played with color balance, saturation, sharpness, and in some of the pics some slight motion blur, too. I also shopped in his top surgery scars cause I didn't get around to trying to make them as a mod yet but it's on my list XD For more of them artsy pics with consistent looking scars!

Thanks for reading this far, I do hope it was interesting and you can take something away from it for your VP XD

#cyberpunk 2077 #male v cyberpunk #male v monday #cyberpunk v #masc v #cp 2077 #cyberpunk vp #cyberpunk 2077 vp #virtual photography #cyberpunk virtual photography #cyberpunk photomode #my vp #my screenshots #vincent ezaki

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multifunctionalnitroglycerin · 1 month

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Leona and Diana Old Lore / New Lore. My take on it

Okay so, I am relatively new to the League community, with barely three years under my belt, but lore is one of the things that interest me the most about it. And well, the dynamic between Sun and Moon coded characters is one I never pass up in exploring. Leodia is arguably my favorite ship from League, but it's mostly the idea of it, with recent executions leaving me feel kinda... meh.

So apart from probably having read every single half decent fic under the Leona/Diana tag on Ao3, I have scourged the internet for their lore and have come across quite a few references of their old one. Never found the complete thing though. And possibly unpopular opinion, I like it better than their current one.

That is not to say that the old lore is any sort of masterpiece, and people could argue that it doesn't set them up to be lovers, but I think with a little bit of tweeking it can become really good. Many of my ideas are inspired from a fic I probably read like 2 years ago, also features an OC named Helena and has a side of Riven's inner struggle, Riven and Diana friendship and Rivelia. (I cannot for the life of me remember the name, I apologise)

My problem with the New Lore mostly, is that it's vanilla for a mountain of warriors and *cultists* it feels almost like High School AU but try to fit it into League, and yeah it's not it for me. Also the co-dependence of their ascension, and just Leona's whole thing kinda sucks. Like I can see how people might see it as romantic and poetic and whatever, that they ascended at the same time and Leona followed Diana up the mountain to keep her safe etc. etc. but that's kinda glossing over some issues especially with Leona's character.

Now the new take on Leona's character is really interesting, and a complete 180 from the old lore and actually the idea isn't so bad, if they ACTUALLY DID ANYTHING WITH IT. Now as a person that definitely doesn't overanalyze literature and fictional characters for fun, Leona's new lore is such an interesting take and could be taken many directions if someone chose to explore it and go a bit deeper that "genocidal close-minded bigot".

At first read Leona is really just that. She does what she is told no hesitation, no questions asked and turns on Diana also no questions asked. But let's take it a bit deeper shall we?

I have no intention to make it as though Leona holds no blame for her actions or that she is a paragon of virtue, cause she is not. But if we dive in her story a bit more we could perhaps understand how she came to be what she is. Because under no circumstance do I think she is that daft. Especially if she was with Diana for years. Some of that curiosity must have rubbed off on her. Then again she could have just ignored everything Diana said about the Moon and her research. I guess we'll never know.

I do not intent to ramble about Leona in this post. But I'll give you some clues as to why her backstory and the whole Targonian premise is important. She is born practically into a cult, or well a religion with really strict and particular disciplines. So already an environment with very particular ideas and particular ways to enforce them. She is the daughter of two really strict and proud parents in said cult, who seem to care more abt her achievements and punishments than anything (Grade A parenting), - She doesn't even send them that letter in the end - and she is the golden child of the Solari. So what do we have in our hands? An affection starved perfectionist suffering from gifted child expectations. NOw take that and put it in the Solari premise of religious fanatism and voila!

(I will probably at some point make a separate post abt this, because I really took a deep dive in Leona's character when writing my Ruination fic - that I wont ever post anywhere probably - and I have a LOT to say)

So in the old Lore the Rakkori are the warriors and defenders of the mountain, a bit heavy on the bloodthirsty side though, hence the right of Kor. A coming of age ritual battle to the death. (What else could it be). Leona being the only one that refuses to kill her opponent and friend, is sentenced to be executed, but before the execution could be carried out, she is claimed by the Golden Sister as the Sun aspect with a beam of golden light.

I feel that Leona's ascension in particular is really important in the old Lore, because in such a warlike culture she was rewarded for showing mercy. She was chosen because she chose mercy over mindless slaughter. Something that could potentially be really important later on, in a mountain where half its indigenous people have slaughtered the other half??

Point 1 I like from the old lore: The Sun chose Leona because she was merciful. (Or had a semblance of a moral compass)

Moving forward the lines kinda blur for Diana, mostly cause I am not sure what I remember is actual lore and what is related to that magnificent fic.

Her curious truth-searching nature is ever present. She discovers hidden texts, burned pages and embarks on a journey of knowledge that leads her to climb the mountain. Only she is in the company of an elderly woman I think? Anyhow, she finds - is lead to - an alcove, an old temple and the relics of the Moon Aspect. Overjoyed at her findings she dons the armor takes it all down to the elders, they call her a heretic, brand her, and intent to kill her, when she begs the Moon for help and ascends. Either her or the moon blast kills every elder in the room she gets blamed either way, and the chase begins.

Diana is at her core an academic and a researcher, that researches. She has her Indiana Jones moment in the mountain and there is a process a ritual to it, instead of I just climbed up saw unimaginable terrors and now I am the aspect of the Moon (over-simplified I know. The climb judges worthiness). There is something about her checking old dusty books, and deciding to brave the climb looking for answers. About her choosing to be helpful -kinda as a mirror to Leona sparing her opponent, Diana, the one that keeps to herself - apart from when arguing abt academics and scriptures consciously engages with and helps a stranger, guiding them up the mountain and helping them along the way when the trip became too arduous.

Point 2 I like from the old lore: The ritual of the process in Diana's research and ascension and the mirroring with Leona, minor though it is, that they ascended - sooner or later - after an act of kindness that contradicted what would have been expected of them.

Point 3 I like from the old lore: The brand. Like it just adds another layer to Diana's character. And is a much better explanation for its presence than Moon magic. Also the amount of complications this act has, its just delicious. I mean THE DRAMA. and ofc THE TRAUMA. I don't think she'd go near a fire for months.

Point 3 I like from the old lore: The independence of the ascensions. It gives us the chance to see them grow and evolve as their own people before the thread of fate that binds them together appears. We get to see one without the other, and that would later make their dynamic more interesting.

But How are Leona and Diana connected?

In the old lore they aren't. I think. Leona is like a blood hound that needs to kill the heretic.

In the fic, Leona's dad was one of the guards in the room when Diana ascended and was killed, which in the context of the story adds a layer of betrayal between them, as up to that point they were lovers. And you know what, I really like that idea. And I was thinking that perhaps we could try to get the best of both worlds. Though it might be difficult to fully develop the idea.

Lore Idea:

So the Rakkor ans the Solari are different factions. Solari = priesthood, Rakkor = Warriors. Leona's family are Rakkori, and they are simple people, her father works as a guard for the Solari Temple, something that is considered a bit of an honor despite that fact that the factions don't rly see eye to eye about everything. Right of Kor happens when they are around 15 (Yes I want to traumatize a bunch of teenagers that train to fight, kill and defend since they could walk) and Leona's story proceeds as we know it. She then gets taken to the Solari temple to be educated in their way and train to become the figurehead of their faith. (Like that Leona has already had the chance to develop some critical thinking, and to experience sth different.)

She gets there and all the acolytes younger and older look at her starry eyed, because the elders told them so and because they see her like a bit of a Messiah. (Plus I doubt a bunch of scrawny academics and priests to be have seen anyone their age with that musculature). All of them apart from Diana, who as always isn't particularly impressed by the paragon in training of the Solari faith.

Leona is relieved to get some normal person treatment, even if it is from the broody girl with her nose in a book half the time, and like the cocky 15year old meathead she is, she wants to show off a bit and perhaps win her favor. Shenanigans ensue and Diana unlike the other people that desperately want to befriend Leona, is not impressed.

Another point of similarity is that Leona - that has ascended already mind you - would have a few questions and oppositions to all that mumbo jumbo the Solari say about the Sun and the Moon. So after she flops exceptionally in one oration or sth class, with saying something positive about the Moon that has the students look at her with horror, and the priest fuming and screaming punishments - light ones, because the Sun chose that clueless miscreant, and he doesn't want to fall out of her favor - Leona manages unknowingly to win inquisitive Diana's intrigue - and favor, (but don't tell anyone about the last part).

A tentative bond forms. It gets solidified when Leona stops a few bullies from beating Diana to a pulp, and the dark haired girl in return helps her pass a class she was having an exceptionally hard time with. Diana - who in my head is a year younger - does eventually get charmed by the surprisingly goofy and sunny disposition of the Sun Aspect in training. (Don't get this wrong Leona will still act like a 15 yo that has had to train and fight every day of her life) Diana asks her countless questions about life outside the temple and they discuss theology together, either trying to help Leona understand, or trying to make sense of Diana's findings. (The Rakkori in my head are far more neutral abt Sun and Moon, more like if there is light and I can see I am happy, whether its the Sun or the Moon. "There was even that one traveler from some big city, Pilt - something was it, that even said that the Sun and Moon are like orbs in the night sky, one is a star rly close to us and the other is like a smaller planet or something, can you imagine?")

The become friends, the Nightless Eve happens, and then they become lovers. Leona starts suffering from all those expectations and the charade she needs to put up, she has more hours with classes and training she gets tutored by the priests, punished more severely when se speaks out of line or says something borderline heretical, yada yada. More people like her and she likes the attention. She doesn't abandon Diana though, and she always defends her. Things get difficult as the years go by but still they persist. (We could include some homophobic sentiment in the Solari, or even sth downright misogynistic, which would add complications with Leona's state as the Radiant Dawn, and the wlw relationships as they would not be seen as real substantial relationships - add asshole trying to flirt with Leona bc her relationship with Diana isn't real cause they are both women- DRAMA)

Leona is 18 passes her final exams, and Diana is 17 when Diana's arc happens. They have a huge fight about faith and contradicting it and if it is worth it. (No one wants to bandage their lover's whipped back that is practically a mosaic of scars at this point, or nurse them to health after sever dehydration - cause yes apparently standing naked in the sun for three days can do that). Diana storms off angrily. Finds an elderly woman in the base of the mountain that needs help going up (Silver sister in disguise). She helps her up, and when they are like 3/4 up and rest cause Diana's everything hurts the woman disappears. She looks around, finds the temple, sees carved proof that the Solari and Lunari co-existed gets the relics and climbs back down excited to show everyone her findings.

Meanwhile Leona has left for an emergency Solari mission or sth, and hasn't told Diana. Diana goes to the priests, they don't believe her, she invokes her right to be judged by the Aspect or sth, the priests pretend that Leona is still around and doesn't want to see or help Diana (Strike 1 of betrayal). Diana feels betrayed and hurt and fears for her life. The priests give the order for her to be branded and executed on the spot. Leona's dad who had been in the room and had met Diana, tries to plead her case from an outsider's perspective. One of the elders reprimands him and threatens him with death.

They brand Diana with the moon Symbol on the forehead, and are about to place her face down in the flames and / or slit her throat, and Iasur can't have her dying thinking that Leona betrayed her (A bit of family honor and afterlife beliefs - honor is a huge deal-, and a bit of a soft spot for his daughter's closest companion). He tries to fight his way to her, and gets killed in the process. Diana witnessing Iasur's murder prays to the moon for help, and seconds before breathing her last breath, she ascends. Pillar of Moonlight and heavenly fire burns everything to a crisp, and Diana remains alone in the middle of the room, barely breathing and clad in the garb of he Moon aspect. She takes one look around her and speeds away from the temple.

Leona returns three days after to find the council and her father dead, the council room in ruins and apparently Diana to blame. On top of that Diana is missing. Leona is presented with the case and believes Diana to be her father's killer. She vows to avenge him and kill the Scorn of the Moon, because her Diana wouldn't do that. It must be the moon spirit. and yes apparently Moon is bad because dad and Diana are gone bc of it. Leona is determined to save her lover from the Moon's clutches and set her free the only way she knows how, with killing her.

And thus their journey begins. Leona becomes more and more of a puppet from here and on driven by anger and betrayal and Diana feels abandoned and betrayed, with nothing left in the world but the glow of the branding mark on her forehead and the knowledge that her lover wanted her dead.

And as for their path to reunite again and achieve peace? Well Leona needs to be merciful, and Diana needs to guide and support someone through the right path.

Thanks for reading this huge ass post. Again MANY credits to that amazing writer on Ao3, if I find that fic I'll put a link here, cause its phenomenal.

Take care and see ya next time!

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